Parmesan, Parmesan, Parmesan...

Hello friends, happy Tuesday!!

Well I think it's been about a week since I've blogged! I have been so busy lately I just haven't had a ton of time to get on here and talk about stuff. But I'm here now!! Ta-daaaaah! :-)
So I have a confession. I was not really very good this weekend. When I got on the scale I was up about 1 pound from last Wednesday's weigh in. No good. :-( So Monday, back on track it was. It is so easy to get discouraged when you get off track, but the truth is that it happens. It will always happen because Weight Watchers is not a temporary change, it's forever. And I am determined and proud to say I fully plan on following WW for the rest of my life!! But there are always going to be times when you get off track.

So last night I made my Eggplant Chicken Parmesan for dinner. I actually made up this recipe several years ago, it was never truly meant to be WW friendly, but when I put the recipe into my recipe builder it was VERY WW friendly! Here's the recipe, and you may find its a healthy alternative to "regular" chicken and/or eggplant parmesan.

Sommer's Chicken Eggplant Parmesan:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 eggplant
2 cans Del Monte Diced Tomatoes (Basil, Garlic & Oregano Recipe)
1 cup parmesan cheese (use lowfat if you can find it, I couldn't)

Chop eggplant into pieces, put in baking dish with chicken (layer however you like, I put chicken on bottom and top with eggplant). Cover eggplant and chicken with diced tomatoes. Bake at 350 degrees until chicken is cooked through. Last 10-15 minutes add parmesan cheese to top of dish.

4 servings = 6 points each......not bad!! It's one entire chicken breast and a LOT of eggplant! Yummmmmm! This picture didn't turn out super pretty, but it's really good just the same!!

Chicken & Eggplant Parmesan

So here's what I had to eat today:

Breakfast: Thomas 100 Calorie English Muffin - 1 pt.

Mid-morning Snack: 1/2 Cup Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt with 1 cup strawberries and 1 oz. Mix My Granola - 3 pts.

Lunch: Hot dog w/ cheese (Oscar Meyer 98% FF Turkey Dog, Natures Own 100% Whole Wheat Sugar Free Bun, WW cheese) - 3 pts. 1 oz FF Light Pringles - 1 pt.

Afternoon snack: 1 cup grapes - 1 pt. WW String Cheese - 1 pt.

Dinner: Chicken & Eggplant Parmesan (1 serving) - 6 pts. WW Friendly Garlic Bread (Natures Own White Wheat Hamburger Bun, topped with 5 sprays butter, garlic salt, oregano - broil in oven until brown) - 1 pt.

For dessert I'll have a VitaTop (deep chocolate, so freaking deLISHous) for 1 pt. If you have not tried VitaTops, you should! You can find them in the organic freezer section of your grocery store. That will leave me with 2 points for the day left, so I'll have to find something else to munch on!!!! And I'm completely full and satisfied right now.

Well, friends, I'm off to take Molly for a walk. Wish me luck at weigh in this week, I'm currently at 24.6 lbs lost, and I REALLY want to get to AT LEAST 25 lbs lost this week. Since I had a little weekend setback I'm not sure if that will happen, but I'm hoping!!

Until next time, Happy life, happy eating!

Sommer

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Fried Chicken and Waffles!

Hello friends, happy Monday!!

That's OVEN fried chicken, and Eggo Nutrigrain Low Fat Waffles. And I didn't exactly put them together, but you could! :)

So, just a starter, I did great this weekend. Dinner at Perry's Steakhouse was fabulous, so good! I counted all my points and dipped into my extra 35 - and it was indeed a "pricey" point dinner. But it was worth every bite! Sometimes you have to go out and splurge like that. :)

Ok, so I have been CRAVING waffles lately. Every time I pass by the frozen waffles at the grocery store for the past several weeks, I find myself eyeing them and fantasizing about giant belgian waffles with tons of fruit, whipped cream and syrup.....yummmmmmm. So, this week I decided go for it. I had my handy dandy points calculator with me, and found that Eggo Nutrigrain Low Fat Waffles are only 2 points for 2 waffles. Perfect! A solution to my fantasy. So I bought them, and I ate them for dinner last night with a cup of mixed berries (rasp, blue, black) and 2 tablespoons of Log Cabin sugar free syrup. It hit the spot! Total for that little "breakfast dinner" was 3 points! NOT BAD AT ALL!!

