My Roomates Boyfriend...

Is a very healthy guy. Like for real. Very regimented when it comes to his food intake and his workouts and everything. Yes he has the occasional apple pie that I make but other then that he is on point and I am so in awe. Last night my roomie decided she wanted to start to get healthy so he came over and laid it all out on the table of what she needed to do. I was in the living room lying on the couch with my plethora of candles lit and my relaxation Pandora station going and listening to the whole thing. Of course I gave my two cents every 5 seconds just to be funny because hello that's me. But I was really taking everything in and to heart.

I know that everything comes with time and if you just change one aspect of your life at a time eventually it will all work together.

So for lunch today I am making Skinny Tastes, Chicken Thighs with Artichoke hearts (and sundried tomatoes)
I found the recipe HERE looking through one of my favorite sites online for healthy recipes.

My mouth immediately watered and I knew that I needed to make this so I went out and got all the ingredients and made it happen.

Here are the progression pictures as I prepared it.

Have you ever seen this beauty right here??

My boss uses this stuff all the time, perfect for when you want some rice but don't have 1800 years to cook it. Basically you pull the cup out, pop open the top a tad and put it in the microwave for 1 minute and then ta-da perfectly cooked rice.

All together with rice and two pieces of chicken and goodness you looking at around 450 calories. Not to shabby!

 

Jenny 

This is the Moment - Weigh In Wednesday

Linking up again for Weigh In Wednesday, in my opinion the best link up all week :)

Alrighty here we go again. I just read Ashley's blog post for today about having those periods where we are just lazy and don't do anything and that was me for about 3 weeks but on Monday I decided that the time was right again to start taking back control over my life. I got up really early on Monday morning and did the next run on my Ease into 5K. So by the time I got to the house I nanny at I had already walk/run 2 miles and had a solid 33 oz of water to drink. It set the tone for the day and I did really good snacking wise, with green beans and watermelon taking the place of the rice krispy treat and cheese puffs. I ate some tuna and crackers at around 11 and then had an actual lunch around 3, dinner was only ok as I had Mexican but I didn't eat as much as I usually do.

Tuesday rolled around and my food choices were so-so still no rice krispy treats and no unnecessary snacking. I am attempting to keep the kids and I as busy as possible so then I don't have time to think about snacking. We went and saw Epic at a Dine-In movie theater and so my food choice was no bueno on top of the fact that the kids ordered desserts that they ended up not liking them and so I ended up having a bit, but I made up for it in dinner with a bowl of soup that's only 5 points. Then I took the Milo Man to the park and did a good 2 mile walk to keep us both in shape, he just loves walks and car rides so when we merge the two he is in heaven.

Last night I got to bed at around 10 because I knew that I was going to get up early to run again. I love the energy I end up having and the mood I am in after a good run and shower. It makes getting up at 6am not that bad at all.  My Ease into 5K today was Warm Up, run 7 minutes, walk 2, Run 5, walk 2, Run 7 and Cool Down. So that means that I ran for a total of 19 minutes....woah. Crazy talk. Didn't really think or know I could but I did even though I wanted to stop because I wasn't feeling well but I was determined. My pace seems to be slowing down but I am ok with that because as long as I keep running and not stop I am proud of myself.

I decided not to hop on the scale today and will hop on next week and post my weight.

On the water drinking front I am becoming a water drinking fiend! On Monday I logged 115 oz and yesterday I logged 140oz!!!! It is 9:30 right now and as I type this I have already had 33oz today with so much time left today! I am hoping to keep this up, if I can along with eating better and walking/running every day then I know I can get these pounds off. My goal right now is to make it to 200lbs by Labor day which is about 1lb a week that I know I can do if I stay focused.


Today is A's (the oldest) birthday. She is 9 which is crazy because she was 7 when I started watching her. She is growing up so much and loves softball right now which makes this nanny super happy. You can find us throwing the ball and practicing her swing often in the back yard. I am sure that this year will be just as exciting as the last. We have a fun filled day planned and I will post about it later. For now her and W ran to my car this morning to show me what she got and how excited they were for our fun day planned. I love these kids and love my job!!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Jenny

So Simple Yet So Hard - Weigh In Wednesday

So the last time I actually took a picture of me on the scale and posted it on here was about a month ago and I weighed in at 210.1.

Well let's fast forward to today a month later with two vacation trips, one being a very long one down to Florida to see family that I haven't seen in a while. Coupled with many a mishap (speeding ticket, flat tire....). I didn't have the time or the care to count and pay attention to what I was eating and or exercise.

I realize that once I let bad habits start to slip back in they come back at full force and it's hard to re-establish good habits. So I stepped on the scale today and it's a whopping 214.7. Whomp whomp. Honestly, could have been way worse, didn't quite make it up to my highest ever at 216.3. But keeping at the rate I am going it could so easily get there in about another month.

