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It's heating up out there, and I still want my treats! There's no reason you need to deny yourself some frozen treats during the summer. Freeze fresh fruit, and use it to mix up some great tasting frozen smoothies or slushies. Just plain old frozen grapes are really sweet and satisfying. Some people even use frozen bananas to make a kind of substitute soft serve "ice cream." 

Here's a recipe for one of my favorite low-calorie summertime treats--Frozen Yogurt Granola Bars.

1 1/2 cups non-fat yogurt (greek or regular) You can use any kind of flavored yogurt, but if you use plain, sweeten it with your sweetener of choice.

1/2 cup granola

1 cup chopped strawberries

2 Tbsp chocolate chips

Line an 8X8 pan with foil. Mix all ingredients together and spread in prepared pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer. When frozen, remove from freezer and let thaw 5 minutes. Cut into six bars, and re-wrap with plastic wrap to keep individual bars in freezer. They will be frozen hard, so let them thaw about 5 minutes before eating. 

You can see that there are a lot of ways you could vary this recipe. Just keep track of what you add in, and do a calorie count on it. Prepared as written, this recipe makes 6 servings at about 110 calories each.

Here they are, all wrapped up and ready to go back in the freezer.

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Every month my AIM (Adventures in Maintenance) friends and myself choose a question asked by readers and  then write separately our answers to that question. We don't talk about how we are going to answer the question, and we don't see each others articles until the day they are published. Last month we tackled the question, "What was your “last straw” moment, or whatever it was that finally made you say “I just have to do this (get healthy)”?"

It was a surprise to see that all of us wrote similarly about our experiences. There really wasn't a singular "last straw" moment for any of us.

I knew that I had a LOT of moments that SHOULD have been “the last straw.”

• Like when I would take my nieces on a special trip to Lake Tahoe, and I would sit on a bench in the shade just watching them.
• Or when I admitted to a special group of friends that sometimes I just felt like running out the front door, but I wasn’t physically able to do that.
• Like when I would limp into the house from the car after my 12 hour shift, thinking, I guess I’m just going to die early (because I can’t give up chocolate chip cookies.)
• Knowing that my blood pressure and blood sugar were starting to increase just a bit (and my dad had long-term hypertension and diabetes.)
• Or when something popped in my knee while taking a shower, and my leg hurt so bad that it literally took me half an hour to tie my shoe laces (so I could go to the ER.)

That last one. Man, I really thought that was going to do it for me. But no. I couldn’t seem to change the way I ate and thought and moved.

So my last straw seems to be an accumulation of years of quiet acceptance and desperation combined.

I so wish for all of you who are looking for that “last straw” or that “AHA moment” that you will find what you are looking for. Maybe it won’t be a big recognizable moment. Maybe it will just be that little admission “I need help,” or the quiet desperation that finally reaches the tipping point. Whatever it is, I know that I wish the very best for you. If you have more questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

To read more of my thoughts (and my friend's thoughts) on "The Last Straw" click here.

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Who used to cross stitch--raise your hand! I used to cross stitch a lot. I had a little pillow that had this rhyme on it (I forced my sister make it for me!)

I like me.

I like me, being what no one else can be.

Yes, I like me.

Some of my recent healthy living/weight loss/weight maintenance blog reading made me start to wonder--what if “self-acceptance” is a key component when it comes to long-term weight loss maintenance?

The National Weight Control Registry is often quoted by the experts as the definitive gathering of information on what it takes to maintain weight loss. I am a member of that society, so I know the questions they ask to gather this information. They don’t ask any questions about your psyche. I think that they would say that, as scientists, that kind of data is hard to quantify. Its simpler to say things like:

▪ 78% eat breakfast every day.

▪ 75% weigh themselves at least once a week.

▪ 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.

▪ 90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.

But it seems to me, in all my reading, that the people who have been successful at maintaining their weight loss either went into it already thinking well of themselves, or else they did a lot of work during the weight loss or after they reached “goal” on self-acceptance, or “liking themselves.”

Anyway, its just something to think about, whether you are starting on your weight loss journey, or you are “maintaining.” Do you like yourself?

To read more of my thoughts about maintaining your weight loss for the long term, click here.

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Does everybody know I have a brand new quilting studio? Exciting, right? It has been so exciting! But man! Between the construction on a brand new room, and then a lot of other house re-modeling, my life has been VERY interrupted for quite a long time. 

And that meant my exercise routine was interrupted as well. I'm pretty sure most of you quilters have had times where "real life" interrupted your exercise routine (you do have an exercise routine, right??) Quilt shows, quilt shop hops, quilt workshops, quilt retreats, quilt show deadlines...oh, and maybe some of us even have non-quilting type interruptions! 

Anyway, what do you do? Do you just give up, and say "I'll start over again on Monday" (next week, next month, next year--fill in your favorite start date)? Do you despair that all your hard work will have gone to waste and you will be as weak as a kitten when you finally are able to start back up?

My exercise routine was interrupted for almost three months. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was NOT back to square one when I was finally able to restart my usual routine. 

Its important to remember that its all in a lifetime. Interruptions are as much a part of life as our routines are.  If it's a lifetime commitment to healthy living, the interruptions are just an unavoidable part of that. There's no need to despair, or to quit and start all over. Just start right back as soon as you can, doing as much as life allows.

If you'd like to read more of my musings about life and exercise and interruptions, come check out my healthy living blog. 

(If you like, you can see pictures of my new studio over on my quilt blog.)

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Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend my first Ricky Tims' Super Quilt Seminar. I would highly recommend the experience to any quilter, no matter their level of expertise. The whole seminar is so very organized (Ricky starts and ends each session PROMPTLY on time, down to the minute!) And the idea of not having to bring SO MUCH STUFF for a workshop really appealed to me. 

