Hot Time on the 4th

Did anyone else spend all day yesterday thinking it was Saturday? I sure did. I was surprised this morning when the husband's alarm went off so I asked, "Why is your alarm going off on Sunday?" His reply- "Because it's Thursday."

Oh.

We had a cookout yesterday afternoon. In June, I was sent a BBQ kit from McCormick to use for a cookout. We had to postpone ours twice before we finally pulled it off yesterday! Y'all know how life gets in the way and all that.

It was HOT. I mean H.O.T. So all we did outside was the grilling. The eating, talking, games, etc. all took place inside. Sweltering + cooking out is NOT equal to a good time in my book.

Anyway, here's our afternoon in some pictures---as is often the case, I sat and talked and forgot to take a lot of pictures. Oops!

I started off marinading the chicken----

And the ribs---

Here are the other products McCormick sent me to use--- I did NOT look at the ingredients though I'm sure the products contained some ingredients that we just do not eat anymore. However, with the healthy level of the meats I chose and the other foods, it was (probably) acceptable. For this meal anyway.

 The grilling of the ribs---

The husband in deep thought as to the doneness of the ribs---

Consensus? Perfection!

Just to make sure, the husband samples a rib or two while grilling the chicken.

Actually, the conversation went something like this:
Me: You and Tucker and I should sample that little piece.
The Husband: Can we?
Me: Hey, I bought and prepped this stuff, you earned the money and grilled it- we can do whatever we want to do.
The Husband: Let's do it!

If he ever decides to leave his job at the port, he could get a job as the best burger flipper ever!

Ok, this next one is my family being mean funny (with their warped sense of humor). I'm always saying, don't pick at the food. Wait until people get here so the presentation will be nice. Aren't they just a riot?

Besides the meat dishes, we had: potato salad, baked beans, deviled eggs, watermelon and red velvet cupcakes. Everything was homemade and organic. The meats were organic free range/grass fed, etc.

Those are Evwardo's parents in the picture with Evwardo and Birdie- don't they look nice? Well, they're even nicer than they look!

Here's a group of feasters---

And here's my silly DoodleBug-- who is going to turn 21 in 19 days.

I put my guest book out and told everyone to write something about America or freedom or something related to the holiday and I would take a picture to share on the blog. Well, because my lovely family possesses a brand of hilarity that is cynical satirical different (I have no idea where they get it), I thought it best to leave that shot out. You're welcome.

Hope y'all had a fantastic 4th!

Tuesday's Yummy Goodness

I have 2 new-to-me recipes to share today.

Both came from Gerson recipes though I did do a few things differently.The things I stick to with the Gerson plan are the slow cooking, the use of only organic veggies, the preparing of the veggies and the use of only stainless steel or glass cookware. Sometimes, I change up a recipe a bit to suit my mood of the moment.

RED CABBAGE

Combine in pan:

1/2 cabbage, shredded (red and organic)
3 TBS vinegar (I used coconut vinegar from Tropical Traditions)
3 large chopped onions (I used leeks because I LOVE them)
2 bay leaves
a little soup stock (I am out of soup stock so I used spring water)

Stew over low heat approximately 1/2 hour.

The last half hour, ADD:
3 apples, peeled and grated (I used Gala apples)
1 TBS raw sugar (I used Turbinado, next time I will use NuNaturals Stevia)

CORN WITH MIXED VEGGIES

2 ears of corn (I used organic, frozen)
2 zucchini squash
3 stalks celery (I was not in a celery mood so I used leeks again. Because I LOVE them)
2 carrots

Wash the corn and cut off the kernels (right. I used organic, frozen). Slice the other veggies (organic, of course) into smaller pieces. Put the corn in a baking dish and add the other veggies. Bake in oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour.

I made a pot of brown rice too. Just because the husband likes it with everything under the sun. And, as usual, I made more than the recipes called for because we had Birdie and DoodleBug!

We're not usually cabbage eaters but this recipe was quite yummy! The corn and veggie recipe was delicious! With or without the brown rice!

What's cooking in your kitchen this week?

Don't forget to check out my current giveaway at the top of my sidebar. And look for another one coming soon from NuNaturals!

Gardener's Pie and More

Friday was the day I finally got to take my BFF to lunch to celebrate her May 23rd birthday---a little late but the two of us are used to that.