I seem to be having a real hard time with food this time around, I guess it's not easy when it is all around you and the kids eat snacks and all I want is just chips and a rice krispie treat. That certainly is no excuse for getting lazy and not preparing snacks ahead of time. I just need to be more disciplined. Seriously though I feel like I am always hungry and just cannot get enough to eat. I think something in my brain is off and when I am full it doesn't know when to tell me. I probably need to go see a Dr. and see if that is indeed the case. I also have hypothyroid and am not on medication that I should be taking right now. And now I realize I am attempting to make excuses for my behavior. This doesn't really affect anyone but me but I feel like I need to get it into gear.

My goal for this next week is no soda, I need to get back into that routine again. Starting small but that's how change happens.

I have had 64 oz of water today so far and no soda, (can't say the same for the last week or so) and I did better then I have been doing food wise. I still have a long way to go. Thanks for all of the encouragement and sticking around. If I were yall I would be like "this chick is crazy why can't she get it together" well I am crazy and I am learning a lot about myself and it seems it's just gonna take a little longer for me to get it together then I would like.

Jenny

Weigh In Wednesday! Week 9

It's Wednesday again!!! Woohoo!

Lets see this last week was mailer busy for me and it included a trip to the beach and back. You can read all about it here! I had a blast and didn't go too crazy or so I thought. I was in my points range this week but we will see.

I have cut my soda intake like crazy and only allow myself one a day on the weekends so that's a total of 2 sodas a week. When I look back at like January and I was having 4-6 a day I am amazed. For me it's nice to see it as a simple treat rather then a "necessity" which it was for so long. I do not wish to go back there again any time soon.

I didn't really track my exercise or water intake this week. But am starting to again this next week and will have a report next Wednesday on how I did.

Usually when I am home by myself I cook. Well last night was the case and so I decided to make something I have made before. Asian Chicken Drumsticks from Skinny Taste and then just some green beans with garlic. Yum. So good. And now I have some meals for this week.

I am planning on doing my May 5K this Saturday because next weekend it's gonna be crazy with my bro and SIL and the kiddos coming in. Not to mention my bro has only 24 hours in America before he has to go back to Germany for a training. Gotta love the Army.

I competed week 4 day 1 of Ease into 5K! The farthest I have gotten on one of these things. I did 2.05 miles in 30 minutes just gotta keep trucking and I'll be running 30 minutes solid in no time!

 

I hopped on the scale this morning, mother nature is intended to hit today so I gained 2lbs. I'm not upset I know it's because of that. I am soooo bloated. Just gotta keep up my water intake and by next week it'll be gone along with some more.

Thanks for checking in with me!! Make sure you click around on all the other posts in this link up for some great inspiration :)

Jenny

Today Can Be A Good Day - Weigh In Wednesday Week 8

It's Wednesday again, my favorite day of the week in Blog land no lie I spend as many hours as I can scrolling through the Weigh In Wednesday posts and read and get inspired and comment as much as I can.

Make sure you click over to Erin and Alex's blog and give them some love and link up as well with your weekly weigh in. You won't regret the community you get from this link up.

Can I just say I have realized what books and articles mean when they talk about how the environment affects your health. Well this past week it rained and rained and I was at the point where wasn't sure if it was going to end. I think I mentioned that I do not do the gym, the treadmill gets so boring to me and I feel like I am going no where, I would much rather walk outside Well tons of rain = Jenny no exercise. There were definitely 3 days this past week where I did not exercise, here was my exercise for the past week. (Don't forget I mentioned the fact that I was not in bed until 12 at the earliest every night and I attribute most of this to that factor)

Wednesday - walk - 1.87 miles - 33:24
Thursday - walk - 1.78 Miles - 32:42
Friday - nothing
Saturday - Nada
Sunday - nilch
Monday - Ease into 5 K - 1.83 miles - 28:52
Tuesday - Walk - 1.56 miles - 26:53

Total Miles - 7.04
Total Time -  2 hours and 1 minute

If you have see my past weeks, this is such a slow week.....I am just hoping it paid off.

My water intake followed suit with the exercise it wasn't too bad, I could have not had any water at all, but I definitely could have had more then I did.

Wednesday - 50 oz
Thursday - 100 oz
Friday - 75 oz
Saturday - 25 oz
Sunday - 79 oz
Monday - 100 oz
Tuesday - 92

Total Average - 74 oz --- which means that I still got the recommended 64 oz a day, woo hoo small non scale victory.

Another non scale victory that could seem small but is pretty big to me is that it has now been 2 whole days since I have had soda, I had one real coke at dinner on Sunday but on Monday and Tuesday I had no soda at all. I am hoping to keep this up and then maybe start cutting soda during the week and only having one a day during the weekend. Going from 6 regular soda cans a day and getting over those awful headaches I am so glad I have cut back.