On one of the evenings, Ricky presents a concert and inspirational talk. It is really a highlight of the weekend.

Since this was a little longer event (I left my house on Wednesday, and returned home on Saturday evening,) I wanted to plan my food at least a little bit, to make sure I had some healthy choices with me. It was pretty simple to pack my cooler bag with my yogurt and granola, and a few other essentials. But this time I tried something new. There was a Costco just a few miles from the hotel, so after making sure I had a mini fridge in my room, I headed over to Costco to get a bag of my favorite salad--the Kale Superfoods salad. It has the greens, dressing, and some dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds all in the bag. Yumm!

If you'd like to read a minute by minute (not really) report of my food choices for the weekend, you can visit my blog, Debby Weighs In. I just want to say again that it really is fairly simple to eat well when you are traveling. It just takes a little bit of planning. And a touch of adaptability!

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Forever and ever. Have you ever said that about a new diet or weight loss method you are using?

Finally. Finally it seems like you have found something that is working for you. And you think, “I will eat this way forever.” Or, “I will eliminate that food group from my diet forever.” Or, “If this is what it takes, I will keep coming to these meetings for the rest of my life.” Or, “this exercise method is the key to my new thinner self. I will do this for the rest of my life.”

I have. When I started Weight Watchers nine years ago, and it looked like it was actually going to “take,” I remember thinking (and even saying out loud) that I would continue coming to the meetings for the rest of my life. I thought of it as being like an alcoholic who needs to keep going to AA meetings to stay on the straight and narrow.

Only I didn’t. Me and W.W. parted ways  after a couple of years. I like to call it an amicable divorce.

Since starting this last weight loss journey almost 9 years ago, there have been a lot of twists and turns in my diet. The kinds of food I eat, the portions, and how often I eat have changed several times. I have no doubt that as time goes on, I will continue to make changes in my food choices and portions.

The main point, I guess, is to know that the human body is very complex and is not static. It changes, and its needs change. To navigate weight loss and maintenance successfully, I think you have to agree to this and at least be willing to consider change along the way.

If you'd like to read more about my changing diet, click on over to my blog. There is some interesting conversation in the comments from other folks as well.

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Recently I shared on my blog that I had once again reached one hundred pounds lost. Some people assumed that I had reached my goal weight. I would actually like to lose another 15 pounds, as that will decrease the stress on my knees and my back. But here’s the thing. I don’t think I want to have a goal weight. I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Wouldn’t it be so much better to have a GOAL LIFE? Here are some of the qualities I would like to achieve in that goal life:

• Kinder
• Humbler
• Productive (and creative!)
• Healthier (which would include being as thin as possible with food choices to support optimal health)
• BALANCED, with a side of contentedness (keeping up with that healthier goal but with minimal angst over food choices.)

For me, this seems a healthier way to look at weight loss. It is just one part of a whole and healthy life. Granted, it is a big part. But if those other things go by the wayside in order to achieve a certain weight or body size, that is NOT a whole and healthy life.

Everything works together. If I neglect my health, I will be in (even more) pain all the time. Do you know how hard it is to be loving and kind when you are in pain? So the best possible health is really very important. But if I am impatient or unkind because I am obsessed with what food I am going to eat, that is not a good life either.

These are some lofty goals. I am not always balanced. Anyone who has read my blog for a while knows I spend a little too much time thinking about food. I am not naturally kind and humble. I think I’m relatively productive, but I can be very wasteful of my days sometimes. And heaven knows, I’m doing my best to work on my health LOL.

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It's that time of year again! The new year is starting, and many of us are trying (once again) to change our eating habits and maybe lose a few of those holiday pounds.

Apple Cranberry Sauce--only 35 calories per 1/4 cup!

I love cooking. Over the years, through this long weight loss journey, I have developed a LOT of recipes. I have started doing "Recipe Reviews" each week to highlight some of my favorite recipes. If you click here, you will be directed to a page with my recipe reviews. If you would like to look at my recipes, you can go directly to my recipe site and scroll through all the options. Most of my recipes are low fat/low sugar recipes that still have a lot of flavor and nutrition.

Pumpkin Apple Baked Oatmeal--a BIG serving for only 200 calories!

Be adventurous, and try a new recipe in the new year!

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Come on! I bet everybody who reads my blog can guess what I watch during the holidays! I watch The Food Network and The Cooking Channel, of course! Honestly, my attention span is rather short these days, and I enjoy watching television shows rather than movies most of the time. I never cook the actual recipes from these shows--butter!oil!sugar!more butter! But I get lots of ideas for flavor combining that I come home and adapt to my low fat way of eating.

I also love the TV series "Doc Martin." And for actual Christmas shows, I will show my age and profess my love for the original cartoon version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and of course the Peanuts classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas." I tear up EVERY TIME Linus reads the Christmas story!

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Almost a year ago, Ricky invited me to share my thoughts on being a "Healthy Quilter" here on TQS. At almost the same time, I started the journey to re-lose some of the weight that I had re-gained in the previous three years. I'm happy to say that though its taken almost a year, I've lost twenty-five pounds, and am back to ONE HUNDRED pounds lost!

Some of my tips for losing weight at an "advanced age?" 

• Be patient. The weight just doesn't fall off of you like it did when you were twenty.
• Be sure to get enough protein. Protein can help keep you from being hungry.
• Give yourself grace. If you fail one day or one meal, its okay. Just continue on eating the healthiest food possible.

 You can read more about my weight loss journey on my blog at Debby Weighs In.