The Working Mom » weight loss

Food Journal

Jennifer — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 23:34:48 +0000

I decided to start taking pictures of all my food – so I started a food journal and named it “The most boring blog ever.” LOL! So if you’d like to see what I’m eating – feel free to take a peak. Related posts: Home so soon? A new day, a new plan Diet is [...]

A new day, a new plan

Jennifer — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:18:02 +0000

So my weight loss has stalled because I’ve become very frustrated with counting calories. I *always* feel hungry. If I exercise, I feel even more hungry. I don’t want to, and can’t exercise everyday – but that would probably be the only way to “buy back” some extra calories so I can eat more than a sliver of what is already a healthy meal. I also can see that any time I eat bread or pasta, it screws things up. I had some success on South Beach and Atkins in the past. I know the theory behind those and it makes sense – but the rigidity of those plans is also daunting. This is a “lifestyle change” after all – and if that change means “You can never eat another piece of chocolate again” – or you can only have it once a month – well, that’s going to make that change really difficult to stick to. Additionally, on the weekends we’ll often get together with family for big dinners and trying to be on a “diet” when I’m with everyone – it’s not a lot of fun. Our get togethers always seems to revolve around food – there’s no escaping it. For example: We’ll get together with my brother for dinner – and he loves high quality wine and cheese – and he’s an AMAZING cook and makes gourmet-style AMAZING food. Seriously? You want me to eat some celery sticks while I watch everyone eat everything else? Not gonna work!!

Christine has been raving about the “4-Hour Body” plan she’s been on, and sounds like she’s lost a decent amount of weight. About double what I’ve lost in half the time. Granted – if I had been able to STICK with my plan more precisely, we would have been closer to being even – but that’s the problem with my plan. Eating only 1200 calories a day, and not giving into hunger… it’s not sustainable. It’s how I ended up gaining all my weight back in the first place. I initially figured the Four Hour Body was just another Atkins or South Beach – but the one thing that drew my attention was the “Cheat Day”! The general idea here is that you follow the plan (which does not let you go hungry – but does restrict what your options are) 6 days a week. Then 1 day a week you reset your metabolism by having a cheat day. I know people are losing weight on this, but I have my doubts. If it does work, this would be awesome and would totally fit my lifestyle perfectly. The plan encourages eating the same meals repetitively – which would also work for me. I usually have the same breakfast every day and I could easily rotate the same 2 or 3 lunches every day too. For dinner I like to add variety – but that’s doable here too. And then for “cheat day” – that’s family day.

Since the calorie counting has just about run it’s course this time around, I’m ready to try something new – so we’ll see how it goes. So far my plan for breakfast is 2 hard-boiled (organic) eggs, with black beans and (no sugar added) salsa. (FYI – Green Mountain Gringo Salsa is my absolute favorite!! Not only does it not have sugar added – it tastes AWESOME!!!! I may also add Canadian or standard bacon every now and then.) Lunch for now is bean salad – This recipe in particular was really good: 5 Bean Salad – I added some canned mushrooms to that recipe. I’m also thinking that hearts of palm and/or artichoke hearts might be good in there too! (I believe both should be good on this plan) I’ll probably also vary it to by adding either some cooked turkey breast or tuna fish on occasion.

For dinner last night I made this Chicken Fried Faux-Rice. OMG. I loved loved loved it. (I even got Zach to eat a small bowl of it – with only a minor battle! Probably the most fiber he’s had all year!) Tonight – I’ll be making this recipe: Egg Foo Young. Wednesday will be this recipe: Black Bean Salsa and Chicken

The one thing I’m a little disappointed with is that on this plan, going completely vegetarian isn’t really possible. (Or at least it makes it really really difficult!!) Oh, that and Quinoa is on the “no” list. I did love Quinoa! I’m still trying to work in more beans and vegetables (and eggs) as the primary, reoccurring food so we’re not eating STEAK every night – and when we have meat – focus more on fish and chicken. Anyway, we’ll see how it goes….

My experiences with Topiramate (one of the major ingredients in Qnexa)

Jennifer — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 01:22:00 +0000

My husband and I have caught glimpses of some recent news about the debate of Qnexa – which is a combination of Topiramate and Phentermine. I’m sure just the mention of these two drugs will bring all kinds of interesting traffic. But I thought I would post about my experiences with Topiramate specifically – because what happened to me was real and wasn’t some bizarre side effect that doesn’t really happen to most people. I can’t speak for Phentermine, as I have never taken that before.