This week was definitely a so-so week as far as food goes, I did pretty good up until like the afternoons when snack time kicked in and then dinner was a wreck at some points. There was day I didn't track anything and definitely went off course and even one night where I found myself at Chili's (it has the WORST track record for caloric value of foods) I hopped on the scale on Monday and I was up but I vowed not to weigh again until Wednesday because it could alter my days if I know I might fail.

Yesterday I went and got some more flowers for my apartment in my mini series on Instagram I like to call Why We Need Flowers, this week was "...because sometimes you just have something to smile about." Like maybe a total stranger told your friend that he thought you were hot! Oh yes, confidence booster if anything. Here are the beautiful flowers from Trader Joes.

 

So here we go for the weigh in. Last night was another rough night sleeping, I got no sleep and I went to bed at 9:15!!! Ugh. I guess I can't win sometimes. But I got up this morning in a really bad mood about a few things. I hopped up on that scale and I was down .7, woohoo!! So exciting. Wasn't expecting too much but to have two losses in a row, I'll take it. I am going on vacation this weekend to the beach but am determined to be mindful as to not go out of control. I also plan on taking my walking shoes and getting some form of work outs in while there.

 

Last Week: 210.1

This Week: 209.4

Loss: 0.7

Total Loss: 6.9 lbs

 

So so close to that 10lb mark, if I can kick it into high gear I'll definitely be seeing it in the next couple weeks.

Thanks for all of you who read and encourage me, it is definitely the reminder I need that i can do this and will succeed this time! It means the world to me. I love you all!

Jenny

Rain Rain Go Away.

I have come to the realization that I cannot do the things I use to do. Like stay up past midnight every night of the week and expect to have enough energy to do all the things I need to during the day. This weekend has just flown by like crazy and as I look back on this blog and when I started to really buckle down and start posting often I see how fast time truly flies.

Linking up again with Sami over at Sami's Shenanigans for me Weekend Wrap Up :)

Friday night I got off of work and went to hang out with my friend Kirsten who lives on my way home from work, so convenient. We went to a burger place and I ordered a grilled chicken sand which and some fries. After I sat down and was half way through my plate it hit me....I gave up fries for the week. I looked at my plate then looked up at Kirsten and her sister Savannah and said, crap! I can't believe I forgot about this. I was a little upset with myself but just realized that it was a simple mistake that was not to be repeated. After dinner we went to a few shops and found these awesome glasses, which I of course had to buy and wear out of the store. I have since worn them quite often and have gotten a ton of compliments on them :)

I went home to go run an errand for my roomie and then headed to bed early to get ready for her birthday the next day, which you can read all about here. (It was amazing, check out the post there was a lot of fun things throughout the day)

Sunday was just as much fun as it was Cinco De Mayo. I was at church in the morning, which I love and am so honored to be able to serve. I work with a little boy who has Autism and my friend Andrew helps me with him. He had a fantastic day at church and was laughing many times while we played different games with the ball, nothing like the laughter of a child to completely make you smile.

After church I headed to my friend Kirsten's house because I was going out with her and a few friends for Cinco De Mayo dinner at a restaurant she frequents. Before hand we ate this fantastic vanilla gelato she had bought, I am not an ice cream fan but this stuff was delicious!

At the restaurant I had the shrimp tacos and a small plate of rice and beans. They gave us free hats and sunglasses and we were all very happy.

It was raining all day long and so I put my hair in braids, cause ain't no body got time to do hair that will get ruined in the rain.









Then we took a quick trip to Trader Joes to get some snackage to go back to her house and watch a movie, we usually do this every Sunday night and it is quite enjoyable. I usually end up asleep on the couch 15 minutes into the movie and wake up as the credits are rolling ready to head home, it's just what I do. We watched Hope Springs and I stayed up for the whole thing and liked it a little bit, not as good as I felt it could have been, but not the worst I have seen. Then we popped in Enchanted which is when I fell asleep and then got up during the credits. After some more laughing and talking I finally left and went home to get some sleep.

This week is going to be crazy busy, my boss is out of town for work and we have field day for everyone. I got to get ready for my beach trip to St Augustine this upcoming weekend with my friend Kirsten, we just need a weekend to get away. We are however going to drive down and take my sisters to dinner and I am really excited to see them as the last time was Christmas.

Alrighty weekly goals, let's see.....

1. No french fries - Well except for my snafoo at the burger joint where I had a complete lapse in judgement, I did not have any other french fries. so I would say 80% success.

2. Track Everything I put in my mouth - Nope. Not even close. It was a crazy week for sure and I got NO sleep so I was thrown off entirely.

3. Walk 3-5 Miles a day - again no bueno. I guess rains for like 3 days straight will do that to you...or lack of sleep to give you the energy you need.

SO I am pretty much 0 for 3....yikes. Let's set some new ones for this week.

1. Get More Sleep - I need to remember that I cannot work 50 hours a week and get only 5-6 hours of sleep at night and expect to be functioning especially if I am attempting to work out 1 hour a day. I need to hit the sack a little earlier.

