Monthly Weigh In....

I've been cheating a lot lately, just small things here and there. Nothing outrageous.  I know this is holding back form a large weight loss so, back to the plan.  No more eating out during the week. No more stopping for a "quick little bite" anywhere.  No more sugar in the coffee (again). No more large carbohydrates (or at least none unless it's in the plan).
I am down 45.6 lbs and have lost about 3 dress sizes or 2 pants sizes (not bad). With being so close to my original short term weight loss goal, only 4.4 lb away, I've decided to start a NEW goal of 50 more pounds. Let's see if I can make it!!!

This is my chart for weight loss so far! Not to bad?

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Weigh in.... I still had a loss

Check out my weight loss chart. I think it looks pretty good!

My Weight Chart:

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Back to accountability!

• Well, I've decided that I need to be completely accountable for everything I eat. I am going to continue to attempt daily posts even if it is just to record what I have ate! I am also going to stay away from restaurants that do not offer a meal I can easily fit into my diet.  But, should I feel the need I will treat myself every now and then.  I need that. My mishap yesterday has actually made me more determined to stay on-track and on schedule!

Meals and Snacks.....

• Breakfast: Strawberry Equate Shake
• Lunch: Chocolate Equate Shake
• Mid-Afternoon: Snickers Marathon Nutrition Bar (Dark Chocolate Crunch)
• Dinner:
• 6 oz of jumbo shrimp steamed in a steamer bag with 2 tsp of Howlin' Horseradish Mix by Tastefully Simple 
• 2 cups of eggplant sliced and quartered steamed in a bag with 1/4 cup of mild salsa. (I was surprised how much this tasted like eggplant parmesan.)
• Night-time Snack:
• Golden delicious apple
• Zone protein bar that I should not have had but I was starving! To tell the truth, it was pretty gross!

• I will make every effort to avoid eating after my snack.  I can't understand why I am so hungry these past few days but, that's no excuse! 

Inspirational Quote

“I’m going to give you a little advice. There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball.” - Ty Webb, Caddyshack

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What a BAD Girl I was.... Sorry WAGON!

• Well, I did a bad, bad thing tonight but, I'm not ever going to do it again. (Well at least not for another month.. LOL).  The family and I went out for supper tonight, family style chicken.  I started out with the right intentions, eating salad and drinking a diet Pepsi.  We decided that family style chicken would probably be the best bet. I could take the skin off and eat my portion of protein.  
• So, here is what happened.  The chicken was FRIED! Ahhh, I didn't know it was going to be FRIED! I couldn't just eat the meat inside because the skin was "stuck" to the chicken so I decided that since I had been so good all month that one night would not make that much of a difference.  I only had 2 peices and both were breast and I desperately tried to take the skin off but gave up because it was just not working.
• Don't be disappointed, I'm not! I am not off the wagon at all. I just think that I need to give myself something off diet at least once a month.  I regret what I ate but not because of how horribly bad it was for me but because that stomach pain and heartburn was back before I knew it! Ugh, I did NOT miss that.

Inspirational Thought

Thou shalt not eat out of misery, boredom, anxiety… 

but should thou indulge, thou shalt forgive thyself.

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A Recipe and Inspiration...

Pork Tenderloin Tips (2 servings)

• Ingredients:
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove, mashed
• 3/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1-lb extra lean pork tenderloin tips

• Preheat oven to 450°F. Blend first 5 ingredients in small bowl. Sprinkle pork with spice mixture, salt and pepper. Place in 13x9x2-inch pan. Roast until thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 150°F., about 20-30 minutes. 

• Vegetables that go with this: Brussels sprout, waxed or green beans & carrots 

Inspirational Quote

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, 

for they are sticking to their diets.  

~Author Unknown

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Week 3, sorry haven't posted in a while!

• Week 3 went awesome.  I didn't have any slip-ups and ate everything I should.  I made a couple new dinners and they came out wonderful. 
• I weighed in on Sunday and discovered I've lost another 4 pounds.  Wow! I have lost 22 pounds to date, slightly more than 1 pound a day.  I hope this continues until I loose the 60 pound goal I set for myself.  
• I think once I reach my short-term weight loss goal, I am going to look into Weight Watchers Online.  I've been searching for a plan will help me make healthy meal choices all while teaching me size portions.  I have tried Weigh Watchers many times in the past, each resulted in FAILURE! This time will be different because I plan to limit my carbohydrate intake greatly and pretty much try and stay away from prepared foods. So far, I have found a lot of wonderfully tasteful foods that don't contain grease, sugar and carbohydrates.  I'm sure with this valuable information at hand, transitioning to Weigh Watchers shouldn't be difficult. 