I’ve taken Topiramate twice before. The first time was a few years ago for the treatment of migraines. I was getting them a few times a month, and my doctor was concerned that my taking “normal” migraine medication like Imitrex several times a month wasn’t a great idea. So we gave Topiramate a try (Also known as Topamax) It did a great job for my headaches. Little did I know, it also did a great job for my waistline. I was, at the time, trying to lose weight. Watching calories, exercising. During that time I was able to get my weight down to an incredible low. A number I hadn’t seen since High School! I thought it was all the exercise I was doing, and my appetite was under amazing control. But I did have some weird side effects. One I noticed was that (aside from the appetite reduction) I couldn’t taste carbonation. All carbonated beverages tasted flat to me and I stopped drinking them. Not really a bad thing – but just kind of weird. It makes you wonder what the heck is going on with the drug that makes you unable to taste carbonation! I wasn’t really aware of the biggest side effect the first time because most of my work was being sent to me by one single client, and I didn’t need to interact with anyone. Everything was done via email and Skype – so speaking wasn’t really an issue.

I stopped taking Topiramate because my doctor said there was a problem with taking it when you also use Mirena – it reduces its effectiveness. (DOH!!!) After I stopped taking it – all the weight slowly crept back on. My appetite kicked back into full swing. I had originally lost 30lbs – and before I knew it – all 30lbs came back on.

I started to take it again almost a year ago. A new doctor I was seeing didn’t think the Topiramate and Mirena together was a problem (at least initially). The side-effects came on instantly. And this time, they caused some serious problems for me. My work had shifted and I was doing a lot more client interaction. I was on the phone with clients discussing projects, explaining to them what my skills were and how I could help them, etc. But the Topiramate gave me terrible terrible brain fog. I didn’t realize what was happening at first. I thought I was going crazy. I was on the phone with a client, and I couldn’t for the life of me, gather my thoughts to explain what I did EVERY DAY. Words, ALL WORDS, were totally elusive. When I started doing some research online, I found some forums where people talked about experiencing “brain fog” while on Topirmate, and then it hit me that’s exactly what I was going through. That was it. I tossed the pills in the trash! My livelihood depended on my ability to interact with clients, and if I sounded like a moron – then my business was going to suffer.

Shortly after, my doctor contacted me and told me to stop taking Topiramate because she finally did confirm that it did reduce the effectiveness of Mirena. So that sealed the deal.

I’m sure under certain circumstances this new drug Qnexa will be the wonder-weight-loss drug some people have been waiting for. Given that the weight started coming back almost immediately after I stopped taking it (And the drug isn’t intended to be a permanent course of action) I question if it will really make a difference long term for people. I see it as kind of a temporary fix. In the same league as Jenny Craig. Once every meal isn’t specifically planned out for you, or in the case of this drug, once your appetite comes back to normal – that’s when you realize, despite all the weight your already lost – keeping it off will be probably be just as hard as it was losing in the first place. (In fact, it will probably be harder!)

I’m back to trying to lose that weight again and it’s going along, but a lot slower and more difficult than last time. I’m hoping this time once I get down to where I want to be, that I’ll be able to maintain it better than I did last time. I’m still also hoping that one day they’ll figure out a more permanent “fix” (or help) for weight troubles. (and don’t give me a story about how you just need to eat less twinkies. I’m eating very healthy and exercise for an hour 4x a week. I’m certainly living a healthy lifestyle – but the food that is made the most accessible to us is more often than not, unhealthy – and for someone like me – the “daily calorie allowance” is so low it’s practically a joke. It’s VERY DIFFICULT to stay in that calorie range and not feel hungry.)

Zumba Fitness Rush – Week 1

Jennifer — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:33:18 +0000

So this week I skipped the gym and stayed home and used Zumba Fitness Rush on the Xbox Kinnect. So far so good. Overall I’m very happy with it. I’m not sure if it’s really better than doing the exercise with just the DVD (I don’t have the DVD set) but I did burn a fair amount of calories. They actually tell you how many you’ve burned and they’re pretty accurate. The first time I did the “class” I wore my Heart Rate monitor so I could compare it with what it was saying, and it was dead on – scary enough. Although – my daughter joined me for PART of the class – and then disappeared – and it said she burned the same amount of calories – but maybe it’s just taking the average for the class.