2. Do the next three workouts on Ease into 5K - I stopped for some reason, not because I was doing it wrong or anything, just becuase of the time and the weather and my sleeping schedule, so I want to do the next three workouts this week.

3. Don't get TOO crazy on vacation this weekend - This is just a reminder that I need to remember to still stay on top of it even though I am headed to the beach and back to the city I love with tons of food I adore. I just need to stay on track.

Still trucking along, I got on the scale this morning and the damage from birthday weekend was not as bad as it could have been but I need to buckle down these next two days to get ready for Weigh In Wednesday, I want to report a loss 2 weeks in a row so badly. Not to mention my prize envelopes are taunting me and I really want to open 10lbs and I am not where close but can be if I work hard and I will!!

Jenny

I Think I Can, I Think I Can - Weigh In Wednesday - Week 7

So as of right now it is not technically Wednesday, but Tuesday morning as I sit at the table in the house I nanny for. All the beds are made, dishes washed, laundry is in the dryer and I have free time. I just walked 2 miles while talking to my sister in law, who lives in Germany right now about an upcoming trip. Last week if you are following me on this crazy journey (and for real thank you for still reading, it gives me so much motivation when random people I know come up to me with words of encouragement or just a simple hey I read your blog) you will remember that I mentioned that April was just an awful month. Well tomorrow, or today it is May 1st and the start of a new month and new determination to continue to get healthy. I am stepping on the scale today, the good, the bad, and the ugly not sure exactly what it is going to hold for me. I know that I weighed in on Sunday was looking ok but I decided not to step on the scale again until Wednesday.

This week has been a lot better then the week before. I really attempted to buckle down and track everything and not let my emotions or my though patterns rule my stomach. There was many a night that I contemplated getting up and going to get something from the drive through but instead brushed my teeth and started reading blogs or went to bed. I know I eat when I am bored, I just need to occupy myself with something else. I continue to get better at this day by day and I know I just have to stay consistent.

I mentioned last week that I was going to up my intake of water and boy did I do that! I also did pretty good keeping up with my exercising. Here is my rundown of my water intake and then m exercise for the week.

Water Intake (My water bottle holds 25oz so as I drank it I kept a running total on a note in my phone, I also used other water bottles to measure how much I drank)
Wednesday - 100 oz.
Thursday - 102 oz.
Friday - 70 oz.
Saturday - 108 oz.
Sunday - 59 oz.
Monday - 84 oz.
Tuesday - 100 oz.

Average a day - 89 oz!!!!!!!

Which I am so thrilled about because it is definitely above the recommended 64 oz, I just need to keep this up, my water bottle is what is helping me push through and also my kids. Everyday when I pull the girls off the bus they ask me how many bottles I have had and if I am on number 3 they are so proud and tell me I have all afternoon! But if I am only on 2 they are concerned and tell me I need to drink more. I love their caring hearts for me in this journey.

Exercise

Wednesday
Ease Into 5K - 36:55 - 2.45 miles
Treadmill - 18:54 - 1.2 miles
Upper Body Workout
Thursday
Walking - 18:31 - 1 mile
Walking - 17:26 - .81 miles
Friday
Ease into 5K - 29:45 - 1.81 miles
Walk with Milo - 35:33 - 1.18 miles
Saturday
Ricky's Run 5K - 45:12 - 3.18 miles
Sunday
REST
Monday
Walking - 23:52 - .98 miles
Walking - 14:37 - .83 miles
Tuesday
Walking - 38:51 - 2 miles

Total Miles Logged - 15.44 miles!

As you can see there are a lot of little walks in their because I get 20 minutes here and 15 minutes there and I stop at a park and just walk until I have to leave again. I figure it's better then nothing right?! So as you can see my water and exercise were pretty good. My food is coming around so hopefully this weigh in will be kind to me.

My goal this month was to reach 100 miles and it was a crazy month my total miles for the whole month of April are.........64.71 I was shy a good bit of miles but still I am so proud to have logged just around 65 miles in a month, it's about 2 miles a day, and I'll take that!

I link up every Monday with my weekly goals and you can take a look at them over here. My main goal this week is no french fries, they are my weakness and I try and squeeze them into my points wherever I can, but not this week, no french fries for this girly.

Dont forget to link up with Erin at She's A Big Star and Alex over at Skinny Jean Pilgrimage

Alrighty now is the moment of truth!

 

The last time I weighed in was 2 weeks ago and it was 210.5 so that's a loss of .4! A loss is a loss in my book. And even though I didn't technically weigh in last week I am sure I stepped on the scale and it was up at 213 so it's more like a major loss from last week. I just need to continue to stay on top of it this week and I will get back down past 209 which is the lowest I have seen on here since starting Weigh In Wednesday. I did really good eating wise (except for last night at this dinner party I went to, but we wont go there...could have been WAY worse) this week and hope to do the same again. I need to remember to track every bit of food I put in my mouth even if it is just a taste.