She wanted to check out the Organic Baby Puree Cafe that I wrote about HERE. So we did.

Some of you know that my BFF is a personal trainer. She was running late because she was inflicting pain on helping a client. DoodleBug and Birdie went too so we went ahead and ordered.

DoodleBug couldn't decide between two items, so I ordered the cripsy veggie wrap and she ordered the most-amazing-salad-EVER and we shared---

Birdie went with the Spinach Pie- and two sides---EXCELLENT choice!

I forgot to take pictures of BFF's food because we were so engrossed in Birdie's tales of athletic training and soccer camp. Wow. How does a parent not know that their kid went off to camp WITHOUT his back brace? Really? Sheesh.

Anyway, it was just as good, maybe even better, than it was the first time we went. And the owners and staff? OVER THE TOP in the kindness/friendliness/welcoming area. Gosh, I just LOVE this restaurant!

And now for the Gerson Gardener's Pie recipe. I made this last week and it will be a repeat dish in our house!

Gerson Gardener’s Pie

Topping:

1 lb potatoes

12 oz celery root (or sweet potato or onion)

Peel veggies and cube. Boil til done and mash.

Filling:

1 small onion

2 cloves garlic, crushed

8 oz carrots, sliced or diced

8 oz zucchini, sliced

8 oz leeks, sliced

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 oz bread crumbs

Put prepared veggies in saucepan in the order listed. Cook gently. When done, stir in bread crumbs and pour mixture into pie plate. Top with mashed potatoes. Bake for 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees.

Of course you can change the filling to your favorite veggies if you want!

 This was SO YUMMY! 

Yesterday was the husband's birthday- I made him a Banana Cake with Chocolate Banana Icing. And then there was the Shrimp and Grits. Oops. Healthy smealthy. It was a birthday. I did use organic ingredients...and, with the cake, I used coconut sugar instead of granulated. The confectioner's sugar---well, it WAS organic.

I don't have the shrimp and grits recipe because, well...it's my own and I don't have it written down. I have a recipe that I use as a base but I do my own thing to the point that the base recipe is virtually unrecognizable. 

But, you can get the cake recipe from Donna at Just One Donna right HERE!

What's cooking in your kitchen?

 

Garden Goodness

I'm trying a few Gerson recipes before my July 1 experiment begins just to...just because...well, because I'm jumping the gun. As usual.

I tried the Zucchini and Potato Bake last week. It was delicious! I served broccoli burgers with it- not a Gerson recipe but so good! I had to more than double the recipes to feed the gang!

The veggies were not from my garden but they were all local and organic-

Once the veggies are prepared, it's time to layer--

The broccoli burgers were a cinch-- just process--

then form patties and bake--

Viola!

Now, from my backyard garden---GREEN TOMATOES--

from which I prepared---

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES!

A family favorite around here! And yes, it is a movie. But in the south, it's also a scrumptious side dish! I served these with string beans (from the garden) and potatoes, and grilled flounder fillets AND totally forgot to take a picture of the meal! For those of you who count calories, as far as I can tell, one friend green tomato had about 74 calories in it. Well worth it too! And I'm not telling you how many I ate. Sigh.

I don't have the recipe for the fried green tomatoes because it's one of those recipes that I just do- I don't follow a written recipe.

However, here are the recipes for the casserole and the burgers!

Zucchini and Potato Bake (2 servings)
(this recipe came from Healing the Gerson Way)

1 lb zucchini
1 lb potatoes
2 medium onions
2 cloves garlic
10 oz yogurt (I didn't use the yogurt because I thought I had plain but it was vanilla..oops)

Finely slice zucchini, potatoes and onions. Place alternate layers of each in casserole dish, adding a sprinkling of crushed garlic between layers. Cook in oven at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half. Add second garlic clove to yogurt. When dish is cooked, spread yogurt on top.


