Tips for Moving Past a "Cheat" and Chambray Does Valentine's Day

Hope your Super Bowl was happy! Hopefully if you decided to stick to eating thin last night, you were able to accomplish your goal, but if you didn't, here's some things to keep in mind.

1. You didn't cheat. Cheating implies that your healthy lifestyle has rules. Breaking rules makes you bad, and you're not bad for veering from your path. Think of it as not accomplishing a goal. Sometimes failing at something can be positive. When you fall short of a goal, you can learn a lesson from it and then move on and try again. And achieving after you've failed once, makes it so much sweeter.

2. That was yesterday. Today is today. Let it go. If you're angry at yourself, it's time to forgive and forget. Don't let that nasty voice berate you. You didn't murder someone. You ate a few too many chicken wings. No one got hurt. Well...the chicken did. But otherwise...everyone has all of their fingers and toes still. Focus on today and let yesterday go.

3. It was one day. You didn't gain the weight you wanted to lose in a day. You won't lose it in a day. And you won't gain it back in one day. One day is just a day. Keep it in perspective and keep pressing on. Unless you ate 3,500 calories more than you burned yesterday (unlikely) you likely didn't affect your weight.

4. You can do it. Don't give up over a bad night. You can do this. If I can, you can. So just keep going.

Now, onto some FASHION. I put together three more Chambray shirt outfits. These are romantic looks for a Valentine's Day date or any other occasion where you want to look flirty and sweet.

How to Wear a Chambray Shirt 1: Pretty in Pearl

1. Start with your chambray shirt! (Shirt, AE Boyfriend Chambray Shirt)

2. Tuck it into a suede skirt with a contrast elastic waistband or a faux leather one with a similar look. (Skirt, ShopRuche Central Park Pleated Skirt)

3. Pair it with black opaque tights. (Tights, Hue Women's Super Control Tights) 

4. Slip on black tall boots for a sleek look. (Black boots, Cole Haan Women's Adler Tall Boot in Black ) 

5. Add a pearl clutch with a splash of black. Vintage or current, you decide! (Purse, ALDO Exroiane Clutch)

6. Layer on the pearls in different lengths and hues. (Pearls, Vintage Chanel, Kate Spade Ready Set Pearl, J. Crew Pearl Twisted Hammock Necklace)

How to Wear a Chambray Shirt 2: A Rose by Any Name

1. Start off with a pretty lace dress with a flattering fit. I like this flirty skater style with the high neck and the sleeves. (Dress, Alice + Olivia Jayna Metallic Cotton Blend Lace Dress)

2. Slip your chambray shirt over top.

3. Add a pair of tights with a rose print. (Tights, Forever 21 Dainty Rose Sheer Tights) 

4. Pin on a pretty rose brooch. People don't wear enough brooches! They can really change an outfit (Brooch, Etsy no longer available)

5. Pick a pair of boots with a feminine flourish. I love these fold overs with the roses, but you could wear dressier boots in camel if you wanted. I might actually snag this pair for myself. They're under $40! (Boots, Wild Diva Whisky Fold Over Boot)

6. Finish with a rose purse, vintage or otherwise (Handbag, Michael Negrin Leather Handbag)

How to Wear a Chambray Shirt 2: Ballerina Beautiful

1. Start with your chambray shirt, of course!

2. Tuck it into a luxe tulle skirt. I love this one with its pinky taupe color and sequins. (Skirt, Coast Cordelia Skirt)

3. Layer on a corset belt, or another very wide style belt. (Belt, Alaïa Laser-cut leather corset belt)

4. Add some unexpected boots. I picked black cowboys, but something else a little funky and chunky will work. (Boots, Sendra Boots)

5. Slip on a black geometric statement necklace. I picked this funky little number that is sadly no longer available, but I've seen pieces like it other places.

6. Pick a sweet pair of studs. Don't overdo it with your earrings because of the statement necklace. I thought these stars were cute. (Earrings, Emanuele Bicocchi Star Clip Earrings)

7. Complete the look with a slouchy hobo in black velvet, corduroy or another bag with a wonderful texture. (Anthropologie Gustine Hobo)

And that's it! Three feminine looks with your chambray shirt! Got a favorite? Let me know in the "Comments" section. 

