What do you do when you fall off the horse?

You get back on, right? I fell off a week ago. (The healthy horse) To make myself feel better, I have a list of reasons why:

-August 6th: We went to Great Falls, and went to the Fair, and I HAD to eat at Taco Treat!
-Steven & Jess's wedding was on August 7th, and things were just crazy busy...with lots of good food involved!
-We had a family birthday party for Ethan on August 8th. We had to eat cake with him!
-August 10th: Ethan came down with a stomach bug at daycare. I went into worry & stress mode and ate whatever. We had pizza, and ice cream that night. (Daniel & I did...the poor sickie got crackers and Popsicles.)

The good news is, I haven't missed working out! I'm still sitting at my 20 lbs lost. It is time for me to get going again! Even though I haven't gained, I still feel blah. I just feel so much better when I eat better!

Even better news: The bug Ethan had was very short-lived! Thank goodness!

Success! Well, almost.

Since I have begun this "diet" adventure, I have discovered some healthy things that we ALL really enjoy. Even Daniel, who will usually avoid anything that is too "healthy." It must be working, so I thought I would share what we have been doing. I am almost to my -20 lb mark, and Daniel is over -20lb lost. (He doesn't have to try nearly as hard. I am eating well AND working out 6 times a week. sigh.)



Our new favorite lunch that is quick, and yummy:

-A 100 calorie sandwich thin (I usually toast mine.)
-A few thin slices of ham or turkey (about 60 -70 calories worth)
-Fresh baby spinach
-Sliced tomato
-thin layer of avocado

....And you have a healthy sandwich, minus the excess calories of your average sandwich! I eat one of those sandwiches almost every day for lunch. I make Daniel's a little more "manly," by adding a little light mayo, and extra avocado. If he is lucky he will occasionally get a slice or 2 of bacon. I hate bacon, so I buy the precooked stuff that you just throw in the microwave.

We also use those for:
burgers, egg white salad sandwiches, breakfast sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches & grilled chicken sandwiches


When I am in a hurry for lunch:

-lean pockets! My favorite are: four cheese pizza, ham & cheddar, chicken spinach artichoke, & meatball. (I try not to go there more than 2x a week because of the sodium.)

-Happy Meal from Mcdonalds! That's right, I eat Mcdonalds and I can still lose weight. I even like it. It has definitely become a guilty pleasure. I have always liked Mcdonalds. (I just cut myself off of Big Macs:)) By eating a happy meal, I get the satisfaction of fast food without the excess guilt. I don't do it a lot, but when I do- I just make sure to eat extra healthy the rest of the day and I can still keep up with my 2lb a week weight loss.


For Dinner, we have been eating a lot of salads and grilled chicken. We have come to really like spinach chicken caesar salads. (Even Ethan!)
We also eat "normal" stuff as well. Unlike my diets before, I have come to realize that I need to be able to eat most anything for this to be a lifestyle change.
-When we have tacos, I eat just one, or make it into a salad. Before I ate 2 large ones, easily.
-When we have grilled cheese, I use VERY, VERY little butter and skip the high sodium soup. Or I will melt cheese on the 100 calorie thins.
-When we have spaghetti, I measure out my pasta and sauce to make sure it isn't super high in sodium, calories AND Carbs. I try to keep it under 350 calories
-If we have pizza, I get thin crust and eat 1 piece- or 2 if they are small. (after blotting the grease, of course.:))

Here are some dinner recipe ideas:

Summer Spinach Salad:

-fresh baby spinach
-fresh sliced strawberries
-red grapes
-diced cooked chicken (that has been cooked then refrigerated)
- small amount crushed nuts (optional)
-splash of dressing of your choice (raspberry vinaigrette & or any variety of light vinaigrette is good)

Lemon Pepper Chicken with Honey:

-Juice of 2 lemons
-1 TB Olive Oil
-1 TB coarsely ground black pepper
-1- Tsp honey
-2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

In a shallow dish, combine lemon juice, oil, pepper, honey and salt to taste. Add chicken, turning to coat with marinade, Set aside for 10 min.
Preheat broiler
Broil chicken 4-5 min per side or until done
-Serve with steamed veggies or salad

237 Calories per chicken breast
10g fat
7g carbs
69 sodium
17mg calcium

Chicken-Apple Curry

1 TB canola oil (or less)
8 oz if chicken breast cut into strips
1 golden delicious apple, peeled and diced
1 small opnion chopped
1 TB curry powder
1 cup low sodium chicken broth

Heat oil in skillet over med-high heat. Saute chicken until cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste; remove chicken from pan.
Add apple and onion to skillet; cook until soft. Sprinkle with curry powder and cook for about 30 seconds.
Pour in chicken broth and cook until sauce thickens slightly. Add chicken back to skillet and warm through.