Either way – I got a good fun workout at home. I was plenty tired and sweaty at the end of the hour – and I didn’t have to get into any fist fights with people to make room. So I would call this a success.

I do wish it would give more feedback during a *class* on how to improve. Some of the steps in the class vary more than they do in a regular in-person class – or they’re just a little difficult to follow. As well, some of those steps don’t have a “tutorial” mode on them so the only way I’ll figure them out is doing the same class a few times. I also wish they had a clock on there. More than once I’ve wondered how much more time to the class I had left. Again, though, I’m really happy with this “game” and plan on using it from now on as my main exercise plan.

Zumba without the stress?

Jennifer — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:49:22 +0000

I am so fed up with the Zumba classes at 24Hour Fitness. The gym that I go to – about a year ago – lost part of it’s class space – so they’ve only had one small classroom. They have no plans to expand or move to a bigger location. Basically this is the “budget” 24hour fitness. The bigger one – the one right next door – is the “Super Sport” building. Membership costs twice as much – I’ve never been in there, so I don’t know if their classrooms are bigger. But I get the impression that being the cheaper memberships of the two – corporate probably wouldn’t care if the roof started leaking – they’re not putting money in it – much less expand it or make the classrooms bigger.

They *do* limit the number of people that can be in the class – I think it’s 30 or 40… it doesn’t matter. The class is still too crowded. And either way – the problem I keep running into are just rude people. The only way I can see solving that one is putting tape down on the floor and designating spots. You see, I get a MUCH better workout if I can actually see the instructor. Makes sense. If I can see her, I can pick up what she’s doing quickly, and get into the rhythm more quickly, and then be working out more. If I have to spend the first half of the set trying to figure out what she’s doing – yes I’m moving, but it’s not as intense as when I know I’m doing the right move. So I get to the class 30mins early – so I can be one of the first ones in line to get in. When I get in, I try to get into the front row. Without fail – one of the following happens after that: Someone comes in and rather than stand a reasonable distance apart, they get up RIGHT behind me so that when I’m moving around, I can’t move as big because I’ll be bumping into them. OR I get someone who stands RIGHT in front of me (yes, I’m already in the front row – but I guess they figure they’ll make a “new” front row) but really that’s too close too the wall, so during the class they eventually keep pushing back further and further and I’m back and can’t see the instructor anymore.

Last night was no exception. Same routine. This time 3 people stood directly in front of me. 2 were friends of the instructor and were pissed I think they got there late and refused to stand in the back. Another was some guy I’ve never seen before. Same thing – they pushed me back, I couldn’t see the instructor and I’d had enough of it. I asked the guy to slide over a bit so I could squeeze in that row so I could see the instructor. He refused – insisting that I should be able to see better on an angle where I was. (except that one of the 2 instructor-friends was blocking me (she was large). So I told him he was welcome to stand where I was if he thought the view was better. So he switched with me – after one set I asked him if HE could see better there and he just kind of grumbled. I offered to make room for him – but again, he just grumbled.

I’m so done. Seriously. I want to work out and lose weight – and the class is becoming more stress than it’s worth. I was looking online and saw that there is an XBOX 360/Kinect game: Zumba Fitness – Kinect. In fact there is a new one coming out in just a few days: Zumba Fitness Rush

(Ironically – the new Zumba game appears to come with a trial membership to 24Hour Fitness. ROFL. DO NO WANT! LOL) The real question will be if I will be as consistent doing the game/class at home as when I take it at 24Hour (where I have to sign up for the class a month in advance to be guaranteed to get in the class at all. Oh, did I mention that too? Annoying!!)

So, come February 13th – I’m running out and getting Zumba Fitness Rush. I’ll definitely post my results/review.

Found a New Vegetarian Recipe

Jennifer — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 06:20:10 +0000

Ok, I’m back on track after the holidays. I fully expected xmas and new years to be flops diet wise – I wasn’t going to try and fight it and really just wanted to have fun. My plan was to just get back on track as quickly as possible which I have done. Zumba is back on track. The gym is nuts at the moment though. Everyone’s there for their New Year’s resolution. =sigh= So the class ends up being super crowded with people who don’t understand the whole personal-space thing. I think the worst offenders are the ones who don’t even do it on purpose – and especially those same ones that have no grace at all and flail like a crazy person in the class – always missing the cue when the entire class moves to the right or left… It’s dangerous! LOL!