Broccoli Burgers (makes 4 burgers)
(this recipe came from One Green Planet)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup dry couscous (I used brown rice because I forgot to buy couscous)
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion (I used a vidalia onion)
2 tsp ground cumin (Ick...I skipped this ingredient)
1- 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 TBS sesame tahini (I didn't use this because do you know how much tahini sauce cost??????)
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (don't like panko, used my gluten free bread crumbs)

There is Tahini Dressing for the burger, which I didn't make, but here's that part:

1/3 cup sesame tahini
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup plus 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 tsp sea salt


Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In a small pot, bring the water and couscous to a boil. (I skipped these 3 steps because I just made some brown rice and used that)
• Remove from heat immediately and allow the couscous to sit in the pot for 10 minutes to soak up the water.
• Steam the broccoli in a steamer for 5-7 minutes
• In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add in the onion and scallions, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes until the onion softens.
• Remove the onions from the heat and stir in the cumin.
• Place couscous, broccoli, onion mix, chickpeas and sesame tahini in a food processor and combine.
• Pour the mixture into a bowl and stir in the bread crumbs.
• Form it into patties and place the patties on a cookie sheet--I sprayed a little organic olive oil on the pan.
• Bake for 50 minutes, turning the patties over halfway through. You’ll know they are done when the tops begin to brown.
• To make the tahini sauce, place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until combined, for about 30 seconds.
• Top your burgers with the sauce and anything else you like on a burger and ENJOY!

I have discovered a website called Calorie Count that is good for determining the caloric value of recipes. Using the site, the zucchini/potato bake has about 241 calories per serving and the burgers have about 161 WITHOUT the sauce.

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Sizzle Summer Slim Down: Update- Week 1/Goals- Week 2

 Week 1 is a done deal. Our focus was to be on getting back into the habit (or getting into it for the first time) of tracking our food intake. This is not a problem for me- it's one of the few things that I can/will/do, do.

But the scale didn't move one iota.

I think it was due to too many of these:

Followed by too little of this:

Which didn't burn enough of these:

The caloric intake was under what myfitnesspal.com recommends for me. It was also under the 1500 that I was going to set for myself. But now I'm thinking that I have to go back to the 1200 daily calories if I expect to lose any weight at all.

The exercise has to change also (That day with no exercise? It was raining like crazy and not one time did I think to do the Shred--my brilliance astounds me at times.). It's going to have to go like this:

• walk either Tucker or Strider
• walk whichever dog didn't go the first time out (Tucker doesn't enjoy walking with Strider)
• go back out for a training run
• 30 Day Shred, level 2 OR Tae Bo OR Yoga Booty Ballet (will probs mix it up)
• Get myself over to the senior center and join (inner debate to come)

Yes. It's going to be a huge pain in the rear.
Yes. I have to do it anyway.
No. I've not lost my mind.

But I've also not lost any weight. And that sucks. Completely. Totally. Without a doubt. It sucks.

Water intake was fantastic! Wish that was all it took to get the job done!

 So this week we are supposed to focus on exercise. We are to try to get in 6 hours for the week. I'm hoping this won't be a problem since I have to change what I'm doing so drastically.

Also this week, I am going to try a little menu planning. I'm going to try a few new RAW recipes. Here's the menu for this week:

MONDAY: Zucchini spaghetti (gluten free)

TUESDAY: Sweet n’ Creamy Tomato Soup (RAW) and RAW Fajitas

WEDNESDAY: Portobello Mushroom Burger (Vegetarian/gluten free)

THURSDAY: Spinach and Raw Mushroom Quiche

FRIDAY: RAW Tacos

SATURDAY: Baked Broccoli Burgers (Vegetarian and gluten free)

I'm setting up a page tab for a list of all the participants in case anyone would like to visit and throw some much needed encouragement their way- there's no doubt in my mind that any and all encouragement is more than welcome and greatly appreciated!

Have a great week y'all! 

Stupid Sleep Cycle

I have discovered that one not-a-good-idea eating habit I have is eating to stay awake. How silly is that? Pretty darn silly.

I think I already knew this but have only recently allowed it to be recognized. And, of course, once recognized, something had to be done. So, I started going to bed earlier. The problem is, I'm ready for bed now around 7:00 pm.

Seriously, I make myself wait until it gets dark before I go to bed. I don't have any trouble sleeping but I started getting up way too early. If the first number in the time is a 3 or a 4, it's way too early to get out of bed. Tucker won't even get up that early.

Basically, the problem is, when I stay up until 10 or 11, I eat to keep myself awake.  When I go to bed as soon as I am sleepy, I awaken at one of those ungodly hours. When I awaken at one of those ungodly hours, I get sleepy earlier.

See what I mean?

