Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

Well, there's good news and bad news this week....

Bad first: I'm up 5lbs in the last two weeks. It's no surprise. I've been drastically off track, especially the last week or so with Thanksgiving in there. No excuses, it's been a conscious decision.

Good news: I'm on track today AND (drum roll please) I actually found the gym at school today! It's pathetic but it was my first gym workout in nearly two months. I did 40 min on the elliptical and 25 on the treadmill (ran 15, walked 10). I'm thinking of going back to good ol' Couch to 5K, not starting at the beginning but part way through.

Things to help me stay on track this time:
- I have a friend lined up to work out with me tomorrow and Friday
- I have a container full of yummy, filling, healthy soup in the fridge
- I have a bunch of fresh fruit and veggies to munch on

I'm trying to use up the food we have this week, instead of blowing a bunch of money when there is still plenty here. I'm trying to make a deal with myself of no eating out (including no coffee) and no new groceries other than the stuff we go through more quickly like milk, fruit, etc. With Christmas coming soon, I need to keep myself in check a little more and not spend when I don't need to. Don't we all know that story... LOL

Anyways, here's to a good week!

Yummy Yummy Soup

In my attempt to keep food interesting, I'm always on the look out for appealing and healthy recipes. When reading the blog of Sara (Trisaratops) from the Healthy You Challenge, she mentioned a delicious black bean soup that I just had to try. And I'm glad I did! I've never tried anything with black beans before, but I'm a huge fan of cilantro so that sealed it for me. And it was sooooo good. Here's the recipe. I soaked my beans overnight, didn't use or sweet potato but followed everything else pretty exactly. Oh, I also added smoked paprika as suggested in some of the great comments. Anyways, it was a hit as everyone in my house loved it (which meant no leftovers, unfortunately!). I forgot to calculate the points for my version, but I think it is roughly around 4-5 per serving. Not bad at all as it is quite filling. I served it with a warmed pita bread on the side.

What's your fave soup recipe?

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

Pretty please can I just fall over yet? I'm sooo tired and dragging my butt around today. Diet has sort of fallen to the wayside the last few days as I have two sick kids and have made several trips to the ER at Children's and the walk in clinic. Unfortunately my older daughter does not seem to be responding to her meds for tonsillitis and a UTI so back to the doctor we'll go tomorrow. It's never ending it seems!

So, for my weigh in today, I'm only down 0.4, which means that I'm 0.6 away from reaching my goal of losing 6 lbs since I recommitted a few weeks ago. Not happy about that as I know I could have done it. The only good thing is that it is enough of a loss to take me back over the 40 lbs lost mark, thank goodness. My next goal is to lose 6 lbs (now 6.6lbs) by Thanksgiving. Yikes.. that's gonna be cutting it close I think, though I know it is do-able if I completely stay OP. Then again, if I manage to catch my girls germs, I'm bound to lose a few extra lbs. LOL. I should not be wishing for that though!! I have a very busy next couple of weeks at school and cannot fall behind now.

Blah.. sorry, just feeling all whiny and complain-y today. I hope ya'll are doing better out there!

BLAH Apparently I can't add either! Still 0.8 to go until I'm back at 40 lbs lost. Ack..

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

I had to cross my fingers as I stepped on the scale today and fortunately, everything turned out okay. After my big loss last week (5lbs), I knew it would be harder to have a good loss this week, plus the fact that I was at a wedding all weekend and totally not in control of what I was able to eat as we were out in the middle of no where. I managed to stay the same so I am happy with that.

The wedding was awesome fun though, after all, I was there with my boyfriend and child-free (for the first time ever!!) so how could it not be fun?? LOL. Tons of driving though - I think it was about 17 hours on the road between Friday afternoon and Sunday night UGH. My lower back is still sore from sitting so much. But all in all, not one complaint. And the kids faired just fine without me, though Grandma is still a little tired.

And what is it about weddings that make you start planning your own? LOL Mike has asked me about 5 times now to marry him but not "officially" - meaning, no ring yet. But, we did decide that planning a wedding looks like way too much work (not to mention money) so we're thinking that heading down to somewhere tropical and getting married barefoot on the beach is much more our style. Anyone done that and have any tips? Apparently we're going ring shopping next weekend when he comes down to visit. And yes, that makes me feel very giddy :)

I'm trying really hard to get back on track food-wise today as I really want to meet my goal of losing 6 lbs by the end of the month, which means I need a loss of at least 1lb this week. I heard that the gym at school is totally state of the art and not all that crowded so I really need to find a way to check that out. My goal is to go at least once this week. Baby steps, right?

It's KEEN-wah!

I felt like such a dork when I went into Planet Organic yesterday looking for Quinoa. I pronounced it exactly how it is spelled and the guy was like, "Oh, you mean Keen-wah?". Umm yah, okay.