In any case – I found a GREAT vegetarian recipe. I made it for dinner tonight and it was really yummy and filling and just awesome. The recipe is Quinoa and Roasted Pepper Chili. Sometimes I have to modify the recipe, short of just using more zucchini than the recipe probably called for, I followed the directions almost exactly. I had some extra calories to spare today so I threw 1/3 of a cup of shredded cheddar cheese on top. Yum!

One thing I’m on the hunt for some good lentil recipes. I tried a curried lentils and paneer recipe a few nights ago but it was a big flop. I really like lentils – they’re healthy and filling, but I need some flavorful recipes! I’ll keep hunting.

Vegetarian Recipes

Jennifer — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 06:41:37 +0000

I’ve been trying to eat more veggie based dishes – initially fueled by a paper my daughter wrote for school. It started with some research from that Food, Inc. book – and as we dug into the issue more and more, I wanted to do better too. It’s not a change that can happen overnight – so my goals are simple – try to limit our meat-based meals to once, maybe twice a week. Buy organic when possible. Buy local when possible. I’m not going to be die-hard about any of this – but I figure any small effort will help. And as we do more and more, we’ll become more “green.”

I am of course also trying to lose weight – so when I found a bunch of diet vegetarian recipes on eatingwell.com – I was really happy. Here are a few from there and a few other places I’ve found:

Acorn Squash stuffed with Chard and White Beans.
This was really tasty – but rather than just filling the acorn squash, I’ll probably scoop it out – mix it with the “stuffing” – and then either serve inside the acorn squash shells for appearance – or just serve in bowls. I personally liked to have it all mashed together.

Chickpea Stew
I love chickpeas – but unfortunately my kids do not. So this is one I’ll make when I’m just serving myself and Sam. It was really good though.

Quinoa and Black Beans
I really love quinoa – mixed with the black beans in this dish is a nice alternative to rice and beans.

Roasted Red Pepper Stuffed with Kale and Rice
I actually substituted quinoa in this dish and it was really good. I also wasn’t so thrilled with the whol red pepper stuff thing – same as the acorn squash dish… I know it “looks” prettier that way – but I’d rather have everything sliced up nice and easier to eat.

Roasted Vegetables Galette with Olives
Ok this one was really good – and I did not expect to like it nearly as much as I did. Looking at the ingredient list I was expecting not to like it all actually. It’s not like I often eat parsnips and beets. But the mixture was great and tucked in the bread like that it was really good. I will probably use less goat cheese next time. For starters, I think that will help the calorie count of the dish – but also my daughter was not a fan of the cheese.

Chiles Rellenos
There’s a restaurant in our town that makes the best Chiles Rellenos I’ve ever had. In an effort to try and save money, diet, etc. I was determined to make this at home. They have you frying the chiles in this recipe, but I’ve been trying to use less and less oil to see if I can still have these taste ok. Maybe I’ll try just using PAM and a tiny bit of oil. The recipe takes a little practice, and I have to watch how much cheese I put in the peppers (Also I found BIG Pasilla peppers to work the best) – but this can be a decent diet dish if modified a bit. I dare say my Chiles Rellenos give the restaurant in town a run for their money!

And now for a bonus recipe… I made a big batch of gazpacho to have for lunches. This recipe comes from a coworker of mine from like 14 years ago. I have no idea where she got it:

“Regina’s Gazpacho”

Ingredients:
1 Garlic Clove
4 cups V8
2 or 3 Tblsp Olive Oil (Min 2 – if it’s still not the right taste, add the third. I think you can get away with just the two though and save the calories)
2 Tblsp Lemon Juice
1 Tblsp Lime Juice
3 Tsp Sugar (I used splenda)
black pepper
1 or 2 big cucumbers (I love cucumbers so I use lots)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup scallions
1-1/2 red peppers diced
Cilantro
Oregano
Tobasco
1 or 2 tomatoes peeled and seeded (Again, I love tomatoes, so I add the second one)

I actually just dumped it all together in a bowl and put it in the fridge. But here are the specific directions if you’re not as lazy as me:

Cut garlic in 1/2 and rub bottom and sides of bowl. Add V8, olive oil, lemon juice, lime juice, splenda and pepper. Beat and chill for 1 hour. Beat again, then add remaining ingredients.

I’m not sure why you’d beat and chill and then mix… when you dump it all together it’s just as good.