I've had to call my will power into play, but it is so unreliable. It works sometimes and doesn't work other times. And I never know whether it's going to be on or off on any given night.

This is much better than a few years ago when I would wake up in the middle of the night and go into the kitchen. While there I would eat something sweet, usually, like ice cream, and then go back to bed. How stupid.

When I go to bed too early and awaken at 3 or 4 something, I just stay in bed and try to make myself relax or go back to sleep--which is not that easy since I've already had 7 hours of sleep at that point. At least there is no more getting up and going into the kitchen for something sweet to eat. As a matter of fact, I'm never ready for food of any type until after my run/walk.

I suppose I'll have to take the good with the bad here, again. It's good that I don't get up in the wee hours and eat but it's bad that I have to eat something to stay awake when I am sleepy. 

Any ideas/tips/tricks on breaking this vicious cycle will be greatly appreciated!

Anyone? 

Tools, Lists, and Feats

There is no Hodge Podge this week. Joyce's 17 year old niece, Anna, passed away. If you have a minute, stop by From This Side of the Pond and share some love with Joyce. And please keep the family in your thoughts and prayers.  

Since there is a break in the Hump Day HOPS, I want to share a new-to-me website. It's called DailyFeats and I'm loving it. What a fantastic tool for keeping me accountable for---everything.

There are challenges that you can check out and join. The site then creates you lists and, as you complete a feat (or task) it is moved to the 'done today' section of the lists.

You may be saying, "But I can make my own list." Sure you can!

But who's keeping you accountable for completing your tasks? What's motivating you to get it done?

That's what I really like about DailyFeats! AND, they give you points for completions and these points are redeemable for GIFT CARDS! WHAT?!

I headed over there and joined just yesterday. I've already entered a couple of health and fitness related challenges as well as a pet care challenge and, since I'm working on my mental 'Zen', a challenge that focuses on positivity. 

No, I don't get anything for posting about this site. They don't even know I'm doing it. I'm just sold on it!  And, when I'm sold on something, it's easy to get behind it!

I've been having a few motivation issues lately and this is one tool I'm using to get me out of my funk. My exercising is going well with the 30 Day Shred but I'm getting slack on my running.

The running has turned into walking Tucker. Who stops after about half a mile to be carried. It's hot and humid so I don't blame him. I would rather be carried too.

But the eating has been horrific. Not bad food just too much of good food. Remember, even if you're eating healthy, you must sill count calories if you want to lose weight. 

My hope is that these lists will hold me accountable for completing each health and fitness feat that I need to continue with as well as help get my mental 'Zen' up and running...HA! running--LOL

There are lists for so many different things- not just health and fitness. There are challenges for finances, saving the world, ebay, spring cleaning, politics, quitting smoking- and much more! 

If you check out DailyFeats, let me know. Maybe we can help each other over there! 

Junk

As in the food variety.

Oh how I used to LOVE it! Crave it! Adore it! Worship it! Cram it in my mouth at warp speed.

Yup. That was me.

Especially when it came to anything sugar related. Or fast food related. Or pizza related. Or sugar related...did I mention that one already.

But the carbs were my favorites. I'm talking about those good 'ol southern comfort foods. I am a walking, talking result of carbohydrate abuse. Carbs were not safe around me. If I saw one, I would pop it right into my mouth and delight in every bite almost to the point of becoming giddy. I'm referring to the carbs found in foods such as macaroni and cheese (BTW folks, mac and cheese is NOT the main course in the south, it is a side dish); twice baked potatoes; homemade cornbread dressing; homemade yeast rolls; white rice; mashed potatoes; corn; lima beans and the like. If the carb was of the sugar variety, well-just get out of the way or I'd likely mow you down. 

This would all have been just perfect if providing comfort and uplifting one’s spirit was all these foods did for me. But, no. What they also did for me is make me a great deal over weight which made me unhappy and in need of cheering up. The pattern was obvious. Eventually.

Once that 'eventually' showed up, I turned my back on junk food I've never looked back. 

We eat organic, natural veggies; gluten free carbs; brown rice; brown rice pasta; and our sweeteners are Turbinado, coconut sugar and honey. All of our sweets are homemade from cakes and pies to cookies and granola bars. AND, by the beginning of summer, we are going to give the RAW food diet a go. 