It is now May 1st and it's time to get real and buckle down and bust through May. My sister's graduation is at the end of the month and I bought this dress that is a smidgen tight and would really like to be in it for her graduation. I would love to lose 5-7lbs this month and I know that if I stick with it I can. It's just making better choices when it comes to my snacking.

I'm headed to a Braves Game tonight to celebrate a birthday with a friend, and I am so excited. I just love baseball season!

Jenny

Weigh In Wednesday - Week 6

You know the saying, it's been one of those weeks. Well for me it's been one of those months. As I went out to dinner with some girlfriends last night (who all happened to be sisters, 4 of them, I loved every minute of it!) we were discussing the month of April, yes I know we have another week left but still. My month was crazy, so crazy. Starting with my birthday and continuing with more family issues and crisis and crisis in my own life on the direction God is taking it has been crazy. I am amazed I have not had a mental breakdown and just completely fallen apart - I am sure I had a mini one, one night but it was short lived and I was ok. So anyways I did not weigh in today, I know that if I did, it would have been really really bad and I did not want to disappoint myself again. May is going to be a busy month, I have two vacations planned, and it's the end of the school year for the kiddos and the start of summer activities. I choose today to start a new. I am going to start counting my points again, exercising regularly, taking in water, and making better choices, because I care about myself. I can't allow my body to keep taking the hit for things when they go terribly wrong, I need to learn to manage my feelings. Here is to a new start, hopefully this is the last one of these kinds of posts for a while....or ever. I am writing out note cards to put in my bathroom and making sure I have my friends hold me accountable, I know I cannot do this by myself.

I do have a non-scale victory for this week however!!! I have up'd my water intake tremendously this week. I got this new water bottle...and seem to have no picture of it right now. But its a Camelbak and it holds 24 oz of water, my goal each day is to drink 3 full bottles putting me right at 72 oz of water. I have done it mostly for the past week and have felt really good, my soda intake is wayyyy down and I love that. I know it won't be soon before caffeine headaches dissapear all together and I won't need it anymore.

My diet bet ends in like 3 days and there is no way that I am going to reach my goal, so I am losing the $25, oh well that's on me. I think I am going to try to get in on another one starting in May and hopefully will succeed at that one.

For now I am sitting in my bed, as my boss told me I didn't have to come in until I needed to pick W up from school which is 1pm, so I think I might go do the next run on my ease into 5K, eat lunch and then head over that direction to complete my day. I am still going to attend a weight watchers meeting even though I probably gained again for the 2nd week, but I know I need to be there.

Jenny

Up and Down and Up and Down - Week 5

Once again I am linking up with Erin and Alex for today's Weigh In Wednesday.

I would be lying to you right now if I said I had a fantastic week and stuck to my guns and pushed it out. I don't know what happened but after my weigh in and a good size loss I think I forgot that I still have about 68 lbs to go to reach my goal. I slacked off majorly. I started eating everything in sight. I didn't really track and you know that if you don't track a lot of times it's going to do you no good. I have an insane memory and this morning when I sat down and tracked all my food I just about died. I just blew right through my extra weekly points and most if not all of my activity points that I earned. I ate out a lot more then I was suppose to when I had perfectly good food at home. I know it happens but I need to get my mind set on track or I am just going to be bouncing up and down a LONG time before getting where I want to be.

My activity level is still really high. I got this neat activity link that I clip onto my bra ( and since I am extremely blessed in that area you can never tell it's there ) and it tracks all of the activity points that I earn. First you have to do a week long assessment so they can see how many points you earn a day. In my meeting they talked about 4-6, 8 points and so I thought I would be in that range. At the end of my assessment I plugged in my link and was shocked. 12, that's what it read, that on average I earn 12 activity points a day. It has challenged me to reach 14 each day and I have so far. I am very interested to see if I will lose weight at my Weight Watchers meeting. (my weight at home and there is different because of the time of day and what not)

Last night my roommates boyfriend who is going to be a personal trainer one day (lucky me!) went with me to my little gym at the apartment and did an upper body workout with me. As I type this I cannot feel anything above my stomach, I am so sore. He has been a fantastic resource and is knowledgeable about healthy living and so luckily for me I am able to get to benefit from it. We are suppose to do lower body soon too, but I am excited. I have cardio down doing about 3-4 miles a day, but when it comes to strength training I have no idea what I am doing. It's nice to have someone sit and write it out for me and then tell me whether or not I am actually doing the exercises right or wrong. Thanks again Braden and thanks Linds for letting me take your man for a few minutes :).

I logged into my daily mile account and calculated all of miles in the month of April so far and I am at 43.63, I have 14 days left to reach my 100 mile goal and it basically means I need to do 4 miles a day from here on out. Challenge accepted!

Alright I stepped on the scale this morning and the result is......I gained 1.5. Not really that shocked. A little disappointed in myself for letting go and not really pushing myself last week. This is a whole new week though and all of my points from WW have reset and I am ready to buckle down and get to work. My roommate is out of town this weekend so I usually go walking and take her dog with me. Looks like we will be doing that a LOT.

