Endeavoring

The Free Dictionary defines endeavoring as "A conscientious or concerted effort toward an end; an earnest attempt".  Well then, I am still endeavoring to lose weight.  As I have said before on this blog, I am a sucker.  Show me a commercial and I'll usually decide that I need it.  Whatever IT is. 

Jack Lalane's juicer?  Check!  Got it at Bed Bath and Beyond with a 20% off coupon.  I use it regulary to make juice for my little sidekick - it is one of the few ways I can get vegetables down him.

Space Saver Bags?  Check!  Bought them at Target.  Used them to compact and store pillows, blankets, and quilts.  Half of them lost their seal and fluffed right back up.

Giant ZipLoc bags?  Check!  Bought them after the Space Saver Bags failed.  Now I put it in a giant ZipLoc bag, fold it up, and sit on it to get all the air out while fumbling with the ziploc portion to close the bag.  They have, however, been a success.

The latest thing that got my attention?  Jenny Craig.  Because, after all, if people on tv can do it, I can too, right?  *crickets chirping* I said, Right???    After reading their website I was even further enamored with the idea of signing up, eating what someone told me too, and waking up ten weeks later with twenty fewer pounds.  Unfortunately, the independent reviews I read took the sparkle off the stone.  One of my favorite recipe sites is http://www.epicurious.com/.  It ranks right up there with http://www.allrecipes.com/.  They had a great review of several diet options out there including Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem.  At the end of the review, they sat down and looked at (and tasted) some of the frozen meal options available from the grocery store, and gave the highest ratings to Kashi.  So, rather than fork over a bunch of money to Jenny Craig and settle for some crappy food, I decided to try some things on my own.

Breakfast has taken some ideas from Hungry Girl's 200 under 200 cookbook.  Have you heard of this?  I borrowed it from a friend and love having some things to eat for breakfast that are super easy, not eggs, and are low on calories.  My recent adaptation has been half a toasted whole grain English muffin (75 calories) with one ounce of fat free cream cheese (30 calories), a teaspoon of avocado (no idea how many calories), and three slices of roma tomato with salt and pepper.  I love this!  It feels so indulgent with all of that cream cheese (one ounce is a lot on half a muffin!). 

For lunch, I have been having a Kashi frozen meal.  These are so freaking good, 300 calories or less, full of protein, and a hefty serving of fiber.  Sorry, don't mean to sound like a commercial, but I'm really impressed. 

Lunch today was the Pesto Pasta Primavera - soooo good and pesto-y, the pasta was al dente, the peas were fresh and popped when you bit them. I'll be having more of these for lunch. 

My downfall so far, though, is dinner.  That's tough.  My goal is salads for dinner this week - we'll see what happens.

What are your favorite foods that don't break the calorie bank?