Anyways, I've been wanting to try some quinoa for quite some time because it's so high in protein but never found a recipe, or maybe more accurately, the motivation to find an appealing recipe, to make some up. Well, last week I bought Company's Coming Low Fat Express Cookbook when they were 50% off at Superstore. By the way, these are my fave cookbooks.. I must have at least 10 around here. And this one is great! It has a ton of good recipes and includes all of the nutritional info. So, I tried making Apple Cinnamon Quinoa.

Apple Cinnamon Quinoa

1 cup skim evaporated milk
1/2 cup apple juice
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup sweetened applesauce (I used unsweetened)
2 tbsp brown sugar, packed (I used 1 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar blend)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

Combine milk and apple juice in large saucepan. Heat on medium until hot, but not boiling. Add remaining 5 ingredients. Stir. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until quinoa is tender.

Makes 4 servings and the way that I made it, it was about 5 points per serving. Not too bad for a complete breakfast though, right?

I found it waaaaaaay too sweet, even though I used unsweetened applesauce and less brown sugar. I think it might have been the evaporated milk? The texture itself was okay though.. it sort of reminded me of Red River Cereal (which I love). I may try making it again and just using regular skim milk instead of the evaporated milk. Or, I may just stick with my Red River Cereal ;) In the meantime though, I have at least a cup of uncooked quinoa leftover. Any good suggestions of what to do with it? Preferably something more savory...

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

It's been a while since I've checked in with the Healthy You Challenge but thought I'd jump back in this week. I also weighed in today since I forgot yesterday. I am actually thinking that Tuesday will be my new official WI day.. works better with my schedule right now since Mondays I get to sleep in a little and I like to weigh myself as soon as I get up and before I jump in the shower. Anyways, today's weigh in kicked butt!! I am down 5.0 lbs from last week!!!!!!!!! This leads me to think that last weeks WI (and rather large gain) was a big water gain, which would make sense seeing as it was also TOM. But anyhow, 5 lbs is 5 lbs and I'll take it!

Everything else is going good school (I got 100% on the test I was so stressed about last week!!) and relationship-wise (we had a huge talk Friday night and now things are sooooo good!!). The only thing I'm still haven't difficulty fitting in to my life so far this fall is exercise. I used to be so good about earning my APs but right now, it's either study or go work out and so far, studying is winning out. In all honesty, I think it has to right now. This program is only 5 months long and I need to make the most of it. Of course that doesn't mean I'm a total slouch.. I do try to do things like walk up the 5 flights of stairs to my classes, go for little evening walks with the kids, etc. It would be great if I could somehow fit more in though.

Anyhow, here's to another OP week!

TGIF!!

I'm soooooo ready the weekend. It's not like it means I get to relax, because quite honestly, this weekend seems to be jam packed full of plans, but it means my poor brain gets to relax a wee bit. I feel absolutely overstuffed... and no, not my tummy for once - overstuffed with information. I am taking 8 classes right now!! Not sure how I am going to be able to remember everything... but I'll have to manage somehow. The majority of my classes are health/medical related but two are computer classes and even though I thought they'd be boring and a PITA, I'm loving them! I got to put a computer back together today. I got to learn how SIMPLE it actually is to replace memory, hard drives, etc. Seriously, those are life skills in today's day and age.

Anyways.. I've been a pretty good girl diet-wise the last couple days. Tonight I did have a few pieces of Domino's thin-crust pizza and one glass of regular coke but I have barely touched my flex points all week so I'm still well within my points for the week. I'm really proud of the fact that I've been really getting in my fruits/veggies and that I'm getting up early enough to make myself a decent breakfast to start my day. I have unfortunately discovered the location of the campus Starbucks and made a stop there the last two mornings. I've had serious cravings for my non-fat Chai Latte... only 3 points though for a tall (plus a serving of dairy) so not really too much damage done, other than to my wallet. I need to stop getting to school so early so I won't have time to go over there before class! LOL

On the relationship front, I did have a little talk with Mike yesterday afternoon. We've both just been so tired lately that by the time we talk at the end of the day, neither of us have a whole lot to say. I get that. I asked him if he really thought he was ready for the girls and I to move up there in February. He told me that basically he feels like he is living and breathing for February to come... that it's something he's been waiting for for such a long time and he can't wait to have us there every day. Then he asked me if that's what I wanted.... I said yes.. but I don't think I convinced him (I admit I didn't say it very convincingly). I said that it was what I wanted but that I was a little scared and that there was stuff I wanted to talk about so that we start out being all on the same page. He agreed that it was a good idea... so that's a start anyways. I'm really really really looking forward to seeing him next weekend. It should be a lot of fun and maybe even a little romantic seeing as it will be just the two of us with no kids around (for the first time ever!!).

Anyways.. guess that's it for now :)