Weekly Weigh-In (Week 6 ~ Day 1)

Well, it's Friday so I just got on the scale for my weekly weigh-in and I weighed 152.0

I lost .6 pounds and I'm really happy about that! My goal was to get under 150 and that didn't happen, but I'm not dissapointed - not one little bit.  More than the number on the scale - my clothes are fitting better, I'm down another inch around my waist, and I feel more in control of what goes into my mouth.  Rather than feeling "restricted" on the BFC, once I got past the sugar/carb detox and and the longer I eat the BFC way, I actually feel like I have more choices.....not less.  I find that I'm thinking less about what I can't have now and more about what I can.  I'm experimenting with new foods and even finding ways to make some old favorites fit into this way of eating. Call me  strange, but, I think it's kind of becoming a fun challenge now to see what meals/snacks I can put together that fit the BFC guidelines.

I've moved the goal of getting under 150 to next Friday, June 1st.  That is mine and my husband's 16th wedding anniversary so that would be a great day to have it happen. 

I'm going to make sure to eat fish atleast once, if not twice, next week.  For some reason, whenever I eat fish, it spurs on my weight loss.  I'll probably make tilapia scampi.  Here is the recipe that I use: http://www.5dollardinners.com/2010/08/scampi-tilapia.html  I always double the butter/garlic sauce because we like to spoon it from the baking dish over our fish before we eat it.  Our Kroger (King Soopers) sells tilapia in 2 1/2 lbs bags for $9-$11 depending on if they are running a sale.  Each tilapia is packaged separately so you just take out the number that you need and then put the bag back in the freezer. 

Anyways, here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: My morning shake; Yerba Mate chocolatte tea

Snack: Almonds

Lunch: 2 Scrambled eggs with cheese, almond butter with Redi-Whip

Dinner: Tuna salad on 3 celery sticks; 2 crackers (this may not sound like alot but the celery sticks were large and FULL of tuna salad.  It was very filling) :)

We have evening activies on Tuesdays and Thursdays so dinner is always low-key and kind of hodge-podge.  I forgot to take a photo but here is a photo that I took a few months ago of the same meal. My dinner last night looked exactly like this (but with 2 crackers instead of the bread and butter).

This afternoon, along with our sons' Boy Scout troop, we'll be placing flags at the cemetery for the Veterans. We're also planning on making some more smoked chicken and having our families over sometime this holiday weekend.  That's all for now. Have a great weekend!!

Week 5 ~ Day 7

Picked up my parents at the airport yesterday.  So excited they are here! 

It rained (poured) all the way to the airport and back.  We ended up going to a local Mexican Restaurant rather than to Cracker Barrel since the weather was bad.  Before we got there I was thinking of getting the carne asada (steak) since it would be high protien with minimal carbs, but, it was $13 and since my dad was paying I didn't want to order something that pricey.  So I ordered a tostada.  Before our meal came I was really hungry so I had to practice some self-control with the chip basket.  I ate 4 chips with salsa and 2 more when the guacamole came.  6 chips total and that was it!  Yeah!!  (It wasn't possible to have them take the basket away, or to even move the basket out of my reach, because 11 other people were eating them - and they seriously brought like 6 baskets of chips for the 12 of us so everyone had like 2 baskets of chips within arms reach)!!

I was just looking over what I ate yesterday and although I kept my s/c's within range, I realized that I was a little heavy on the salt....  The first clue was that I woke up this morning feeling a little swollen and the second clue was that I was up on the scale a little bit from yesterday.  I'll have to watch my salt intake today.

Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: My morning shake; green tea

Lunch: 2 beef (nitrate-free) hot dogs, 1 sandwich thin used as 2 buns, mayo, sauerkraut, cheddar cheese

Snack: 1 serving Frito's scoops

Dinner: Tostada topped with ground beef, refried beans, lettuce, cheese, sour cream & guacamole; 6 tortilla chips (4 with salsa, 2 with guacamole)

Hope everyone has a great day!!   See you tomorrow with my weekly weigh-in!

Week 5 ~ Day 6

Had a good day yesterday. It was hot but we're expecting rain and a 20 drop in the temperature today to cool things off.  My parents arrive this evening and we are so excited to see them. My sister and I will be picking them up at the airport and then we will meet up with the rest of our families at Cracker Barrel.  Before we go, I will check out Cracker Barrel's nutritional information to see what meals have the lowest sugars/carbs.  I'm getting better at figuring this out myself but I still like to check. 

Here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: My morning shake; green tea

Lunch: Salad with gouda cheese, salami, walnuts, ranch dressing, & 1/2 serving of chili cheese Fritos

Snack: Macadamia nuts

Dinner: Hummus, red bellpepper, cucumber, mushrooms, 1/2 Kangaroo brand flatbread

Hope everyone has a great day!  Stay Strong - we can do it!!!

Week 5 ~ Day 5

We're expecting the temps to be in the high 90's today - a record-breaking day.  Planning to walk with my girlfriend Dona around the lake. There are suppose to be some Geocache locations that my boys can search for so she said to bring them along.  Do any of you Geocache?

On the food front, here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: My morning shake; green tea

Lunch: 2 Fried eggs, 3 pieces of bacon, 1 piece Ezekiel sprouted grain bread with butter and Nature's Hollow jam

Dinner: Taco salad: lettuce, ground beef, cheese, green onions, 1 tsp tomato, guacamole, sour cream, and 1/2 serving of chili cheese Fritos crushed up on top

Snack: Almond Butter and Redi-Whip

Hope everyone has a great day - Stay Stong ~ You/We can do it!!!