My short term goals this week are

1. Drink more water, it doesn't matter how much. 2 cups would be more then what I drink now probably so I need to get on it.

2. No fast food unless eating out with friends. No lonely trips to the drive through this week.

3. Keep healthy snacks on hand.

4. Walk EVERY DAY.

Alright time to shape up for next week's weigh in, and my diet bet ends in 10 days and I now have 6lbs to lose, I have done it before. If I really push it out I can make it.

Jenny

Weigh In Wednesday, Week 4

So I attempting to get this post started a little early and am writing it on Tuesday night instead of Wednesday. I am pretty sure I will lose this week and cannot wait to see if I am correct or not, and so if I don't, well you won't see this particular post anyway ha!

Joining Erin @ She's A Big Star and Alex @ Skinny Jean Pilgrimage both are fantastic blogs that I enjoy reading every day!

Week 4

 



 

 

Anyways after taking a week off last week to enjoy my birthday, I considered just making it a weekend since I had many a celebrating to do. Waking up on Thursday though I decided no, yesterday was my day, today I get back on the ball and make it count this week. (Guess it helps that I have $25 on a diet bet right now that I would like to win back) So I have tracked every small thing I have eaten from Thursday until now and have not used all of my extra points or tapped into my activity points that I earned for Weight Watchers.

The last 24 hours have been crazy for me, a lot of things going on that can make me easily stressed out, and amazingly the only result has been one thing of waffle fries and a mini twix bar. Could have been WAY worse. I am probably about to go walk the dog too, but I need my phone to charge more because I have been off and on it with my family. (Please be praying for my family right now, we are going through some major changes and it is really really hard. I live 7 hours away and can't really do anything so I am stuck and feel helpless and just want to cry non-stop, but I got to keep my head up and keep moving forward)

Yesterday I made My Magic Soup and you can read about it here. It's super delicious and nutritious and I had my first batch for lunch today. I eat it with two slices of bread and my Fiji water. (I am sort of a water snob, I guess there could be worse things to be snobby about, but I like me Fiji water) I plan on eating a serving every day until it's gone, about 9 days I believe. Hoping the magic that helped me lose 20lbs two summers ago is still in it.

This week exercise wise for me was pretty strong, mostly because of my massive hike on Friday which took me 2 1/2 hours. Other then my birthday and Sunday (I took a real Sabbath) I was exercising every day. I am not sure if I am going to make it to 100 miles by the end of the month but so far I have logged about 23 miles so I have 77 to go in 21 days, very very possible if I put it into high gear and make it happen. Still going to shoot for it! Yesterday was my tear it up Tuesday and I ended up doing 50 minutes on the elliptical and a 35 minute walk at night. This is me after the elliptical,

Wednesday Morning: I was really excited to get up today because I have been watching my scale and it has shown that I am going to lose weight I just wasn't sure how much. Two weeks ago when I weight in it was 212.3 this morning when I weighed in it was 209!!! Woohoo!!! 3.3lbs, even though that 212.3 was a gain I am still down from the previous weigh in. Total so far I am down 7.3 which is very very exciting.

 

 

This definitely gives me way more motivation to keep up the work I am doing, if I can lose weight in the midst of a birthday celebration, then I can do it when my life is normal. I am also now 2.7 lbs away from 10lbs and when that comes I get to open my next envelope and get a prize!

 

I hope you all have a fantastic Wednesday!

 

Jenny 

My Magic Soup

Once upon a time there was this magic soup, technically called Chicken Brunswick Stew, but still twas magical..... yeah that's not going to continue on in that direction haha. When I was in college I was apart of my church's college ministry team and we met once a week at our college ministers house to have a leadership meeting. One Sunday my friend Jessica brought over this chicken Brunswick stew and I LOVED it! I think love is an understatement. Anyways it was her moms recipe and I was able to get my hands on a copy.

I started by making one big batch and feeding it to everyone I knew, but then realized that I wanted to make it last longer then one meal. I decided that freezing might be my best option, I didn't really know all too much about freezing except my mom always froze bread to make it last longer when she got it on sale. I figured stew would be a good thing to freeze. Well it was and I ended up eating it for about a week straight. I did not make it again for a while but then in the summer of 2011 when I joined weight watchers for the first time, I started making it a lot. Pretty much every 2 weeks. It was rather low in calories given all the vegetables and chicken and chicken broth. I ate that stew every day for the entire summer and lost 20lbs easily. I would just eat 1 serving (about a cup and a half) with one or two slices of bread from Publix bakery and it would be around 9 points, it was super filling.