I have a bowl of this with 1/4 of an avocado. Depending on how many calories I have available for the day, I may also throw in a few tortilla chips with it. I’m also planning on throwing a few black beans in there today to add some protein.

Cuppa Dessert

Jennifer — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:19:10 +0000

I ran out of calories yesterday and went to the grocery store after dinner to find some veggies to snack on. I know veggies are not calorie free – but I think their benefit both health-wise and snacking-need-satisfaction-wise outweigh the calorie cost. So if I have to snack – I’ll snack on raw celery and green beans. (Another good one is cauliflower, sprayed with “butter flavored PAM” and then roasted in the oven for when I’m craving buttery popcorn.)

In any case, I started browsing the aisles – looking for anything low-calorie that would make a good snack or meal… I’d been craving chocolate – but it’s hard to get around the calories for that one. Then while in the tea aisle I found this:

Chocolate… Tea…?? Not really sure that sounds appetizing. I pictured something like hot cocoa – but really runny/watery. I put it down… I picked it back up. Really?? Chocolate tea? I put it down… I picked it back up… I bought it. Actually it’s really really good. It’s NOT hot cocoa – but that’s probably a good thing. (re: runny/watery hot cocoa = yuck) But it has enough of a chocolate taste to make it feel like a dessert. And under 5 calories for something that resembles chocolate… I’m happy. They also had other flavors too. Red Velvet. Strawberry Chocolate… I’ll be going back soon to try them all!

In other news, I’m down another pound this morning. (again, I’m sure this is going to slow soon – my guess is it’s just bloat weight I’m losing right now) I planned out the food for the day – with my Zumba class planned for tonight, my calorie count is REALLY low. I may be able to sneak in chocolate of the real-kind variety tonight!! So feeling pretty good about things at the moment. I can still see the fat on me – but I’m also feeling better – healthier – just a wee bit skinnier. Success is the biggest motivator.

Keeping with the program

Jennifer — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:18:27 +0000

I’m going to do Zumba 3x a week (after the holidays, because one of the classes won’t start again until January) – I’ll do it this week though – I went Monday morning, last night, and I’m on the schedule to go again tomorrow night. Wednesday and Friday nights are the classes at 24 Hour Fitness. The Monday morning class is one that another mom in Rachel and Zach’s school goes to. I was telling her how frustrated I am to have to be starting over like this – she too lost a bunch of weight and put some of it back on – but I’m trying to take on her attitude. When I started complaining – she said “Well, the thing is I lost it once – so I know it’s possible. I know how to do it again – it’s not like I can say ‘I can’t ever lose the weight’. I did. I’ll do it again. So will you!” (I love her attitude! She is very cool!)

I’ve been trying to keep those words in my head. I’ve been pre-logging my food in MyFoodDiary.com so I know precisely how many calories I have for the day – I’ll leave snacks open for what I feel like in the moment – but checking the calories first before I eat it.

I have lost a few pounds this week – probably mostly water bloat from eating more than I should previously… (although I won’t complain if I continue to lose 3 or more lbs a week from now on) LOL! I’d also like to take a before picture. That’s one thing I didn’t do the last time and that would have been nice to be able to compare to.

10 Cool Games and Tools for the iPhone

Jennifer — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 03:57:56 +0000

I haven’t done a big roundup of iPhone apps I’ve been playing with / using for a while – I’m still buying apps like its nobody’s business. Here are a few of my recent favorites:

A while ago, I reviewed a few apps that I got to help me tune my daughter’s Cello. They were pretty good – but not perfect. What I really needed was something that could show me when we were *close* to the right note, how far off we were, were we sharp or flat… because honestly, when it’s really close, it’s really hard to tell. I first started looking at devices that did this and they were really pricey – then I found this app. It’s currently priced at $3.99 and worth every penny!! Just play a note and it shows you where you on a dial how close you are – watch the dial as you tune the instrument. (Works when you sing too!) It’s just awesome. Very simple and does a great job!

Cleartune – Chromatic Tuner: $3.99*

Next up, Trivial Pursuit. I’ve never been really good with trivia, but the game is still fun. I can’t remember what inspired me to buy this, maybe it was on sale… either way, I downloaded it. The iPhone version of the board game is pretty fun. I like that you can change some of the settings if you want to play a variation on the game (ie. how many wedges are required, where you earn wedges – how hard your opponent is if there should be a time limit to answer). If you don’t like waiting to see how your computer opponent does, you can speed through his play. Now here’s the cool part – you can play with someone else. There’s two ways to do that: “pass n’ play” (obvious how that goes) – or “Wi Fi Multiplayer” – so if someone on your WiFi network has the game too, you can play against each other. That feature in games, I’ve gotten a little addicted to, I have to say.