Join me tomorrow for a review of the Subscription Service ShoeDazzle and continuing coverage of what I just decided is called "Cheat Week" even though I dont' like the word cheat ;)

Have a fashionable day!

Tips for Eating Thin at the Super Bowl Party and What I Ate this Week

Happy Super Bowl Day! It is a holiday, right? Does Hallmark made a card for it? I bet they will soon if not already! If you're planning to watch the game tonight or watch the commercials and chat during the actual football part, there's a good chance you'll be doing it near FOOD. And football has been shown to make people overeat.

For real! A study in the journal of the Association for Psychological Science found that fans of NFL teams were more likely to overeat during games when their teams were losing and in the day afterwards. Apparently the angst and turmoil of cheering for a losing team makes Americans take comfort in food. It's really not that surprising to me, as I know part of the reason I became obese was due to emotional eating.

Even if you're not a die-hard football fan, being at a Super Bowl party can still lead to overindulging. Now, one night of splurging on calories isn't likely to make a big impact on your weight. Remember you need to eat at least 3,500 calories more than you burn to gain a pound of fat BUT feeling guilty over the fact that you overate could derail you from healthy eating.

Basically, you need to make your own decision today about whether or not you're going to allow yourself to splurge tonight. If you are, then go into it guilt-free. If you're going to try to stick to your thin eating plan, then the following tips can help you.

1. Don't go hungry! If you walk into the party with your stomach grumbling, you're more likely to pick foods indiscriminately. Have something to eat before you go. I personally have protein. A serving of nuts if I'm not famished, or one or two eggs if I'm pretty hungry. I find that protein makes me feel fuller longer than carbs. If I ate a piece of bread and went to the party, I'd be stomach growly the minute I walked in.

2. Start off healthy! When you first get up to eat, check out everything that's there. Look for raw veggies, fresh fruit, lean meats like turkey cold cuts, seafood like cocktail shrimp and other healthy fare. For your first round of food, eat the healthiest things that are on offer. Only put those things on your plate to begin with. If you make yourself fuller on the good for you things, you'll have less room for the bad for you ones.

3. Then let yourself have the bad.Yep. If there's something amazing looking there that you know is full of calories, let yourself have a little. A smart serving size. Eat that and see if it satisfies you. If you want more, make yourself wait 5 minutes. Sometimes, you'll decide you're full or get distracted and not need to overeat.

4. Listen to your body. When you feel full, stop eating. Throw your plate away or take it to where the dirty dishes are being collected.

5. Drink thin, too. Light beer, white wine, vodka or tequila with no mixers or diet ones--these are skinny drinks. But they're not free ones. If you're counting calories, don't give yourself a free pass on the liquid ones. And whether or not you're counting calories, please don't drink and drive </public service announcement>

6. Enjoy yourself. And don't beat yourself if you veer from your diet plan. One day won't make or break your healthy lifestyle.


So what will I be doing tonight? I'm not much for football, but we will be having some dips and more fattening food this evening. My personal choice is to stick to thin eating for Super Bowl Sunday. I plan to eat sauerkraut, cocktail shrimp, whole wheat crackers, raw veggies and olives. And a small piece of birthday cake--because my Dad's birthday is today! (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!) I'll be budgeting the cake and those foods into my calorie count for today, making a healthy choice for lunch.

Now, here's what I ate this week. Fewer pictures this week as some of the recipes came from a food blog, and I don't want to steal her pictures.

- For breakfast this week, I ate fruit-flavored yogurts for a change. Fage Strawberry and Cherry flavors. I put a half serving of pecans in for some extra protein.

- My favorite snack of the week this week was Brookside Chocolate Covered Pomegranate. I love these candies. A serving of them is 16 candies with 170 calories. I usually eat about 8 of them just to get a chocolate fix.

- Crock Pot Picadillo from Skinny Taste - Picadillo is a Cuban dish that is sort of like chilli. It's less tomato-y and has olives in it. The dish was really satisfying and filling, and 1 cup only has 340 calories.

- Easy Garlic Cheddar Biscuits from Skinny Taste - Do you like those biscuits from Red Lobster? Of course you do! Well, these are those...but healthified. At the restaurant, those biscuits set you back 150 calories. The Skinny Taste ones are just 97 calories, and they are YUM.

