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Monday, January 6, 2014

My Food for the Week

Sunday's are relaxing days. I am still getting use to my NEW NORMAL with my twins away at college (far away 1837 miles) and my boy golfs with his dad every chance they get. That leaves this MAMA with way too much time on her hand. Yesterday was another quite Sunday and the boys were golfing and I decided to clean out the refrigerator, make up all my healthy meals for the week and get prepared for this healthy eating.


I am embarking on a new diet this week. Egg Whites, Oatmeal, Protein Shakes, Chicken and Sweet Potatoes, including eating all the green vegetables I want (as free food). I made my egg whites with peppers for my morning breakfast (I hope to wake up an extra half-hour early all this week in order to whip up these eggs). I finished my first day and I was actually FULL all day long, maybe even too full. I was stuffed.

I prepared all my food for the week. All lunches and dinners so they are easy to heat up and eat on the go. The first thing I prepared was Sweet Potatoes (three different recipes). I am only eating 4 oz of potatoes per day, so these three recipes will last for 6 days. I divided each recipe in half.


First Recipe: Sweet Potatoes with Pecans - sprinkle with olive oil and melted butter, sprinkle with brown sugar, pecans and cayenne pepper. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.

Second Recipe: Roasted Sweet Potatoes - sprinkle with olive oil and melted butter, sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of ginger. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.

Third Recipe: Roasted Vegetables - Sweet Potatoes, zucchini, grape tomatoes, minced garlic and chopped onions. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.


My goal is that each weekend (or each Sunday) I will continue to make my meals for the week at least while I am on this first "8 weeks" of this Eat Yourself Skinny challenge, and my challenge to myself is to come up with different sets of vegetables to cook each week.


I also made chicken breasts to eat for lunch and dinner this week. I am eating a 4 oz chicken breast twice a day. This is going to be easily done this week, because I created 7 large chicken breast today and cut each of them in half, which makes them about 4 oz each. I then marinated them in all kinds of different things that were already in my refrigerator. That last tbsp of BBQ sauce that's been hanging around, a tbsp of salad dressing and hot sauce; jelly and Catalina dressing and a multitude of other random things. I've already eaten two pieces of my chicken and it was wonderful.


I am also drinking my water. Goal is 3 smart waters or 6 bottles of water per day. And these lovely salads I prepared with all green veggies to have just a few days this week. My plan for the 3 salads is to cut up my chicken breast for that day and add it to my salad for a healthy lunch-time meal (beats fast food anyday)!

I am on my way to loosing weight and eating healthy!

Sunday, January 5, 2014

It's a NEW year and I am "under construction" (STILL)!

2009 My HAPPY weight (right side) 150lbs
I have been on this weight-loss roller coaster for many years. The biggest accomplishment was in 2009/2010 (about 4 years ago), when I got down to my current goal weight. But, since then I have tried and tried; again and again and it's so exhausting to re-start this cycle over and over again. I've blogged about my Biggest Loser Challenge from the beginning of 2013 and my Shrinkvivor Diet from 2010, when I actually finally got down to a wonderful acceptable weight for my own self.


I was mortified when I stepped on the scale in 2013 and realized I was at 182 lbs.  After seeing several pictures of myself (over and over again), I knew this was reality and I needed to do something NOW! (The last picture was after my 13lb weight loss at the end of 2013.) I was happy, but I am still pushing forward.
But today, I begin again. And my hope as it is every time that this will be my last and final time that I have to struggle with this up and down roller coaster. I want to be at my happy weight and then be able to eat healthy and maintain that happy weight with diet and exercise.


I just started a Facebook Private Group Page with friends, family, neighbors and new friends invited by other friends and in just the few days we've had this going it is a HUGE inspiration, a HUGE accountability partner and it's going wonderfully. We are weighing in on Wednesdays with each other posting our weight and goals. We have our first goal which is 8 weeks from now and we will continue throughout 2014, I am sure we will have more people join in, and we will fall off the wagon a time or two, but having each other inspire one another and help each other with motivation and checking in with each other will make our group successful.

I believe it is impossible to take this journey on by yourself, and I also believe sharing and speaking your goals and weight out loud helps you stay accountable to others. And that is why, I will share it here too.

Total Weight Loss

Down 13 lbs 

First Week’s Weight (blue shirt): (May 28, 2013 began exercise program)
184
Today’s Weight:
171.0
Yes, this is my Iphone SCREEN SAVER for the week.
I can't wait til next week when I get to update this photo with a NEW lower number.

this week loss:
first week recording on blog
Challenge goal weight (in the next 8 weeks, February 28, 2014):
161.0
Ultimate goal weight:
139.0

LIFE-TIME Goal would to be in the 130’s, and yes I don’t even care if it’s 139. I am posting my weight here because it's said "Coming to terms with the number on the scale can aid you in your weight-loss”.