Lately I have been wanting to try some new dinner recipes. Blogging about my diet is great, but it's more fun when I have new stuff to talk about. So this week I decided to make Oven Fried Chicken. I got the recipe from Weight Watchers eTools, and modified it a little to fit how many points I wanted to spend. So here's what the recipe calls for:

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
2/3 cup lite honey mustard dressing
salt
pepper
1 medium scallion
2 tsp freshly chopped dill
1 cup cornflake crumbs

Points = 7

I changed mine, instead of honey mustard, I used an egg white. I didn't want to use points on honey mustard. Unfortunately I didn't use any of the spices either, which I should have. But my version was good anyway. So mine was only 4 points per breast, instead of 7.

It was super good, and a nice change from your ordinary baked or grilled chicken. They turned out so nice!! I ate my chicken with a big salad, some cucumbers marinated in Apple Cider Vinegar and italian spices, and a red potato.

This is my weekly salad - I'll eat on this bad boy all week!

Cornflake Crusted Chicken

So here's what I had to eat today:

Breakfast:
Weight Watchers Fruitty Nutty Maddness Bar - 2 pts.

Lunch:
Hot Dog w/ cheese - 3 pts
Light FF Pringles - 1 pt.

Afternoon snack:
1 cup grapes - 1 pt
WW String Cheese - 1 pt.

Snack before dinner cause I was starvin Marvin!!:
Quaker Mini Rice Cakes (Chocolate) - 1 pt.

Dinner:
Cornflake Crusted Baked Chicken - 4 pts.
Red Potato - 1 pt
Salad w/ Wishbone Salad Spritzer Dressing - 0 pts.
Cucumbers marinated in vinegar and italian spices - 0 pts.

Dessert:
WW Drumstick - 2 pts.

And I still have 4 points left for the day! Eesh I better find something else to eat. Maybe I'll have a glass of wine....

So, this week I'm also trying some new things. In addition to trying the Eggo Low Fat Waffles, I'm trying VitaTops. I heard about these last week at the WW meeting, and then saw them again on Hungry Girl's facebook updates. So I decided to try them. At the WW meeting, the woman who brought them up uses them like a brownie and tops with ice cream. YUMMY! I'm not sure yet how I'll use it....perhaps I'll try one tonight. But they are only 1 point! I found them in the organic frozen foods section of the grocery store.

Well friends, I'm signing off to spend some quality time with my little doggie. She's looking quite sad laying next to me and I can just hear her saying "Mom, play with me, pleeeeeeeease???"

Until next time, Happy Life, Happy Eating!!

Sommer

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Houston Restaurant Week

Hello friends, happy Saturday!

Well, my Saturday morning started off with a trip to the office. Boooo! I have so much work to do and just not enough time in the work week to do it. It's crazy. So I put in a few weekend hours this morning and got a lot done. Working on weekends is the pits, but I was up at the office all alone, had my music going, and got into the zone! Now that that's done, I can relax and enjoy my weekend.

So I've been good this week. Yesterday was great. I went with some friends to the Olive Garden for dinner. Yummmmm! I LOVE the Olive Garden. I love Italian food in general, but Olive Garden is one of my faves. And the great thing about it, is they have their nutritional information on their website! You would be surprised what is not, and IS bad! For instance, their salad, which I LOVE, is 9 points for one serving!! That's insane! When I read that, I thought, oh MAN....I can't eat their salad anymore! You can do some slight modifications to their salad, like asking for fat free dressing, no croutons, no cheese...etc etc. But I decided I would just sub my salad for minestrone soup, which is only 2 points per serving! YAY! Not bad at all. And the soup is really good. Now, when I eat Olive Garden I HAVE to have one of the bread sticks, which are 3 points each, so I limit myself to just one. For my entree, I usually choose the Linguini ala Marinara, and get whole wheat noodles instead of regular. For the entire portion, its 9 points! And their portions are so big I can only ever eat half! So here was my breakdown for yesterday:

Breakfast:
Thomas 100 Calorie English Muffin - 1 pt.