- Chicken Pot Pie Soup from Skinny Taste - This is what we ate with those amazing biscuits. The soup was equally amazing. It's VERY filling. 1 cup and a biscuit was all I could manage. Make them together for a treat :)

- Baked Tilapia Curry from Eating Well (picture below!) - This is like a Thai curry as opposed to an Indian one. A little coconut-y and a little sweet. There isn't a ton of spice so don't be afraid of it. I imagine it would be good with other types of fish, too, and probably with shrimp or chicken.

So that's it for this installment of the blog. Come back tomorrow when I do three more exciting things with a chambray shirt and talk a bit about CHEATING on your eating thin endeavors!  Happy Super Bowl Day!

This Week's Obsessions: Typography Fashion

So this week we had some excitement at our house. We had a water damaged wall repaired and the bathroom repainted, so everything was turned upside down for a few days. We were bedroom and bathroom displaced, and it felt so odd to be in different parts of the house doing everything. It made me think about how important a routine is to sticking to something consistently. This is especially true with weight loss.

If you're trying to lose weight and struggling, try to get into a regular habit of when you eat. Plan out your meals and your snacks at the beginning of the week and stick to a schedule. I have found that when I approach food more regularly by eating at around the same time and planning what I will eat or at least how I will divide my calories ahead of time, it becomes natural.

It's hard to adjust to anything when you don't do it consistently, but when you get on a routine it becomes second nature.

Maybe it was the fact that everything was all shook up this week, but for some reason, I couldn't get those cute nails I commented on in that photo of Miley Cyrus earlier this week out of my head. So I did some fashion searching and online window shopping. Hence--this week's theme is words, letters and typography! Without further ado--here are my weekly obsession.


1. Dress of the Week

Moschino, 2013

I love the font and the simplicity of the two-color look and with the scarf it is flawless.

2. Skirt of the Week

 Poem Writing Skirt, Chez Margot Vintage, Etsy, $30

This lovely piece is handmade. I love the font and the idea of writing out the numbers. This one might have to go in my wardrobe.

3. Top of the Week

V-neck T-Shirt, Hello Minky, Etsy, $28.95

This is one of many beautiful t-shirts in this shop on Etsy. I love the mix of typefaces.

4. Shoes of the Week

I Love You Ballet Flats, TopShop, 2010

WILL.BE.STALKING.EBAY.FOR.THESE. I am in love with these shoes. How could you not be? They're sweet sunny yellow and printed with the sweetest words you can hear.

5.Accessory of the Week

Brighton Beach Scarf, Kate Spade, $128

I love the typography with the carnival theme inspired by Brighton Beach. Also, it seems that so many typography pieces are black and white. This scarf looks lovely tied. It's a bit of a splurge, though.

6. Jewelry of the Week

Custom Initial Necklace, Crankyhayes, Etsy, $24

The vintage look of these is sweet. I don't know if I'd get my initial or my son's if I were going to buy one. Or maybe a Q. I always feel bad for Q. It's always stuck with U and never gets any alone time.

7. Beauty of the Week

Newsprint Nail Decals, NailSpin, Etsy, $5

I know you can do this newsprint deal on your own without decals...except if I try it, I'll have one beautiful hand and one that looks like I did it with my eyes shut. Decals would be the way for me! There are actually a lot of really unusual decals in this shop. Worth a look-see.

So that's that...my typography fashion obsessions of the week. I will be back Sunday with what I ate this week and some tips. See you next time =)

8 Cute Pairs of Mid-Rise Jeans to Prevent a Muffin Top

SURPRISE! I said I wasn't going to post tonight but I decided to do a sneaky late night Wednesday post. 

Muffin tops are pretty awesome when they're on muffins. Not so much when they're on the ladies, am I right? Lots of women are prone to muffin toppage. I know I am. I've lost a lot of weight in my midsection, but I'm still a little saggy and I have loose skin from the weight loss. Even very thin women can have trouble in this area if they've had children, so what do you about it?

Well, muffin tops happen when your jeans fit too low and push your stomach up. So basically you need jeans that sit higher on the waist. A lot of fashion experts will recommend high-waist jeans, but it's difficult to find those that aren't...well, mom jeans. Don't get me wrong. I'm a mom, and I love being one. But I don't want my jeans to give it away!