You’ll see some reviews complain of it crashing, and I’ve seen the problem too. It does seem to come and go, though. I’m hoping they do make it more stable – but it’s something to be aware of.

Trivial Pursuit: $4.99*

When we were on vacation, I saw my nieces playing Monopoly on their iTouch and iPhones, so not to be out-done, I had to download it as well. The iPhone version of the game is more fun than the original board game, I think. While sometimes it doesn’t always work, you can speed through the computer’s turn by clicking a button on the game screen. You also have a few options to change the game to play a variation that suits you.

I won the first game I played on it, and have not won another game since. (And I’ve been playing a lot recently). Heh. I haven’t changed the difficulty but sometimes it sure does seem like it has the dice are stacked against me! LOL! It’s still fun to play. Since I’m on a multiplayer kick with these games, I was psyched to see it also can do multiplayer: either pass n’ play – or for wireless it has WiFi or Bluetooth. However, when I initially tried the wireless options, they didn’t seem to work. Bluetooth would only seem to work if you were hooking up with ONE player (maybe that’s something that’s unique to Bluetooth technology? – that it won’t connect with more than one device…? Not sure)

Monopoly: $2.99*

This is another one of those games I thoroughly suck at but it’s fun to play anyway. In fact, if you want to know how bad I am, since this game also has a WiFi multiplayer option, I played this game against my 13 year old niece when we were on vacation. She kicked my butt. LOL! Yeah, definitely gave her a little ego boost I think. After that, she kept asking to play me again. LOL!

Ok, a few things I really like with this game: if you’re really stuck you have the option to use a “Best Word” feature. You only get a limited number, so it’s best to save them for when you really need them – like at the end when all you have left in your hand is a “Q” tile. (Did you know “Qi” is supposedly a word – and it’s worth a fair amount of points for a two letter word) So that brings me to my wish for this game. I think it would be great if it had a dictionary feature with it. Some words I’d really like to look up and see “Hey, exactly WHAT is a ‘Qi’!!!” or I’d like to play a word, or rather, what I think is a word – but I don’t know if it’s just something I’ve made up. Yes, you can try to play it and it will simply tell you it’s not a word, but I’d like to know. Maybe there’s something close that I was thinking of. I mean, hey, if you get a “Best Word” feature that will figure out the best use of your tiles – why not give me a few shots with a dictionary…?

Scrabble: $2.99*

Ahhh.. Chuzzle. This is a really weird game. But I have a soft spot for games that have cute little creatures in them. Fuzzballs with eyeballs – what’s not to love. At one time, I actually bought this game for my PC (back when I had a PC) – that was a few years ago now. The game is pretty simple to play, but the strategy gets a little tricky as time goes on. It’s a bit like Bejeweled except with more fur. You slide a row or column of Chuzzles to line up 3 or more Chuzzles of the same color/pattern (doesn’t have to be in a row – as long as they are adjacent to each other). The tricky part comes when you get a “locked” Chuzzle (which will lock the row and column that Chuzzle is on) or a Super Chuzzle which is one chuzzle 4x the size of a normal one. Until you match up the color of those Chuzzles, they stay on your board making your game challenging.

If you get this game, and haven’t played it before – here’s a cute “easter eggs” – try tapping the same Chuzzle over and over and over again and see what happens.

So here’s my one complaint about the game: MAJOR battery eater. Like BIG TIME. If you ever feel like draining your battery, play this game. I’m not sure what they did with the game, but it must use up a ton of resources. (Maybe it’s all that groovy music it plays in the background)

Chuzzle: $4.99*

This is another game I saw my nieces playing with and then quickly downloaded myself. Reminiscent of the TV game show – this one is a lot of fun (and much more fun than yelling at the TV trying to get them to hear your answers in tv-land) There’s a few different ways to play: “TV Show Game” style, Multiplayer (yay!), Toss-Up Game (They show you letters and you have to figure out the puzzle before it shows you all of them), and Speed-Up Game. (You spin the wheel once to determine the point value of each letter guessed, then you just take turns guessing a letter in the puzzle, until someone solves the whole puzzle)

Wheel of Fortune Platinum: $1.99*

I’m a sucker for time management games like this one: Turbo Subs. In this game you need to serve customers a variety of different food types, some that require preparation first, others that don’t. As per is usual in games like this, customers have a limited time before they get angry and leave your store.

