Taco Boats

My own little delicious creation. I'm sure I'm the only person out there who has ever done this, so here is my recipe for 2 servings ;-)

12 Scoop tortilla chips
1/4 cup fat free refried beans
2 oz. shredded chicken
1/2 cup fat free cheddar cheese

Lay out the Scoops chips onto a baking sheet. Put some Fat Free Refried Beans into a ziplock baggie, cut off one corner, and squeeze a dollop of beans into the center of each chip. Next, layer each chip with some shredded chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Top chips with fat free cheddar cheese, and bake an additional 2-3 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Eat, and enjoy! (You can also top with some fat free sour cream, salsa, green chiles, jalapenos, ground turkey, etc. Be creative!)

Calories & Fat per serving:
Calories: 260
Fat: 8

Jerk Shrimp, Brown Rice & Asparagus

This was a delicious dinner I made a couple of weeks ago and thought I would share. I used 1 teaspoon Olive Oil, heated in a non-stick skillet. Put Jumbo Shrimp in and coated the dry Jamaican Jerk Rub and let them simmer over medium heat for about 6 minutes. Then I flipped them, coated in more rub, and cooked for about 6 more minutes.

I served them with microwave Brown Rice & Asaparagus (this asparagus is easy... cut the white ends off, wash, put on baking sheet, spray with non-stick cooking spray, throw on some seasoning of your choice, and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes).

4/1/11 - Weigh-In Day! And 3 months progress!

Another Friday is upon us! And another pound has been lost. Well, 1.2 pounds, if we want to be exact (and we do!) I have no been on this journey for 3 months... I have lost 25.8 pounds and am really feeling amazing! The best part about this has been fitting into smaller clothes and having so much more energy to do things! this morning I put on a pair of size 12 pants. Do you know how long it's been since I've seen a size 12?? Probably 2 years, maybe more! Granted, they're a "big" 12, but a 12 none-the-less!!! So, tomorrow is my son's 1st birthday party. There's really only a couple menu items that are healthy. But I feel like I will be too busy to eat anyway, so I'm really not terribly concerned! Anyway, some reflections on the past 3 months.... When I set out on this journey, I told myself that I want to be between 130 and 140 by August 6th, when we leave to go on vacation. At the time, August was a little over 7 months away. Now it is 4 months away, and I am almost half way to my goal. I want to work extra hard over the next 3 months so that I can be to a point of maintance with my weight a good couple to 4 weeks before vacation. That way I will be successful on our trip, being able to enjoy the food, yet not indulging profusely! What have I been doing to lose the pounds? #1 - drinking 9-12 glasses of water EVERY day! I have found that so many times when I "feel" hungry, it's actually because I have been neglecting my body of water! I'm dehydrated (which happens very easily for me). So instead of filling my body with things it doesn't need, I fill it with water. If I still feel hungry 15 minutes later, then I eat. Because I take that as a sign that I'm actually hungry! #2 - continuing to count my calories. Every single bite of sustinance I put in my mouth gets accounted for! And boy oh boy can I tell a difference when I eat crap! Not only do I physically feel crappy, but my weight really reflects that! (A couple of weekends ago I ate junk for 2 days straight... I felt so draggy and tired it was pathetic! then I got on the scale on the 3rd day and I was up almost 2 pounds! So 2 days of eating like a fool set me back a week or more in weight loss!!! NOT cool! And it will NOT happen again!) #3 - exercise! Not only do I continue to train for my first 5k that is in a month and a week, but I do Zumba with my church ladies as well as other workouts to DVDs and things. This helps SO much in the weight loss! For example, I haven't worked out all week, as I've been busy and exhausted from trying to get everything ready for Aiden's party. So my weight loss was down 1.2 pounds. The weeks when I do work out, I tend to have a 2 pound loss! So, I know it makes a difference! So, here is to the next 3 months of this fabulous journey!!! *cheers* (with water, of course!)

My NO weigh-in Day

Even though I don't post my new weight each day (only on Fridays), I still weigh myselfe very day. It's a horrible, disgusting habit that I just can't seem to break!

So, this weekend I ate the worst I have since December. I was actually looking forward to weighing myself to see what damage I did and to give myself motivation to work it off this week.

This morning comes, I wake up, moan and groan that it's too early, and then get up to run.

I changed clothes.
I ran for 10 minutes.
I felt disgusting.
I got in the shower.
I got ready for work.
I got Aiden up.
I took Aiden to grandma's.
I went to work.
And then I realized..... I NEVER WEIGHED MYSELF!!!!!!!!!!!

Most people might think this would be accompanied by a feeling of sweet release... but no, I feel like I will now never, EVER, know the damage my weekend did! Oh NO!!!!!!

So, I will just sit here and convince myself that I gained back every ounce of the 24 pounds I had lost, and I will eat healthy and exercise every day, twice a day, this week to make up for it!