So mid-rise for me is the way to go. Today, I spent some time looking around for cute mid-rise jeans, and here are my top picks--all $100 or less (most are much less)!

1. Misses Skinny

 

Skinny jeans are a big thing, and these Big Star Alex Mid Rise Skinny Jeans from 6pm.com are great. I love the dark wash with the lighter knees.They're reasonably priced too at $34.99. The picture's kinda tiny, but head over to the site. You'll love them. 6PM has free shipping too! 

2. Plus 

These are one of several super cute pairs of mid rise James Jeans for Plus on super sale at Ideeli, the Daily Deals site. These jeans sell for over $175, and they are on a daily seal sale for under $25. If you want to check them out, you need to register here and then here's the link for the entire sales, so you can see all of the James Jeans looks.

3. Petites

I'm a shortie so I'm used to taking my jeans to the tailor, but every now and then it's nice to find a pair that just fits the first try. The Levi's Women's Petite Mid Rise Skinny Jean is mid rise and petite, so it's a winning combination. These are between $40 and $45 depending on the color at Amazon.

4. Misses Boot

 

 I know skinny is in, but I still love boot cuts. The Mavi Jeans Ashley Mid-Rise Slim Boots are the perfect combination of mid-rise and boot, and they're $36.99 at 6pm.com.

5. Plus 

 

A big mistake that I made as a plus was wearing my jeans to baggie. Picking styles that hug your curves is often more slimming that trying to hide in a boxy fit. These Levi's Women's Plus-Size Mid Rise Triple Needle Stitch Skinny Jeans hug the curves and have a touch of elastane for stretch. They're $43 to $50 at Amazon right now.

6. Misses Skinny Stretch

J. Brand is THE brand among celebrities now and I found these awesome J Brand afterlife stretch mid-rise skinny jeans on Bluefly for $99. They're stretch skinnies, so they still have a comfy fit but with that silhouette that's all the rage right now.

7. Vintage 4/6 

Okay, vintage lovers. These mid rise jeans are Levi's Red Lines. Collectible jeans, we're talking here. As of the time of this writing, these jeans are $95 and are 85% off, making them $14.25. For serious. Buy these if they fit you. BUY THEM. Just make sure you enter "SWEETDEALS" when you checkout to get the discount. Also you need to register to here before you can find the jeans here.

 

8.  Misses Flares 

I like the Lucky Brand Women's "Sweet N Low" Slight Flare Mid Rise Jeans because they have the classic flare shape but it's not full on bell bottom. I'll wear bells...but not for every day jeans. Just my taste! These jeans are $49 on Amazon. I think that's a pretty good price for Lucky!

So there you have it...my 8 picks for mid-rise jeans or how to hide a muffin top with jeans!

P.S. Thanks to reader and friend, Jennifer for the idea for this post! If anyone else wants me to cover something fashion or weight loss or some awesome fashion and weight loss hybrid topic, leave me a message in the Comments or hit me up on the Facebook page.

See you Friday for Favorite Things Friday.

Subscription Box Review: Jan. 2014 Little Black Bag Review

Today I got my first shipment from Little Black Bag, so I wanted to share my very first experience and my first impressions in a subscription box review.

How It Works:

Little Black Bag is not like a lot of other subscription box services. Registration is free. When you sign up, you answer some very brief style questions and then they immediately give you a selection of accessories that you might like. That's an indication that no human stylist is picking out things for you, but I must say their computer algorithm did a great job selecting for me. I had a selection of shoes, purses and jewelry to choose from, but I could shop the entire site if I wanted. Apparently there are also cosmetics and home decor items in the collection but none showed up for me.

The way Little Black Bag works is that you pay $39.95 each month to be in the club. You can skip a month if you choose to. When the month starts, the take your $39.95 and put it into an account so that when you shop you have it available. As a member, all of the prices of the items on the site are discounted.

When you select an item from your gallery that their computer puts together for you, you have two options. You can buy it for the price listed or buy it as a set. When you choose a set, the price becomes $39.95 and then you are given two additional accessories that go with the item you purchased--in theory. So basically, every month you'll get one thing that you selected to buy and two accessories. You can buy more if you want as well.