Smoked Chicken, Gardening, and the Solar Eclipse (Week 5 ~ Day 4)

I had such a lovely Sunday..... Went to church, planted some flowers,spray painted the patio table, watched the eclipse, and my husband smoked us some delicious chicken in his new smoker that he got for his birthday.  If you've ever smoked chicken you know what I'm talking about - delicious and moist!!

On the food front, here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: My morning shake; Herba Mate Chocolate tea

Lunch: 2 Beef tacos (with beef, cheese, lettuce, onion, cilantro)

Dinner: Smoked chicken breast, small baked potato with butter, iceberg lettuce w/ blue cheese dressing

Snack: Almond butter with Redi-Whip

I'll leave you with some photos of our day yesterday:

Using the pin-hole camera daddy made
to look at the eclipse

What it looked like inside the box

Then we used the neighbor's welding mask to look at it

I would LOVE to see the 140's when I weigh-in this Friday. I'll be working hard to get there. Hope you have a great BFC day - Stay stong!!

Week 5 ~ Day 3

Yesterday we walked with my sister, brother-in-law, and niece in our local MS Walk.  It rained on us a little bit but atleast it wasn't super cold.  Later in the afternoon we went to our son's Cub Scout end-of-the-Year potluck.  It rained on us there in the beginning but then the skies cleared and the rest of the evening was nice (cool but nice).  Here's a picture that my husband took once the rain ended:

We actually welcome the rain right now because we have a fire burning in the mountains to the west of us that has already burned over 7,000 acres. I think about the firefighters who are risking their lives to get the fire under control. Thank God there's been no loss of life (or homes) and as of this morning they have it 85% contained. Now if the winds would just stay down today that would help them out a lot.

I have to tell you that I'm getting much more comfortable eating out at restaurants.  But potlucks are a little more tricky.  It's harder for me to navigate the side dishes and desserts.  So, let me tell you how I handled my son's Cub Scout potluck yesterday:

The main dish was hot dogs so I took one of those. Then I took a small serving of the ramen salad that we had brought.  I tried a Tbsp of the dessert salad that my friend had made (too hard to figure out the s/c's in My Fitness Pal for that dish and I don't even want to tell you what was in since we're all trying to diet here and I don't want to temp you - but I took literally 1 Tbsp), and then took some celery and brocolli to fill me up.  Sat down and ate my hot dog with 1/2 the bun and the rest of my food.  Drank my bottle of water and was still hungry.  So, I got another hot dog and ate it with the 1/2 of  bun that I had left.  Then we took a walk to get away from the food.  I would call that a success - In the past I would have convinced myself that since we don't go to potlucks very often I'd just enjoy what I want and then "re-start" my good eating habits the next day.  But I didn't do that this time because I REALLY want to see the numbers on the scale move down AND I knew if I let the excess carbs in I would crave them today - that's how MY body works!!!

Also, we stopped at the grocery store yesterday after the MS Walk to get the ingredients for the ramen salad that we were making for the potluck.  Our King Soopers (a Kroger store) has a sushi bar.  They were giving out samples of their Shrimp and Crab Crunch Roll - so I tried 1 piece... it was so good.  So we brought that home for lunch.  One package comes with 9 pieces and  each piece has 1 sugar and 7 carbs in it.  So I knew I would only be able to eat 2-3 pieces for lunch if I planned to have anything else with it (and I knew I would because there was no way 2-3 pieces of sushi were going to fill me up). So, I made a salad and had some jicima cut up in the fridge and only ate 2 pieces of the sushi.  Do you know that in the past, I would have eaten as many pieces as I wanted - until I was full!! I also made sure to eat the sushi with the salad so I wouldn't "cave" and just eat the sushi and then eat more and more....  This way of eating does take a little work since I am still learning but it is sooo worth it!

Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: My morning shake

Snack: 1 piece of Shrimp & Crab Roll (eaten at the store as a sample) - putting it as a snack since I didn't actually eat lunch for over an hour later

Lunch: Green Salad (topped with walnuts, Chili-Cheese Fritos, & Ranch Dressing), jicama, 2 pieces of Shrimp & Crab Roll

Dinner: 2 hots dogs, 1 bun, small serving of ramen salad, 1 Tbsp of Jeni's dessert salad, broccoli, celery

We're off to church and then home to enjoy the day!  Hope everyone has a great BFC day!  Stay strong!!  We can do it :)

Week 5 ~ Day 2

Had a wonderful birthday yesterday!!

My husband made tacos and my sister & her family, and my in-laws came over for dinner.  My family always makes me feel so special!!  The kids love to have me open their presents. It's really not the gift - it's the thought that counts -that's what my grandma always says and it's so true.  Whether it was a lip balm, a homemade certificate from them to brush my hair, or a flower they picked in the front yard, all of my gifts were so special because they were soooo excited to give them to me.

Here's a picture of Brooke with about the 3rd peony that she picked for me. 

My husband made brownies and I did eat a very small one with some Ready Whip.  They were honestly so small that I had 2 bites and had almost eaten the entire thing. 

Here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: My morning shake, Herba Mate chocolate tea

Lunch: (1) Amy's Black Bean Vegtable Enchilada,  (12) Almonds

Dinner:  (1) Homemade taco with beef, lettuce, onion, cheese, cilantro, (1) small brownie with Redi-Whip

Was hungry for a snack between breakfast and lunch but we were out running errands and I didn't have anything with me ... when we got home it was lunch time.

We're off  to walk in the MS Walk with my brother-in-law ~ Have a great day!