Lunch:
Hamburger w/o Cheese - 5 pts.
Pringles - 1 pt.

Snack:
WW Fruity Nutty Maddness Bar - 2 pts.

Dinner at Olive Garden:
Minestrone Soup (1 bowl) - 2 pts.
Breadstick - 3 pts.
1/2 portion of Linguini Ala Marinara w/ Whole wheat noodles - 4.5 pts.

Dessert:
Dreyers All Natural Fruit Bar (strawberry) - 1 pt.

Successful dining out experience, and I didn't even go over my points!! See, so you too can eat out and stick to your diet plan. It just takes some modification and research! For your favorite restaurants, go to their website and see if you can find the nutritional information, it's a huge help!!

So today after I got back from work I went and worked out at the gym. I did a 30 minute cardio workout - high intensity. I did the elyptical interval workout, on a 2/4 resistance and incline, rotating between a 2 and a 4 every two minutes. I really like this workout, I feel great afterwards. At the end I try and push up to a 6 resistance and incline, and that really gets my heart pumping and that fat burning! Read more about this workout in my previous blog "Elyptical Maddness."

Ok, so the title of this blog is Houston Restaurant Week*. This is something so cool that I just discovered this year! Every year, Houston's finest restaurants participate in Restaurant Week, where they offer a fixed price ($35 per person) for a great 3-course meal and for each meal they sell they donate $5 to the Houston Food Bank. Very cool! So tonight, I'm going with my best friend, and my mom and Charlie to Perry's Steakhouse. Yummmmm. I know it is going to be a splurge, so I'm planning to use my activity points and some of my extra 35 points for this dinner. It's all about planning folks!

So here's what I had today so far:

Breakfast on the run:
Weight Watchers Fruity Nutty Maddness Bar - 2 pts.

Lunch:
Hot Dog (Oscar Meyer 98% FF Turkey Dog, Natures Own Whole Wheat Sugar Free Bun) - 2 pts.
Light FF Pringles - 1 pt.
1 cup grapes - 1 pt

Snack:
Weight Watchers Multi Grain Crisps - 2 pts.

Activity:
30 minute Elyptical Interval Cardio Workout - High Intensity - 4 pts.

Point balance for the day (including activity points): 16 pts!! Not bad! And I'll get to enjoy myself and splurge a little on dinner, because you HAVE to do that every once in a while. I plan on making wise decisions though. No bread, I'd rather use my points on steak! Light dressing if any, etc etc. Wish me luck!

Well, I'm off to get ready to go to dinner. I'm very excited! Until next time, happy life, happy eating!

Sommer

*Check out Houston Restaurant Week's list of restaurants and menus at www.houstonrestaurantweek.com. It's a great way to try a new place, or revisit an old one and meanwhile it's benefiting the hungry!

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Bummer...It happens though.

Hello friends!

Happy Thursday. Tomorrow is Friday and I'm so ready for the weekend. I am taking a half day off tomorrow to go to a graduation from Texas A&M. It will be nice to leave work early, but I have so much work to do it's going to make me stressed out!!

Well, the scale yesterday was not what I would have liked. I stayed at exactly the same weight....??? Bummer. I thought I was really good all week, but I DID lose 3 lbs the week before, maybe it's just my body evening things out....or maybe I ate something salty that I'm not counting. Either way, I was bummed but NOT discouraged! I just chalk it up to "It Happens" and move on. This week I have more incentive to be EXTRA good so I'll definitely lose next weigh in.

Speaking of EXTRA good, I have been quite lazy when it comes to exercising lately. Yes, I know. It's bad! I need to exercise regularly, and with it so HOT outside it's just hard to get my lazy bum off the couch in my nice cool apartment to go work out! So tonight I forced myself to put on the work out clothes, and go to the gym. I was in the midst of my elyptical interval workout (see notes in my previous blog "Elyptical Maddness") when I began to feel like I was going to pass out, or blow chunks. Either one is not fun. So I decided to get off the machine and take a breather, and got on the treadmill just to do a slow walk. Normally I can do 30 minutes on the elyptical no problem. Not today! I had to quit the treadmill too. So weird. I just figured I should listen to my body and not continue. Maybe it was because I ate before I went to work out? Most of the time I work out before dinner....