After you are given your accessories, you're taken into a sort of chat room area where you can trade the two accessories that you were given with other women who want to trade. You don't have to talk to anyone. You just get offers and make your choice. If you love what you have, you can just checkout and be finished.

My Experience:

As  I said, I really liked the items they had selected for me. After debating for a short while I opted for these shoes:

I decided to go for the package deal. When I got into the chat room, I had a purple leather bracelet that they are now sold out of.  I also had these earrings:

I liked the earrings a lot and I think they're a pretty decent look to go with the shoes. They have them priced at $10. The purple leather bracelet was nice but I wanted to try out trading so I decided to go ahead and trade it. I had about 10 offers immediately. I ended up with a beaded necklace that is also now sold out on the site. I checked out and that was that.



The Products:

It took about 5 days for my package to arrive. This is the can't-miss-it box.

When I opened it and lifted up the paper, this is what I had waiting for me:

I dug right in and grabbed the earrings first. Here they are:

I am really surprised by how light they were. I thought they were going to be glass but they are plastic. They probably aren't worth $10, but considering that the accessories are pretty much free when you buy the bag, I'm glad to have these. They have a nice rubber stopper on the fish hooks, and they're big but since they're so light they won't pull down my ears or be annoying when they swing.


I actually investigated the shoes next because the pretty box had me so intrigued. I figured if the box that was nice, the shoes were going to be AMAAAAZING...

And they are.

These shoes from Poetic License have a red velvet fabric, peep toes, orange trim and an orange satin bow applique. The heels are 3 inches high, and they have black and purple gemstone brooches on the bows. I love these and I can see myself wearing them to add pop to a little black dress. These are definitely worth the $40 that I paid for the bag. I basically consider the other pieces in the set to be bonuses or freebies.

Then I turned to the necklace:

The necklace is multi-stranded with plastic beads in a nice range of colors. It's probably worth about $5 to $10. I like the colors a lot, and this is definitely something I'd wear, too. I probably would not have bought a piece like this on its own, so it's a fun addition to my jewelry box.

The Takeaway: My Little Black Box is fun if you like to shop. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to buy a new pair of shoes or a handbag every month. They have some really great brands in a range of tastes--Ivanka Trump, BCBG, LAMB, Badgley Mischka, Steve Madden, Chinese Laundry, Seychelles, Big Buddha, Olivia + Joy to name a few. Getting a piece from these brands for the price you get with the membership is a pretty sweet deal. My impressions of the bonus pieces are still out. They are definitely worth owning, but at this point, I'd say the real value comes from the item that you pick yourself.

 If you're pressed for time and you don't want to bother with trading or want a human to actually pick looks for you, this isn't the right subscription box.

Want to try Little Black Bag? If you register here, you'll get 25% off your first month. You can cancel any time you want, so if you're curious, do it with the discount and see what you think!

Not sure if the next post will be tomorrow or Thursday! So stay tuned!

Say No to Mean Girlness and Hello to Chambray with Brights

So Justin Bieber got himself into some trouble, eh? When I first heard the news, I was like this:

Nope. No shock. I only briefly heard the news and then tuned out. It was only later that I heard he was arrested for drag racing. Now, I know nothing of what I guess is a thriving underground drag racing scene, perhaps. I only have one experience with drag racing, so immediately, I pictured this:

That's right--Grease. I pictured Biebs in a car racing some dude with bad acne scars whose car has scary blades on the tires because he's a big dirty cheater. I wondered if his racing opponent received a token of love from his clearly not high school aged but is supposed to be girlfriend. And then I thought of Chacha DiGregorio.

And then my stream of consciousness took a giant leap. I wondered what ever happened to her, and most importantly, I wondered what she looked like now. How the years had treated her. So I Googled her. Sadly,  it turns out that the actress that played Chacha, Annette Charles, passed away at age 63 back in 2011. But before I learned that, I scoped her out on Google Images. And I thought to myself, "Wow, she looks great."

But then, I stopped to think...how freaking shallow of me! Why does it really matter what Chacha looks like now. Why do I care? What does it matter to me? And worse, did I want her to look bad?