Recipe #1

• Howlin' Horseradish Mexi-Chicken (1 serving) (I thought of this recipe myself!)
• Ingredients:
• 2 Chicken Thighs skinless (5-6 oz)
• Howlin' Horseradish Mix made by Tastefully Simple 
• 2-3 tbsp of Ro*tel or canned diced tomatoes and chili peppers
• Rubbed both chicken thighs with a generous amount of Howlin' Horseradish Mix. Place them in a baking dish, roasting pan or on a baking sheet.  Spread 1-1 1/2 tbsp of Ro*tel on each piece and cover with tin foil.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45-60 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.
• Brussels Sprout - steamed

Recipe #2

• No Points Vegetable Soup (Thanks to my SIL E)
• Ingredients:
• 10 oz baby spinach leaves
• 2 medium carrots chopped
• 2 medium celery ribs chopped
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 medium garlic clove minced (I use jar garlic - 1/2 tbsp) 
• 4-8 cups vegetable stock (depending on how soupy you would like it)
• 28 oz canned diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• Add prepared ingredients in large pot, bring to boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer, partly covered at least 10 minutes. I simmered it for about 30 minutes.
• I added 6 oz of uncooked frozen jumbo shrimp to 6 oz of this soup and steam cooked it all together in the microwave until the shrimp was cooked. What a delicious soup it turned out to be! The soup is very flavorful all on it's own however, my plan calls for a protein so I decided to add shrimp.  I am going to try salmon tomorrow.

Inspirational Quote

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, 

anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.  

~Author Unknown

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Day 13 & 14 - Let me explain....

So, you may have noticed I did not blog about Saturday.  Well, it was a messed up eating schedule.  I stuck to the plan limits however, I did not eat at normal times.  It was a bad night! But, I am allowed to have them every now and then.  I did not eat anything I was not suppose to eat.  I just ate what I was suppose to at odd times of the day/night. Now, on to today!


How I did for today?

• Weigh in was this morning. I am very happy with my results!                   13 lb loss in total. Yeah ME! That makes me proud of myself.
• Simply wonderfully.  Ya, I did great. Got myself immediately back on track with scheduled eating.  I even went to a birthday party with cake, chips, more chips, some awesome looking potato skin cheese finger foods and spagetti and sauce.  Did I eat any of it? Nope, I brought my own food. I did eat the salad and licked my finger when A. got frosting on it! Man, that was sweet!

Meals and such...

• Breakfast
• Vanilla protein shake
• Lunch
• Luna Bar - Nuts over Chocolate
• Mid-afternoon
• Chocolate protein shake
• Dinner
• 3 oz piece of frozen Tilapia
• 3 oz of jumbo whole shrimp
• 2 oz of carrot coins
• 2 oz of green beans
• all tossed together and microwave steamed with a fish/seafood seasoning and some dried chopped onions
• a small salad (i'd say 5 oz worth) with Italian dressing.
• Snack
• red delicious apple

What I can change...

• I don't like using the microwave steamer to cook my food.  I used a Tupperware microwave steamer by putting all the ingredients into the steamer basket portion and added a little water to the bottom.  It took a lot longer to cook than when I used the steamer bags but, that may have been the ancient microwave I was using. LOL.  Also, when I finally got all the fish cooked and put everything in a plate to eat, everything was dried out in seconds and it didn't really taste like the seasonings.  Those same seasonings cooked in the steamer bag came out much more juicy. The moisture/frozen water on the fish and/or shrimp forms a boiling broth that keeps the seasoning flavor locked in.  I didn't want to keep buying the bags because well, I am trying to go more green. I figured it was such a waste to use them once and toss them away.  I plan to try another approach to steaming. I've purchased some reusable microwave bowls to see if they work better than the Tupperware steamer. The bowls will keep the broth from straining like it does in the Tupperware steamer since there is not a strainer in it. If it works as well as the bags, all is good and I don't have to purchase the bags.  If not, well, I think I am going to continue to buy them because I really don't like the way the food tasted from the microwave steamer.  I guess I can just wash the bags out and reuse them a few times before they end up in the landfill.  

Inspirational Thoughts

"When your timing is off, so is your stride."
-Rodney Milburn
(appropriate)

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