Anyway. So my moving efforts today didn't get me very far...except for getting off the couch! Better luck Saturday morning, when I plan on working out to offset the dinner I have planned at Perry's Steakhouse!!

I did well with points today, I actually still have one left but I'm just not feeling that well! Here's what I ate:

Breakfast:
Thomas 100 calorie english muffin - 1 pt.

Lunch:
Leftover WW friendly hamburger, w/o cheese - 5 pts.
Pringles Light FF Chips - 1 pt.

Afternoon snack:
1 cup grapes - 1 pt.
WW String Cheese - 1 pt.

Dinner:
Don't laugh at me, I'm a creature of habit, and also a creature on a budget!! I had ANOTHER hamburger! LOL. Hey gotta use up your leftovers! It was good though. This time I had it WITH cheese! - 6 pts.
2 red potatoes - 2 pts.

Dessert:
Weight Watchers Drumstick (YUMMMM) - 2 pts.

I think I'll have some grapes for my final point for the day. Another 2 fruit servings will be good for me - maybe make me feel better!!

Well friends, I'm going to get my grapes and crawl into bed. Need to get up early and get to work early tomorrow since I'm leaving early!

Stay motivated. Don't let one week, one day, or one meal get you down or discouraged. Keep going! I am! Until next time, happy life, happy eating!!

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Cheeseburger Paradise...

Hello friends!!

OMG I am so frustrated because my internet has been down at home for 2 days! UGH!! So frustrating. Curse you, AT&T! I have had nothing but problems with my internet since it was hooked up! So, if you are looking for internet providers, DO NOT go with AT&T!

Ok, enough about that. I am so excited (I was even more excited YESTERDAY) because last night I made my Weight Watchers friendly hamburgers!! Yummmmm....they were mouthwatering good! I savored every bite of that hamburger last night, and I had another one tonight for dinner! As promised, here is the "secret" to making Weight Watchers friendly hamburgers.

Ingredients: 1 lb 93% lean (or leaner) ground beef (can also use turkey, but I personally prefer beef) Natures Own White Wheat Hamburger Buns Mustard Lettuce, tomato, onion (chopped) Weight Watchers Mexican Style Cheese (if desired) Additional veggies, use whatever you like!!

Separate your ground beef into 4 oz patties (93% lean is 1 pt per oz, so however many points you want your burger to be, make it that many ounces). I personally think 4 oz is a nice size patty, not too small, not too big. Cook your patties on the grill or on the stove top. I cook in a grill pan on the stove top.

Once cooked, pair your delicious patty with a 1 point Natures Own Bun (White Wheat), and top with lettuce, onion, tomato, and whatever veggies you like. Add cheese if desired, I personally love the Weight Watchers mexican style shredded cheese, I add some of that for 1 point. So, you can have an entire hamburger (and it's a big burger, much nicer than the Wataburger 7 point junior burger) for 6 points!!!! Broken down: patty = 4 pts, bun = 1 pt., veggies = 0 pts, cheese = 1 pt. I use mustard too. Remember, if you use mayo you've got to add that to your points.

Look at this beautiful setup!!

How cute for having friends or family over for game night, or even just for you to enjoy for a couple of week nights!! And so easy! So last night I had my 6 point burger, and I had 2 red potatoes (1 pt each) as my dinner. An 8 pt dinner, and SO much food! I was completely satisfied. You can also try doing baked sweet potato fries (cut sweet potato into strips, sprinkle with cinnamon, bake in oven aprox. 30 minutes or until soft) - they are a great pair with your hamburger.

I even had leftovers tonight. So good!! So here's what I had to eat today:
Breakfast:
Thomas 100 calorie english muffin = 1 pt.

Morning snack:
1 cup grapes (I needed a break from the yogurt with berries and muesli)

Lunch:
At Dave & Buster's - Work Bowling Party - Had a Grilled Chicken Greek Salad, dry (no dressing) = 6 pts.

Afternoon snack:
Weight Watchers String Cheese = 1 pt
Weight Watchers Multi Grain Crisps = 2 pts.