This got me to thinking about a nasty habit I think many of us ladies have. Being overly critical of other ladies. You know you've done it. You've commented inwardly or outwardly on how someone looks before, or you saw a photograph of a celebrity and snickered. It's a harmless enough thing, of course. I don't think most of us are intentionally trying to be mean girls. Unless you won't let someone sit at your lunch table because they have sweatpants on.

Women can be competitive, and it's easy to measure up others, even if you quickly catch yourself and stop.

But when you think about it...maybe it isn't quite so harmless. I think that when we analyze what others look like, we are flexing the muscle behind that voice inside of us that sends us negative messages about our appearances. We give that voice some words to say. If we can find fault in a super model, a celebrity or the girl in the next cubicle, I think it just makes it easier to find fault in ourselves.

So I'm issuing an anti-Mean Girls challenge for everyone. This week, any time that you get that urge to critique yourself or someone else....force yourself to notice three attractive things. Not begrudingly. Really look. Really see. Because everyone is beautiful in their own way...especially you.

Now, I intend to practice what I preach, so here goes. Here's someone I have critiqued many, many times:

1. Miley really does have the body to pull off the outfit. She must train hard to have abs like that.

2. I never noticed that she has very blue eyes. They're actually very pretty.

3.After studying this outfit up close, she has monogram nails with her name on them in a typography look that's pretty damn cute. I might actually steal that look.

So there you have it. Now, you give it a try this week. Whether it's you or someone else, when you hear yourself saying those sorts of negative things. Stop and make yourself think three nice ones. Don't give your voice a chance to work out. It doesn't need to have abs like Miley's. The key to losing weight or feeling wonderful about yourself at a healthy one is being positive about who you are and getting that voice to be quiet.

.....Now for something completely different--SOME FASHION.

Until the end of February, I'll be doing some posts about different ways to wear Chambray shirts. I picked this piece because it's one that I never really wore much, but that I know many women consider a fashion staple. Before I lost weight, I never felt that comfortable in fitted blouses, so I'm anxious to rock a Chambray shirt now.

Before I go into my Chambray shirt stylings, I just want to talk a little bit about what I hope other people will get from this blog. My intention is to give basic ideas for outfits. My hope is that if you see a look that you like, you'll go to your closet and see what pieces that you have that you can use it to create it and then purchase whatever other pieces that you need to finish it off. I don't expect anyone to buy all the pieces I'm showing and buy that look. I want to give you ideas to make your own outfits. 

I will be providing buying guides for some pieces, so that you can get some ideas for purchasing pieces of a certain type to get a look you love, but again, that's only a guide. 

Now...here we go! Chambray three ways!

These looks all combine the Chambray shirt with a bright piece for a pop of color.

HOW TO WEAR A CHAMBRAY SHIRT 1

So here's the basics of this little beauty:

1. Start with your chambray shirt. Button it up three quarters of the way. (Shirt, AE Boyfriend Chambray Shirt)

2. Slip on a pair of bright capris. I chose coral because I'm crazy about that color right now. But you could use green, yellow, orange, red, anything that's bright and colorful. (Capris,  J Brand 8335 Harper Mid-Rise Capris)

3. Tuck the shirt partway in or leave it out, whatever you feel comfortable with.

4.  For your shoes, pick something strappy with an animal print, chevrons, polka dots or some other bold pattern that you like but in a neutral look. The shoes will add interest without clashing this way. (Shoes,10 Crosby Women's Dyls Platform Sandal,Black/Camel,7 M US)

5. Slip on one of those big chunky statement necklaces that are so fashionable right now. Keep the tones neutral like champagne, clear or white. (Necklace, Nakamol Crystal Statement Necklace, Sold out :(  )

6. Finish it off with a clutch or a shoulder bag with a simple shape. Pick a complementary neutral tone like this camel. (Clutch, Clare Vivier Foldover Clutch)


HOW TO WEAR A CHAMBRAY SHIRT 2 

And now for this bright fun outfit:

1. Slip on a striped t-shirt in black and white or gray and white. (Tee, Neon Rose Black and white stripe tee)

2. Pull your chambray shirt over it. Leave it loose or tie the ends in the front, whichever is more flattering.

3. Add a brightly colored maxi skirt. (Skirt, Fausto Puglisi High Waisted Viscose Skirt)

4. Choose cute shoes in a matching stripe (Sandals, Christian Louboutin Puglia 100 striped canvas espadrille slingbacks, sold out sadly)