I love the graphics in this game – I think there’s something about cute little food icons – I’m not sure what it is. One problem I did experience with the game that I see in the reviews on iTures that others have reported as well, is that sometimes the game is not as responsive as I would like. You click on an item, but it doesn’t register that you did. Otherwise, this is a fun game.

Turbo Subs: $1.99*

(This one also has a free version in case you want to try before you buy)

Uno is a classic card game – and on the iPhone it’s just as much fun. Once again, the multiplayer options here a great feature. Now that the kids have their own iPhones (our old ones that no longer have phone access) we can all play together and no one has to clean up. There’s a couple of extra features in the card game – if you put down a “0″ – everyone switches cards. If you put down a “7″ – you pick someone to swap cards with. There’s a “jump-in” feature where if you have the same color and number as a card that was just put down you can jump in and put down your copy of it (only one person can do it – so you have to be quick) – then the rotation picks up with the person that would normally come after you. If you don’t like these extras, you can turn them on or off in the options panel.

UNO: $4.99*

(There is also a free version so you can try the game out – but as I recall, the free game is extremely limited)

In Fruit Ninja – the object of the game is to slash up some fruit. As you play the game you’re given different swords to play with – for example one we won makes various color streaks when you slash the fruit. There’s two different ways to play. “Zen” you play against the clock and just try to slash fruit and get as many points as possible. In the regular game you can’t miss any fruit. 3 misses and the game is over. Also – occasionally a bomb will pop up. Don’t slash the bomb – otherwise the game is instantly over. (I kinda wish they’d let you hit a few bombs before ending the game – but I guess that’s the way the kiwi crumbles.) This is a really cute game – once again, I think maybe it’s just the cute food icons that reeled me in. Either way – still fun to play.

Fruit Ninja: $0.99*

So, as I showed with a few pictures from vacation, I kind of let things go diet-wise. Well, ok, I REALLY let things go diet-wise. I gained way more weight than I had prepared to. This isn’t an option now – I’m not going back to the way things were before, so like before, we’re counting calories. This time I’m trying something new. I found this app online – you create a (free) account on their site: Daily Burn, and then you can use this app to help track your calories. There is a free version of the app where you can enter your calories in – but this one, called Food Scanner, takes it a step further: you can actually hold the barcode up to your phone and it will scan it and show you matching products – and enter all the details from the label for you. No need to search or do custom entries yourself. (Yes, I’m lazy – that’s how I gained this weight back, thankyouverymuch) You can still search for foods (in case it’s something that doesn’t have a label (ie fruit, vegetables, meat, etc.) or if it doesn’t find a match, you can enter the label in manually. Favorite the foods you use the most so you can add them easily later on. Everything you enter is synced back to your account online.

With these types of calories counters, the service is only as good as their database – so it’s nice that they seem to have just about all the foods I tend to eat.

FoodScanner: $0.99 (currently on sale!!)

Ok, I said 10, but you made it this far down in the post so here’s a bonus freebie app. It’s a good one too! I’m trying to do something a little different exercise wise this time too – with the nice weather, and now that my daughter is big enough – she and I have been biking around town. We’ll go biking for an hour or more – leisurely, but still it’s exercise! When I came home the other night, Sam asked me how many miles did we bike – I had no idea. I tracked a path on Google maps and discovered we biked almost 8 miles. Probably not as much as serious bikers, but I was still pretty impressed. I thought there must be an app that will help track you as you go – and of course – as they say: “There’s an app for that” – the one I’m going to start playing around with is: RunKeeper (Free). You sign up on their website, and when you’re ready to start running or biking or whatever, turn on the app and tell it start tracking you. When you’re done you can upload your path and time, with all sorts of stats to the website and share it on Twitter or Facebook.

There is a “Pro” version of RunKeeper that costs $9.99, but I don’t see a side by side comparison that would show features that would make purchasing it worth the money. And the fact of the matter is that the free version does everything I need.

Updated to add: You can check out my runkeeper page here and see my activities.

*Price at time of this writing.