Serve with rice, veggies or fresh tomato with a splash of vinegar

Makes 2 servings
254 calories
10g fat
15 carbs
128 mg sodium
41 mg calcium



Snacks- they get me through the day! I will start with what I snack on the most:
-Sugar snap peas...and a lot of them! (I have always struggled with veggies- spinach, tomatoes, and snap peas are my main source of veggies. I'm trying!)
-FRUIT! (Strawberries, raspberries, grapes, watermelon-pretty much every fruit other than bananas. Too many calories for me to consider it a good fruit.)
-Kellogg's fiber max bars-the chocolate ones (120 calories each) When I need something quick, and that needs to fill me for 2 hrs- that is what I go for)
-90 calorie rice crispy treats
-100 calorie packs of brownie bites, or chocolate chip cookie bites
-50 calorie skinny cow fudgesicle minis (I avoid snacking in the evening if possible, but If I need something other than veggies or fruit that is what I go for)
-Old Fashion Twin Popsicles-Only 60 calories
-Carrot sticks & raw broccoli-there is a reason they are last on the list!

That's it for now! I am a calorie counter, unfortunately. www.calorieking.com has been an awesome resource!! When I get to my goal, I will stop couting calories, and just live healthy!!

And I must add...I drink A LOT of water. Everyday.

Not giving up what I want, for what I want right NOW

As many of you know, I teach Sunday school in our ward. (Youth, 12-13yr olds) I always seem to get more out of the lessons than they do. I was preparing a lesson on Self Mastery, (or self control) and I came across something that had a profound impact on me. It read: “Never give up what you want, for what you want right now.”
In the lesson it had to do with overcoming challenges and temptations in order to receive celestial glory. I can relate there as well, but in my case it is about weight.
Currently I am battling my weight again, and it is a battle I plan on winning. Losing weight is really hard for me. It is more of an emotional challenge than it is a physical challenge. I love to eat. It is that simple. It makes me feel good. And according to Oprah, I use food as a drug. “When you eat when you’re not hungry, you are using food as a drug.” That means I am a straight up druggie.
I eat when I’m sad.
I eat when I’m angry.
I eat when I’m happy.
I eat when I’m stressed.
You get the picture. Losing weight isn’t anything new to me. It seems like I have battled my weight my entire life. I have never been a large person, but large enough to make me incredible unhappy with the way I look. I think from the perspective of other people I have almost always been “average.” According to BMI charts I have spent a lot of time overweight. After I got married in 2002 and moved to Utah, I slowly started packing on the pounds. I have no idea what I weighed when I got married, but I do now that when we moved to Montana in 2004, I hit my highest weight of about 165. I know that isn’t very heavy, but I hated how I looked. I tried different diets that I couldn’t stick to because I love carbs and chocolate too much. They would last maybe a week, before I was eating our weekly pizza and Dairy Queen again. I finally hit rock bottom a year or so later and joined LA Weight loss. I had to go in for weigh-ins 3x a week and the pounds were actually coming off. I was feeling great. I still snuck cheat days in here and there, and actually stopped going in for my weigh-ins after about 3 months. I did not give up though. I kept all my meal plan books and kept at it, and just bought my own digital scale. I also was working out 5 or more times a week. I am proud to say that I made my goal by the time we went on vacation to Florida. (March 2007, I think) The day we left on the plane I weighed 125, and felt awesome. I stayed around 125-130 until I got pregnant with Ethan. Pregnancy took a toll on me, and at 12 weeks post partum I was back at 160. I was still breast feeding, so it didn’t take me long to lose it all again. (pumping actually, and producing enough for at least 3 kids) I started a weight loss competition at work in Feb of 2009, and was at 129 by Ethan’s birthday on August 15, 2009. I can brag now, and say that I did win that competition.  The best part was- losing weight was a piece of cake compared to the 1st time. I didn’t step foot on one piece of exercise equipment other than our wii, and I pretty much cheated at least 3x a week. I almost feel like I cheated, because it was so easy.

This brings me to my current situation:

I got pregnant again shortly after losing all my baby weight, and the vicious cycle started again. Unfortunately this time, I don’t have breast-feeding on my side. Instead, I have frustration, anger, stress, sadness, ect. I’m so mad at myself for gaining so much weight in the short 20ish weeks I was pregnant. I had a rough 1st trimester, so when I felt good enough to eat, I ATE. I ate whatever and how much I felt like I deserved. Once I started feeling better, I ate even more. Mostly because I didn’t fear throwing it up. I wasn’t watching what I was eating to say the least.

I guess that would make this my 3rd official weight loss journey. I am now determined to win, again. It has been very frustrating. I have to work 10x harder, and the weight isn’t coming off as fast as it did the last time. I started this journey back at my much hated 160, and am slowly making progress. I have fallen off a few times since I started, but have lost about 12 lbs so far. My mii on the wii isn’t overweight anymore. YAY! (we have a wii fit that I weigh in on)
Every time I want to splurge on a big mac or a huge amount of chocolate, I now here that line from the lesson in my head…”Don’t give up what you want, for what you want right NOW.” I want so badly to be at a weight that I am happy with. It is now a daily battle trying to convince myself that eating that brownie or fries is just giving up what I want, for what I want at that moment. I am not giving that up.
To be continued…