5. Pick a color block bag that brings together all of your hues (Bag, Milly Logan Small tote)

6. Finish with a fun necklace that shows your style. (Necklace, Mod Cloth Good Style Omen Necklace)

HOW TO WEAR A CHAMBRAY SHIRT 3

 

And last but definitely not least as I think this is my favorite:

1. Start with the chambray. Button it up all the way but leave the cuffs undone.

2. Add a cardigan in a bright color. I went for coral again, but this look would be cute with pastels as well as neons brights. Roll up the sleeves of both your cardi and your chambray shirt to your elbows or to the middle of your forearms. (Cardigan, Moschino Cheap and Chic)

3. Pull on your favorite black pants. I like the shape of these flared beauties. (Pants, Armani Wide Leg Pants)

4. Add some glitzy heels. I picked hematite because of the beading on the cardigan (Shoes, Christian Louboutin You You Strass)

5. Pick a dainty purse to match your shoes. (Clutch, Judith Lieber Couture Crystal Slide Hematite Clutch)

6. Finish with one clunky bracelet. Match the shoes and purse, your trousers, your cardigan whatever you want. Size matters more than the color here. (Bracelet, AllSaints Amniote Bracelet)

So there you have it! Got a favorite look? Tell me about it in the Comments section. Tune in tomorrow when I'll be reviewing the Little Black Bag Subscription Box! See you then =)

What I Ate This Week and Portion Control Tips

First off, I have a Facebook page for the blog now. At some point, I will figure out how to get it in the sidebar of Blogger to make it easy to find, but for now we're linking the old school way. Make sure to follow the page! I plan to post helpful links and pretty things there from time to time and link to the blog posts.

So as I promised in my first post, I am going to post every Sunday about some of the things I ate the week before. My goal here isn't to give you a meal plan to follow. It's just to provide some yummy meal ideas.

Weight loss needs are very different for every person. My recommended calorie levels aren't the same as yours or any of my other readers', and there are other methods of weight loss out there that don't count calories that may work for you.

My goal with these posts is just to report--like Lois Lane. But with red hair. So anyway here goes--

With the cold weather and the snow, this would have been a good week for soup. Oddly, I ate some cold things for dinner. Here's a look at some menu highlights and snacks from this week. Photography is not my strong point, so I'll be using images from the sources of the food.

Nature Box Banana Bread Granola was my breakfast with a container of plain Oikos Nonfat Greek Yogurt most mornings. This granola is amazing. It has dried banana, raisins, coconut, sesame seeds and walnuts. I've already talked about Nature Box before, and I'm sure I will again. If you want to check it out, use this link and enter SHARE10 when you order to get a discount off your first purchase.

My favorite snack of the week was Pipcorn in White Truffle. Pipcorn is whole grain mini popcorn. It's light and it's every bit as good as the stuff you make in the microwave. One serving is a massive 2.5 cups, and it has just 120 calories. The White Truffle is very light. I couldn't have picked out that it was truffle. It just tasted like "Yum" and "Yes, please" to me. They have other flavors, too. Rosemary. Sea Salt.  Kettle. I think they had Gingerbread for the holidays. I don't think it's sold in stores. It seems to be an online thing.

So I don't always know what to make of Gwyneth Paltrow. She seems kind of all over the place to me with like country music singing and then having her GOOP project and being an actress and having a cookbook and practicing underwater basket weaving (one of those things she did not actually do--YET!). She kind of reminds me of when you're a kid and every day you want to be something new. I want to be a ballerina! I want to be a teacher!  I want to be a pilot! I want to be a dinosaur! Etc. etc. But one thing I'll say for Gwyneth, lady makes good salmon. The Salmon With Sriracha Sauce and Lime from her cookbook is amazing. Don't be scared of the sriracha. This dish has bite but it's not killer hot. We ate ours with broccolini, but you can put any veggie with it and have a starch too if you fancy. Click here for the recipe on Self.