And what, exactly, are the benefits for me personally? 

Gone are the cravings! Gone is the lack of energy! Gone are 79 pounds!   

Is this for you? I don't know. But it's easy enough to find out- just do what I did: researchresearchresearch and readreadread about everything and that will enable you to make an informed decision. Everyone is different and it's up to each individual to make their own discoveries about which healthy habits will be good for them. 

This is the tenth day of the A-Z April Challenge. I thought I might try a theme this year and focus on my personal journey to health and fitness, including weight loss.

Today's letter is J and my word for the day is JUNK.

Spring Chick Challenge Update: Week 7

Time for the weekly update for the Spring Chick Challenge hosted by Stormy at Real Chicks Getting Fit.

Here's my update:

WALKING/TRAINING: 

• Monday: 3 miles (TRAINING)
• Tuesday: 2.34 miles (WAKLING)
• Wednesday: 3.57 miles (TRAINING)
• Thursday: 2.56 miles (WALKING)
• Friday: 3.19 miles (TRAINING)
• Saturday:  2.16 miles (WALKING)
• Sunday: 2 mile (TRAINING)

My TOTAL HOURS of exercising for the week: 5.03 (18.82 miles)


WATER INTAKE: 

• Monday: 96 oz
• Tuesday: 88 oz
• Wednesday: 80 oz
• Thursday: 96 oz
• Friday: 96 oz
• Saturday: 112 oz
• Sunday:  80 oz

CALORIE INTAKE:

• Monday:1391
• Tuesday:1350
• Wednesday:1337
• Thursday:1274
• Friday:1284
• Saturday:1237
• Sunday:1357

WEEK TOTAL:9230


Probably still need to get back to the 1200 calories/day but, seriously, I get way hungrier with running than when I was only walking. WTH?!


TRACKING: YES- every single day.

EATING AFTER 9:00 PM: YES

ORGANIZING: HA

SUPPORTING OTHERS: I can always do better on this one.

DAILY WRITING: Yeppers!

WEIGHT: I am not OFFICIALLY stepping on the scales until the end of the month. The running/walking/training program I am on is all about learning to run and weight loss.I'm still on Phase 2 of the program and do NOT see myself moving up to Phase 3 this week. I'm doing it, but it's still really hard and, until it starts becoming a tad easy-ish, I will stay in Phase 2. In other words, Phase 2 is still a challenge. Once it slacks off from being a challenge, I will move up.

I did step on the scale yesterday and I am only 1 lb down BUT my clothes are feeling way bigger than only 1 lb so I have to wonder if this running is perhaps having a larger effect on toning right now? Plus my daily calories are not really conducive for bigger weight loss.But, the month isn't over yet!

STORMY ASKS:

• How was the 7th week- see above
• Did you remain sweets free? No. But I don't use refined sugar. I only use honey, Turbinado and coconut sugar to sweeten. The really nice thing about these sweeteners is that they do not cause the craving for more like refined sugar does.
• How were your workouts? See above
• How was your water consumption? See above
• What do you think of the mini challenges? Even though I've already done all of them early on in this weight loss journey, I think they are great! They really helped at the beginning of the journey and I have continued with them- I believe they've become lifestyle changes.
  
• What did you do for yourself that was fun? I was able to hang out with DoodleBug several times this week and enjoyed every minute of it! And Hubs and I watched a couple of movies together via Netflix- suspense, crime thrillers- awesome!!!
  

WEEK 8 GOALS:

• I will continue to train 3-4 days and walk the other days. 
• I will continue eating healthy as this has become a lifestyle change not merely something for weight loss
• I am surrounded by support from my wonderful bloggy friends and my fantastic family!
• I will have fun --well, I'm not sure about this but I'm nearly certain that it will involve lunch with my BFF and some time with DoodleBug.
  

WEEK 8 MINI CHALLENGE: 


STORMY SAYS: "Be a buddy... This is a touchy one sorta. Do you have a friend or family member who you think may need to be a bit more healthy. Invite them to do something fitness/health focused with you. This one is close to my heart because I had to get fit by myself for so long. NO one asked me to go on a walk, swim, or anything when I was heavy and not working towards better health. It feels awesome know to know that I am not alone. You could be that person to help someone else take the 1st step to better health."

