Good news, bad news

Let's start with the good news:

I discovered a wonderful recipe today. I found it in a Biggest Loser pocket cookbook that came with my workout DVD. At first I was skeptical: It served two, and each serving had four pancakes. I figured the pancakes would be the size of my thumb, but they weren't! They were a decent size (like bagel-size) and were so tasty.

Here's the recipe. Like I said, it's two servings and each serving is 165 calories, 1 gram of fat and 4.5 grams of fiber (the book says it's 140 calories, 3 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber, but I counted all the ingredients and I came up the the 165). That's 3 Weight Watchers points for one serving; 6 points for both (I had the second serving for a snack later on). You can double, triple, quadruple the recipe and the batter will stay good in the fridge for up to three days, the book says.

1/2 cup reduced-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup whole-grain oat flour
1 large egg white, lightly beaten (I used egg beaters)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used 1/2 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon salt
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray (I used Pam)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen (but not thawed ) blueberries (I used fresh)

In a small bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Whisk until blended, then stir in the blueberries. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Briefly remove pan from heat to mist lightly with butter spray. Return the pan to heat. Pour the batter in 1/8-cup dollops to form 3 or 4 pancakes. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until bubbles form on the tops and the bottoms are golden brown. Flip. Cook for about 2 minutes.

You can serve it with a sugar-free pancake syrup or orange marmelade but I just had mine plain. YUM!

Some more good news: I actually put the workout DVD into the player and pressed play and did a workout! It's a Biggest Loser 30-day plan and the workouts are only 10 minutes long.

Now the bad news: When I was doing the workout, one exercise was jumping rope (fake) only jumping on one leg. Right leg was fine. But when I did it on the left leg, the one where my shin has been bothering me, the pain was intense.

So I knew I couldn't run. But I decided to get out anyhow and walk the three miles. I attempted to run a few times (I am very impatient and hate walking) but there was discomfort/pain. So, I'm sidelined from running for awhile. I will continue to exercise and strengthen my legs and walk the distances my running sked has outlined.

Just another reason I'm furious at myself for gaining this weight. It really affects my ability to run injury-free.

But, yes, I did an hour of exercise today. And the foods I've eaten have been tasty and within my points range. So despite the shin pain, I'm chalking it up to a good day.