Today I was getting ready to drive home when I thought that I could really use some Brunswick stew back in my life to help jump start me back on the right track with my weight loss. So I went to Trader Joes and bought my free range chicken and all my veggies to go home and cook my magic soup. (It is also called magic soup because I eat it when I get sick and usually cures my illness) I chopped up all of my stuff and put it all in my lovely crock pot and let it sit and fill the house with the aroma of pure goodness. It sits for about 2 hours on high and 4 hours on low, which allows the veggies to get softer and all the flavors to mesh so beautifully together. I proceeded to line up all of my Tupperware and portion out my stew it ends up looking like this.

 

 

Here is the recipe I got the base of it from here, but I have adjusted it for me :)

 

16 oz of Chicken Breast, boneless and skinless, cut up into strips

(I use free range, it's just better, trust me)

1 Bottle Heinz Chili Sauce

1/4 Cup Of Worcester Sauce

4-5 Cups of Chicken Broth

2 tablespoons of Vinegar

1 Small-Medium Potato (diced into small pieces)

1 Onion Diced

1 Can Creamed Corn

1 Can Regular Corn

1 Can Diced Tomatoes

Handful of Green Beans

1 Cup of Peas

2 teaspoons dry mustard

Dash of Salt and Pepper

1/2 teaspoon pepper sauce (just enough kick!)

 

(The recipe on the website calls for butter, I normally add it in but didn't have any in the house and was NOT going to the store to get any and it still tastes amazing without extra points or calories)

 

Basically I cook the chicken with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and onion. Then I put everything into the crock pot and let it sit (2-4 hours) and make my house smell AMAZING!!!! It ends up more like a soup then it does a stew but I like it that way, very filling. I eat it for one meal every day, I have made enough to last 9 days so let's see if it really works it's magic.

 

 

Jenny 

 

WW and 100 mile Challenge!

WW - Weight Watchers.

I have done Weight Watchers before and lost 20lbs in a summer, it worked really well for me. I loved the extra 49 points that you get for the week, just because sometimes we want that extra piece of chocolate, or for me those french fries. So after doing the whole counting calorie thing for a month and realizing I wasn't really satisfied, I joined back again with Weight Watchers. This time I am doing the meetings instead of just online. I attend once a week and am inspired each and every time by the women and men that walk through those doors with stories similar to mine. I am hoping this works to my advantage again. It has so far even though I blew through my extra points and have even tapped into my activity points, oh well, the program is so that you can use ALL the points including activity and still lose a little weight. We will see come tomorrow at my Wednesday Weigh in both here and at Weight Watchers.

I also joined a diet bet, I had seen and read about this all over the blog world and finally decided to jump in myself. I joined a $25 dollars one and that is definitely enough motivation to get me to lose some weight. I have to lose like 8.5 lbs by April 27, so that I can win my money (and then some back). There is like around 9,000 dollars in the pot I am in and around 350 or so people. Should be fun!

I am finding myself more tired these days as I push myself when it comes to exercise. I could exercise all day every day, I really do love walking and running and going to the gym. My issue always comes with food. Last week according to my daily mile tracker I did 22 miles! That's what I like to see. So considering I love to get out and rack up those miles I have given myself a personal goal of doing 100 miles in the month of April. It doesn't matter how those miles come to me whether it be in the gym or on the pavement outside. The reason I chose 100 is because for my Charity Miles you get 25 cents a mile and if I did 100 miles I would have raised 25 dollars for Autism Speaks, all of course in honor of my sister. Today, April 2 is in fact Autism Awareness day and I will be wearing blue and getting all of the kids I nanny to as well.

Have a great Tuesday!!!!

Jenny

It's Tough Being a Girl - Weigh In Wednesday

I am linking up with Erin @ She's A Big Star and Alex @ Skinny Jean Pilgrimage for this week's weigh in Wednesday!

 

Not gonna lie, when my alarm went off this morning I thought, I do NOT want to get on that scale this week. Last week after my first official Wednesday weigh in where I only .2 pounds I figured ok, that's a little but it's something and I can get a few more this week. I did fantastic Wednesday-Saturday and then Sunday was ehhh, Monday was a little better and then yesterday came. Now usually I take Tuesdays very seriously and call it my Tear it Up Tuesday where I eat my best and work out as much as time will allow me.

 

I went into to the day with the best intentions possible. I had my normal breakfast and I even did 5 miles and had a great lunch, then the afternoon hit. Usually in the afternoon I have a 100 calorie Cheeze-it Snack Mix Snack Bag, because I am obsessed and it's enough to last me until I get home. Yesterday was another story, for some reason I was STARVING, part of me was super confused, I have not dealt with this is over a month. By the time I left work I had already eaten 3 rice Krispie treats, a banana, some crackers, and a bowl of cheese puffs. Not a good afternoon. I decided that it was ok, sometimes it happens and that I would get Maddio's a pizza place where you can get wheat crust and a pizza that is 6 inches round (perfect portion) and a Greek salad. I got home and ate my dinner and then realized again I was sooo hungry. Then as I was preparing some lettuce chicken wraps my phone dinged and I looked at it and thought oohh this makes sense. Mother Nature is suppose to hit tomorrow or the next day. As a girl sometimes it's so easy to forget about that necessary evil that makes us females and what it can to do to our body. And for me, when it's right before I get headaches and could seriously eat anything you put in me. Later that night I ended up making a McDonald's run, something I haven't done in a good few weeks. I had a cheeseburger, fries, and chicken nuggets and finally felt like I wasn't hungry any more. Luckily with the help of my roommate and an old college roommate I didn't feel as defeated as I could have. We retain water during this time and usually gain weight, it's water weight, and after everything has gone and passed (never soon enough!) it will all go away.