I've already done this since my journey began back in June (2011). My dad has lost 25 lbs from walking and changing his diet and my mother has seen the benefits of walking and going gluten free. I'm about to share the oil pulling with my mother this week- dad would laugh me out of the room on this one. LOL I've also been talking to my oldest younger brother about changing his diet and starting running again and all of the lovelies and BestSonInLawEVER are aware of what I'm doing and have made changes as well! And then there's Hubs who has noticed a tremendous difference is his well-being and is going to start running with me soon!

So, Stormy is quite right about the positive impact we can make in someone's life if we just put it out there!

Speaking of Stormy, guess who won a copy of A Cluttered Life? That's right- STORMY!

I've contacted her and received her information! Congrats Stormy! 
(I'll get that in the mail tomorrow- no postal service today)

Spring Chick Challenge Update: Week 3

Time for the weekly update for the Spring Chick Challenge hosted by Stormy at Real Chicks Getting Fit.

Here's my update:

RUNNING:  A little. I ran a total of 1 mile. Only ONE. Over the course of the week---.25 each time I ran. So far, so good. The knee is still fine. This week, we'll see about adding to it. 


WALKING: 

• Monday: 4.75 miles
• Tuesday: 2.54 miles
• Wednesday: 2.76 miles
• Thursday: 4.29 miles
• Friday: 4.25 miles
• Saturday:  2.58 miles
• Sunday: 3.24 miles

That's a so-so on the walking. I'd like to see each day at 5 miles. The warm, humid weather is so un-motivating! (is that even a word?)

My TOTAL HOURS of exercising for the week:7.35


WATER INTAKE: 

• Monday: 80 oz
• Tuesday: 72 oz
• Wednesday: 96 oz
• Thursday: 96 oz
• Friday: 96 oz
• Saturday: 80 oz
• Sunday: 96 oz

CALORIE INTAKE:

• Monday:1375
• Tuesday: 1392
• Wednesday:1379
• Thursday: 1336
• Friday: 1346
• Saturday:1259
• Sunday: 1365

WEEK TOTAL: 9452


I wanted to keep the daily under 1500 so a big YES on that one. Although I really should keep them closer to the 1200 mark. But I always want the weekly total under 10,000 so YES! 


TRACKING: YES- every single day.
EATING AFTER 8:00 PM: More like no eating after 9:00 pm
ORGANIZING: Working on it.
SUPPORTING OTHERS: I can still do so much better on this one.
DAILY WRITING: Yeppers!
WEIGHT: -.5 lbs  TOTAL FOR TWO WEEKS: -4.5 LBS

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT/WEEK 4 GOALS:

1. Support and encouragement off others
2. Exercise- need to add some strength training in there somewhere. AND add distance while walking or running. 
3. The mini challenge is to try and find a new exercise. I saw a girl walking the other day and she stops at each bench and steps up and down on them several times. I might try that. If I think I can do it without breaking my neck.Otherwise, I may try to add 10 squats at each bench or something like that. (There are 6 benches so that would be quite a lot of those nasty squats...)

I'm also linking this post up with Inspire Me Monday with Ramona over at Create With Joy. 

Today, I am inspired by some of the women I see and often talk with while walking. They inspire me to continue because they take the time to stop and tell me that they notice how much weight I am losing. They also want to know what I am doing to accomplish my goals. And it's sort of odd that this would inspire me because, before I had the right mindset for losing the weight, this very thing--people noticing that I am losing- would have acted as sabotage. Go figure.

I was also inspired by a friend this week. I can't tell you who or what because it is going to be a surprise and she reads my blog. Let's just say it involves knitting. 

Click on the button if you've been inspired this week and link up to share your story!

Challenge Day!

Today is the end of the NINTH week of Biz's Holiday 2011 Challenge and the end of the EIGHTH week of Give Yourself the Best Gift and the Christmas Dress Challenge! (All buttons are on my sidebar but you can just click the links to get to their blogs OR click the links above!)

Here we go!

Check-In for ALL CHALLENGES:

• Drink 64 oz of water daily: YES!
• Exercise at least one hour 7 days/week: YES!
• Keep daily calories between 1200 and 1400: YES!
• Post daily exercise and food on livestrong.com: YES!
• Post weekly results: YES!
• No food after 8:00 pm: Check!
• Eat slower: Eh, so-so.
• Three days of strength training exercises: YES- sort of. It's not exactly strength training but it does require strength of the physical and mental type--I'm talking about DIY home improvement here. UGH.   