Dinner:
Hamburger = 6 pts. (4 oz patty - 4 pts, Natures Own white Wheat bun - 1 pt., WW Cheese - 1 pt.)
2 Red Potatoes = 2 pts.

For desert I'll have a 1 point Dreyers All Natural Fruit Bar. Yummmmmm! Perfect summer treat!
So, let this be your inspiration that even in you are on Weight Watchers, or any diet out there, you CAN have what you want to eat! You just need to modify it a little to make it healthy! And it's not hard, just takes a little research and creativity! Eating what you want is the key to maintaining your weight goals....I NEVER want to feel deprived! No one does!

Well folks, I weigh in tomorrow at the WW meeting, so wish me luck! Goodbye for now! Happy life, happy eating!

Sommer

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Weekend Away...

Hello amigos!!

Well, it's Sunday evening and I am relaxing after a nice weekend away in Austin! It was a great weekend, I was there for a friend's graduation party on Lake Travis. It was gorgeous, but HOT HOT HOT!! August in Texas though....one can only expect the heat! It was really fun though. As with any weekend away from home, eating healthy can be a bit of a challenge, and ALWAYS is for me. It's so hard to stay on track when everyone around you is eating yummy food and you just WANT some! It's sometimes a drag to have to think about food when you want to have a good time. Or it is for ME anyway! So for this weekend, I wanted to make sure staying on track was a no brainer. I talked to my mom, who has been an avid Weight Watchers follower for years now (she lost 100 lbs on Weight Watchers about 3 years ago and has maintained ever since using the Weight Watchers "points" philosophy), and I also asked for advice from Girl Gone Healthy - Tera (check out her website at http://www.girlgonehealthy.com/). My mom told me any time she goes out of town, she packs her own food for breakfast/lunch, and plans to eat whatever everyone else is eating for dinner, and just watch her portions. I asked GGH what she does, and she said the same thing. So I decided I would pack my own food for the trip. AND IT WORKED!! I was able to stay on track, and still enjoy myself with everyone, and not be STRESSED about food! It was great! I even went to Cracker Barrell (OMG SO YUM) with everyone and did not eat! I ate my lunch before we went and was able to just sit and visit with everyone without partaking in the biscuits, corn muffins, and YUMMMMMMM chicken fried steak!! I did enjoy the smell though....luckily the sense of smell doesn't cost points or calories!! So now I'm feeling great about my decisions and I know that I don't have to be stressed out about food when going out of town anymore!

So here's what I took with me:

Breakfast:
Thomas 100 Calorie English Muffins - 1 pt.

Lunch:
My recently favorite go-to: Hot dogs!! I use the Oscar Meyer 98% FF Turkey Dogs (1 pt) and Natures Own 100% Whole Wheat Sugar Free Hot Dog Buns (1 pt)
Pringles Light Fat Free Barbeque Chips - 1 pt for 1 oz.

Snacks (and these came in handy for sure!):
Weight Watchers String Cheese - 1 pt
Weight Watchers Multi Grain Crisps - 2 pts
Weight Watchers Sweet & Salty Bars - 2 pts.

I liked having my snacks on hand for when I just needed a quick fix. I did eat what everyone else ate for dinner, which was fajitas, one of my all time favorites because I LOVE Mexican food! And fajitas are so easy, 2 chicken fajita tacos is 8 pts. So I was able to be good!

So, I hope this is proof to anyone out there reading this that you CAN stay on track while going out of town. Just pack your cooler and all of the necessities you'll need to stay on track and enjoy yourself!

Well, I am off to eat my "Amy's Mexican Tamale Pie." At the Weight Watchers meeting this week the theme was "Bring your favorite labels" and someone brought that one. It's a frozen entree you can find in the organic section of your grocery store. It's all Vegan and organic....which I do not typically eat Vegan or organic but it looked super yummy and it's only 2 points!!

This week I DO plan on making my Weight Watchers friendly hamburgers...which I know I said I was going to make them last weekend and didn't.....sorry about that. But I AM making them this week, and I am SO looking forward to them!!