My Naked Blog

For those of you who follow my blog, you may be wondering where I've run off to! I haven't posted a new blog in over a week I believe. Don't worry yourselves. I haven't fallen off the wagon, or given up, or taken a break. No no, none of those horrible things! I've simply been consuming my time with, well, life! And in the midst of this crazy thing called life, I've managed to stay on track with my eating (although I slipped a bit on the exercise, but got back to that this morning with an amazing 10 minutes run!)

So here's what's new... I'm down to 166.2 pounds from the 189.8 that I started at! And instead of viewing my day in eating here, there will now be a direct link on my Facebook page at the end of every day for you to click and be directed to my food diary. And when I weigh-in, that will be automatically posted to Facebook too.

So, what's this blog for? Well, basically it's a place for me to come, rant, babble, vent, whatever. So it may be boring now, but just know that I am still being held VERY accountable for my eating actions.

You see, I have found this website, MyFitnessPal.com. It's an online community of incredible people who support me as I journey on this quest for the thinner-me. And the best thing about it is, all the people there are going through the same journey! We all know what it feels like to struggle with weight and food, and each little milestone we accomplish is supported and applauded and appreciated. It's an amazing place and it has provided me the accountability tools that I need to be successful!

3.12.11 - Food Diary & Exercise Log

March 12, 2011

FOODS	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Cholest	Sodium	Sugars	Fiber
Breakfast
Breakfast Sausage - 1 Link, 2 link	114	0g	8g	5g	22mg	336mg	0g	0g
Pork - Cured, bacon, cooked, pan-fried, 4 slice cooked	168	0g	13g	12g	36mg	767mg	0g	0g
Homemade - Hashbrowns, 1/2 cup	163	33g	11g	0g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
Red Grapes - Red Seedless Grapes, 0.5 cup	31	8g	0g	0g	0mg	1mg	7g	0g
Florida - Orange Raw 3" Diameter, 0.1 orange	8	2g	0g	0g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
Honeydew - Melon, 30 g/ 1/4 melon	19	5g	0g	0g	0mg	10mg	0g	0g
2 Scrambled Eggs - Egg, 200 g	280	0g	18g	24g	860mg	260mg	0g	0g
Dinner
Aldi - Kirkwood - Grilled Chicken Breast Strips, 8 oz	180	2g	3g	44g	90mg	1,020mg	0g	0g
Aldi Rice Bowl - Extra Fancy Enriched Long Grain White Rice, 1/4 cup dry	160	35g	0g	3g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
Chef's Cupboard (Aldi) - Italian Bread Crumbs, 0.05 Cup	24	4g	0g	1g	0mg	70mg	1g	0g
Happy Harvest - Aldi(M) - Diced Tomatoes, 1/2 cup	25	5g	0g	1g	0mg	270mg	3g	1g
Aldi - Reggano - Traditional Premium Pasta Sauce, 1/4 cup	40	7g	1g	1g	0mg	280mg	4g	1g
Private Selection - Grated Parmesean Cheese, 0.5 oz/ 1/4 cup	45	0g	3g	5g	10mg	130mg	0g	0g
TOTAL:	1,257	101g	57g	96g	1,018mg	3,144mg	15g	2g

EXERCISES	Calories	Minutes	Sets	Reps	Weight
Cardiovascular
Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace, walking dog	75	18
Running (jogging), 5 mph (12 min mile)	162	16
TOTALS:	237	34	0	0	0

Before you all think I totally skipped lunch, let me assure you, my breakfast was more than enough to tide me over til dinner! We met my parents and my sister-in-law and nephew at Der Dutchman (not the one that burnt down) and didn't eat til after 10am! I had the breakfast buffet, and I must admit, I did far better than I thought I would! My first plate consisted of scrambled eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, and 2 sausage links. Then my second plate was about 1/2 a serving of eggs, 1/4 cup of hashbrowns, 2 pieces of bacon, grapes, honeydew, and orange slices (which Aiden ended up eating most of)! I figured it all out to be between 700 and 800 calories. Not too bad for a buffet! It would have been so easy to eat the sausage gravy and biscuits, mush, grits, pancakes, french toast.... I could go on, but I'm getting hungry. ;-)

Regarding my workout.... I did Week 4 day 1 of the c25k. Yes, I know I started c25k like, 9 or 10 weeks ago... but I have been doing other workouts each week instead, all building up my endurance. And sometimes I run on the treadmill for as long as I can instead of doing the c25k. Anyway, the weather was so gorgeous today I just HAD to get out! My husband's hip is injured, so he couldn't go on a walk with me. So I decided to take advantage of the evening and went out. Silly me, decided to take the hilliest route possible in Enon.... goodness... what was I thinking?? But even when my run happened to be uphill, I did it! I may have slowed my pace a bit, but never once did I end my run early! It felt so good to be out in the fresh air, smelling everyone BBQ as I ran (okay, maybe that part wasn't as nice as the fresh air......) but none-the-less, it was a well-worth-it run!