Here's the calorie breakdown:

• Monday: 1126
• Tuesday:1188
• Wednesday:1327
• Thursday:1270
• Friday:1127
• Saturday:1227
• Sunday:1112

Total calories for the week: 8377 
Total CARDIO for the week: 24.29 miles AND 9.51 hours (NOT fantastic, but DIY home improvements took priority...again- UGH)
Weight total for Biz's Holiday Challenge 2011 week NINE: 0 lb (for a NINE week total of: -16.5 lbs)
Weight total for Give Yourself the Best Gift and Christmas Dress Challenge week EIGHT: 0 lb (for a EIGHT week total of: -14.5 lbs)

Please know that a ZERO loss is perfectly fine with me! As long as the scale does NOT move UP, I'm a happy camper! 

Now, if we can just get this one project done. Did I mention UGH when it comes to DIY home improvements?  I'll post the tale and some pictures at some point. This week. I HOPE. 

At least y'all know that I'm still alive. AND that I have not killed Hubs. :)

Remember y'all: One day at a time!

I ate WHAT?!

When I first started this whole losing weight journey in May of 2009, it was about wanting to look good again. Maybe even an attempt at regaining my youth that was fast disappearing. Oh, I went about it the right way. I changed my daily diet from unhealthy to healthy and added exercise but my motivation was wrong.

And, without the proper motivation, the effort was successful at first. But a huge failure once all was said and done.

It took me nearly one complete year to put all that weight back on. Nearly one full year. Of eating all the wrong (but delicious) foods. ONE. YEAR. You have got to be kidding me.

Somewhere around March of this year, I decided that I simply did not want to be overweight anymore. I didn't want to be unhealthy. I was screaming (inside) that this had to stop! And it did need to stop. The amounts of sugar I was ingesting was probably what 100 people should take in ANNUALLY.

And I'm pretty sure that if that is an exaggeration, it's not much of one.

So I stopped. I decided to go back to healthy. And I thought I'd kickstart the whole thing with my own diet. I called it AssOff and it was, basically, a combination of Suzanne Somers plan and the Atkins plan. Guess what? Fail. Again.

Ok, maybe not a complete fail. But what I did wrong was substitute the sugar (I would buy one of those lovely Carrot Cakes from the grocery store and eat the whole thing by the next day) habit for every food under the sun that didn't have sugar in it. Stupid.

Then my friend Julie, at Healthy, Wealth, and Wise...NOT but learning, mentioned a weight loss challenge-Slimmer this Summer. I thought about it long and hard and thought maybe I shouldn't because I was scared of letting the group down. Debbi (at Debbi Does Dieting), one of the hosts for the challenge (and please check out her recipe blog- nearly all are healthy, low calorie and delicious) said that was the very attitude that would make the challenge work for me. So I signed up. I committed.

And I lost 44 pounds! Woot!

But, I have come to realize that it's more than the weight loss now. It's more than the desire to look better or regain some youth.


Now it's about health. It's about wanting to do more. Be more. Laugh more. Enjoy life more. And live longer. It's also become about the quality of the food itself.

And today, I realized that not only has my outlook changed but I, myself, have changed also. And it's all for the better.

Hubs and I took Mother home today. She's well enough to be at her house and her sister (Aunt Betty) is going to stay with her just for a few days. We had to get something for breakfast from a fast food place so I looked at CalorieKing (there's an app for that) for something with acceptable calories.

When Hubs brought the 'food' back from Bojangles and I held my biscuit in my hand all I felt was grease. THROUGH THE WRAPPER. Are you kidding me?!

I carefully unwrapped the biscuit. I picked off a little piece. I gingerly placed the tiny bite in my mouth. I tasted grease and white flour. I may have thrown up in my mouth a little. D.I.S.G.U.S.T.I.N.G. How in the world had I ever in all my life evereverever eaten anything like this?! I must have been out of my mind.

All that white flour, processed sugar, animal fat, etc. is in the past. And so are any and all cravings for it.

I'm on a new path now. A path to a longer, healthier, more enjoyable life.

And I might be enjoying the fact that my behind is no longer big enough to serve as a table for a tea party.