This week I've added a picture of me with my PaPa and Meme. Well, good bye for now. Happy life, happy eating!!

Sommer

PaPa, me, Judy on my 27th birthday

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Big Loss!

Howdy friends, Happy Hump Day!

And by Hump Day, I mean more than Wednesday! (Get your minds out of the gutter you dirty folks!!) I have FINALLY gotten past the 22 pound HUMP in my weight loss! As you can read in my earlier blogs, I have been doing Weight Watchers for one year now. I started in July 2008, and did fantastic for about 6 months. Then, the holidays hit and since the holidays I have just been going up, down, up, down every week. I only managed to go up about 4 pounds from my lowest weight (at 22 lbs) but I could NOT ever get past the 22 pound mark. I have been struggling with it for a while now, and over the last month I have really gotten motivated, and now, after three weeks of losses, I am at 24.2 lbs total lost! Woo hoo! This week I did great! I lost 3 lbs! I think I was holding on to some water weight and it finally came off! I am super excited. :) I think my trick this week was NOT using many of my extra 35 points. I didn't eat out but twice the entire week (once Thursday, and once Saturday night) and was sensible both nights. I have been lazy as far as excercise (bad bad bad I know) but I was really good and it so paid off!
My goal this week is to work out three times. I do not enjoy working out, but I KNOW it is healthy and I NEED to do it. I do have a challenge ahead of me this weekend. I am going to Austin for the weekend for a graduation party, and I KNOW there will be no healthy food for me to eat. My plan is to pack my own food for breakfast and lunches, and eat whatever everyone else is eating for dinner. Hopefully that way I can manage my diet and points, and not leave from Austin feeling overstuffed and guilty, and depressed because I probably gained! I am determined for my plan to work! I want to hit the 25 pound mark next week and FINALLY get my 5th STAR!!

So here's what I had to eat today:
Breakfast:
Dannon Light & Fit FF Vanilla Yogurt with 1 cup mixed berries and 1 oz Mix My Granola* - 3 pts.

Snack at WW meeting:
WW Salty & Sweet Bar - 2 pts.

Lunch:
Hot dog (98% Fat Free Turkey Dog by Oscar Meyer, Natures Own 1 pt bun, WW cheese) - 3 pts.
1 oz Pringles (Light) - 1 pt.

Afternoon Snack:
Cookie (at staff meeting, I couldn't resist) - 5 pts.

Well folks, I'm off to heat up some leftover "Braised Chicken w/ Tomatillos and Cilantro," the delicious 5 point dish my mom made and brought over yesterday. Yummmmmm.....so good! I'm going to have some steamed veggies and a 1 pt. carb smart tortilla (Mission brand) as my sides.

Wish me luck this weekend! I am determined to make it work while staying within my points!!

Today I've posted a pic of Me, my Gran, and my sister Melinda. Bye for now! Happy life, happy eating!

Sommer

*Check out Mix My Granola on http://www.girlgonehealthy.com/. You can order through her website, and get great discount codes and free shipping!!

Me, Gran and Melinda - May 2009

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Tomatillo Surprise!

Hello all!

Happy Tuesday! I just enjoyed a very nice visit with my mom, accompanied by a yummy dinner of Braised Chicken with Tomatillos and Cilantro, one flour tortilla and steamed asparagus as my side. So good! My mom made the dish on Sunday night and brought leftovers over tonight. AND she left the remaining with ME so I can eat it again tomorrow! The dish is SO good, and only 5 points! Very tasty and definitely a nice change. My mom and I always have dinner when Charlie is out of town. It's always nice to have "girl" time. Maybe next year we'll take a trip.....I'm thinking beaches??? White sand?? ;-)

So I'm super excited because the new HEB is opening by my house soon! I shop at Kroger, and I'll continue to shop there because they have some items that I'll need to get there, but I'm definitely excited about the new HEB. I am definitely going to check it out!

We'll I'm off to finish my day with a Weight Watchers Giant Cookies and Cream bar for 2 points. Oh, and if you're interested in the braised chicken with tomatillos and cilantro just leave a comment and I'll post it!! Oh and I weigh in tomorrow, so wish me luck!!

Good night all! Happy life, happy eating!!

Sommer

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