That's Quinoa Pilaf and Seared Scallops that you're looking at. You can find it here at Eating Well. Okay before you think WUT. SCALLOPS. We very rarely eat scallops at home. This recipe just looked too good to pass up. It's scallops, oranges, almonds and herbs with quinoa. If you haven't had quinoa before, it's a seed that has all of the nutrition of a whole grain. You say it like KEEN-WAH. And if you're me you say it as if you're a ninja and everyone looks at you funny. Can't help it though QUINOA is fun to say! And this meal is a fun treat. If you're not up for scallops, make some chicken breast tenders and toss them in. Or just make the quinoa as a side.

 This is seriously one of my favorites right now. It's Chopped Ham & Apple Salad with Creamy Parmesan which is right here at Eating Well. It's got some greens, some radishes, some apples and ham. Save this one for when you make a ham or make a ham special for it. It's fantastic. I ate some for lunch and then there was a half serving left for lunch so I mixed a serving of shredded cheese in it and ate that with some whole wheat bread the following day.

Mediterranean Cauliflower Pizza! This unique one from Eating Well  is like pizza but with cauliflower as the crust. It's a really unique idea and has sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella and black olives on top. I'm not sure it will pass for pizza for people who don't like cauliflower. Even with their magical powers to make healthy food taste like it's bad for you good, even Eating Well can't make cauliflower taste like a Pizza Hut pan pizza. BUT! It's still tasty.

And here's the thing about weight loss--you can eat the Pizza Hut pan pizza if you count the calories and eat what's available in your day. If you want it, eat it, but eat it in moderation. Sensible portions! Which leads me to the rest of this blog post....nice segue, eh?

The key to eating when you're adopting skinny eating habits -- I don't say dieting, dieting is something you do for a week and then say oh to hell with this and then eat a bag of Oreos --is to control your portion size. All of the foods I listed above have under 500 calories per serving. But you have to eat the serving size. A whole bag of Pipcorn, 3 cups of Banana Bread Granola, seconds of the ham salad is overeating.

Your body doesn't give a free pass to healthy food. It isn't like oh hey quinoa, you're full of whole grains come on in all you want. We'll make room here behind the spleen. Excess calories turn to fat, so it's important to control your portion size. Eat what you love. Love what you eat, but eat the right amount. Here's a couple of tips to help you out:

1. Get out your measuring cups. Yeah, it sucks to measure everything, but eventually you can eyeball it. I can pretty much tell what 1/4 cup, 1/3 cup, 1 cup, etc of food looks like. I still measure things like whole calorie salad dressing and whole calorie mayo just to be safe because i used to drown my food in those things.

2. Put the bag away. Don't eat snacks out of the bag. Get your snack measured out and set aside and then put the bag away. You WILL eat more than you should if it's out of the bag. How can you ever know how much you ate?

3. Find out how big your utensils are. If you don't like to measure, get out your big spoons for serving and your ladles and so on and get out measuring cups and find out how much is in them all at once. You can pretend like you're doing experiments in a laboratory if you feel like it. I totally have.

4. Divide it up when you buy it. When you get home from the grocery store, open up your bags of pretzels, crackers, nuts, whatever you eat that's nibble sized and pre-measure it into ziploc bags or reusable cloth bags like an ecoDitty bag or a Lunchskins bag if you're eco conscious.  Then,  when it's time to snack or take something with you to go, you have it measured out to the perfect amount. You can even put your premeasured snacks back into the box bag, etc to make them easy to store.

5. Put color on your plate first. Colorful foods are your veggies and your fruits. Whatever you're eating, put those babies on first. Then put your protein on and your starch if you're having one.

6. Or just buy portion plates like these:

These Portion Control Plates from  Colors_Of_Life on Zazzle come in a bunch of different patterns from modern to traditional. Your big section is for your fruits and veggies and the little sections are for your starch and your meat. They also have a four section one, but I like the three better personally. Now remember, the goal isn't to see how much you can cram into the section. This isn't like a 1950s how many boys can fit in a telephone booth game

None of that on your plate! Use the markers as a sensible guide.

There's six to get you started. I am sure there are other tips I can pass along the way. Tomorrow we're going to start looking at the chambray shirt I promised you at the beginning of this blog. And we're also going to talk about not the importance of not being mean girls. It'll be

See you then. =)

TL;DR Version: I ate food this week. Quinoa is fun to say. Portion control is important. Don't make your plate into a phone booth full of men in white t-shirts and khaki shorts.