 

So like I said, this was not a good week for me, I did not come anywhere close to only eating the calories I am suppose to and not my work out calories, but here is to a new week, hopefully a better one. I climbed on the scale this morning and it read 212.3 so I gained 1.3 lbs, honestly I figured it could be WAY worse. It just gives me motivation to work a little harder and do a little more this week, especially since next Wednesday is my 23rd birthday (I don't know how this age just crept up on me, I remember turning 18 and going to college, that was 5 years ago now....) and I plan on having a good bit of weight loss!!

 

 

Tune in next week, I guarantee it will be better!!!!!

 

Jenny 



Food Abuse

When I'm stressed, I eat. I am an emotional eater. I was never really able to control much about my life as a child so when I got older the only thing I could really control is what I did and didn't put in my mouth. So in turn, I put everything in my mouth and ate just about everything in sight. When I am happy, I eat, when I am sad, I eat, and when I am angry, I eat. So last night when I received a phone call about some heavy stuff going on in my family my first instinct was to just eat everything in sight. Luckily I had a few friends over for dinner and had already planned a healthy meal with a healthy dessert and so was able to stick to that. Today however has proven to be a more difficult adventure. I literally want to eat everything in sight. I am attempting to teach myself that food is not the answer. So this morning I went on a walk for about an hour then I found chores to do all around the house and went shopping before coming home to prepare lunch and eat. I'm not gonna lie, if I could right now I would go in that pantry and eat every single Rice Krispie Treat in the box (probably 18). Instead I am going to go pick up W from school, get the car washed, and play some soccer with him to keep my mind busy and not thinking about food.

So here's to new things, better things, better ways to handle emotions then using my body as a human trash can. I am worth more then treating my body like crap. I can not control the situation, but I can control how I handle it.

Jenny

Weigh In Wednesday - Week 1

 

 

WEEK 1

 

 

 

Today is my first official Weigh In Wednesday Link Up with Erin over at She's A Big Star and Alex over at The Skinny Jean Pilgrimage

 

This week has been a pretty good week, it was not my best week ever and I was not actually expecting a loss, due to an episode that involved an entire dinner portion of Hibachi Teriyaki Chicken on Monday. Every day I attempt to go ahead and plan out on my My Fitness Pal app what I am going to eat for all of my meals and snacks, it really keeps me on track and allows me to see what I can and can't have as far as snacks go. Because I weigh in on Wednesday it means that Tuesdays are usually big workouts and low calorie days for me. Yesterday I went on a run attempt to improve my mile time (I didn't but I was only slower by 4 seconds so I'll take that!) and then I went to my apartment complexs' gym as soon as I pulled in to find this beauty waiting for me. I was just in this same gym on Sunday and this machine was not in there. So either it was getting fixed or it's a new machine. Either way I am just glad because it stands for a fantastic workout. I put in about 20 minutes and burned around 200 calories and was very satisfied.

 

I woke up today and went to the bathroom (routine before getting on the scale just in case I can lose .1 or .2 extra pounds hehe) and then got my phone ready to take a picture as I stepped on the scale. I was a little shocked because I was not expecting to lose anything, but to my surprise I was down .2 lbs since the last time I weighed in which was Saturday I think. When I started this whole journey I weighed about 216.3 lbs so that brings my total to 5.3 lbs lost since the beginning. I will take that for now!

 

I mentioned in an earlier blog post about my love for Pinterest and how I use to help aide in my weight loss journey. While I was on it the other day just scrolling through the health and fitness section as I often do when I have spare time I passed across this article on Spark People called 8 Reasons Why You're Not Losing the Weight . It was a really good article and the first thing it mentioned was eating the calories you burned....ooo that hits right to the heart. I am definitely one of those that however many calories I get, I eat. I love to eat, obviously this is where I got myself into trouble growing up. So this article struck a chord and I realized that I can eat just the calories I am allotted a day and then have the extra calories do what they are suppose to do, just burn. I am attempting to move towards a small goal each week to help aide in this whole journey. I figured the best small goal for this week would be to not eat the extra calories that I burn. To help me with this I am not logging my calories from exercise until I am going to bed and have brushed my teeth, hence not tempted to eat those calories. So here's to this weeks goal, next week I will check back in with how I did!

 

For now it's pajama day here in nanny world as I have a child home with pink eye (yuck!).

 

Jenny