summer and weight loss

Well, so here goes! I'm going to actually TRY to lose some weight over the next month.  I'm shooting for 10 pounds by June 30th. So here's my plan, back to the diet lifestyle change for food, no more soda, and maybe the most important change, no eating after 8pm.  I'm terrible to go and eat practically an entire meal at 9pm... and that has to change! I'll also be jogging/walking 4 days a week.  I have come to the realization that this will not be easy, it will in fact SUCK at points, however the end results should be well worth it.

All that said, the following is my meal plan for the rest of the week:

Wednesday ~ Quesadillas

Thursday ~ Turkey Burgers

Friday ~ Slow cooker chicken and Couscous

All of these dishes I plan to serve with fresh fruit and/or salad.  We'll have lots of fruit, granola and low fat cheese sticks to snack on throughout the day.  Breakfast will be cereal, toast, oats, and breakfast tacos. Lunches I plan on salad, chicken salad and turkey sandwiches.

I hope to be able to stay on blogger as well - it helps me stay accountable. I'll be logging into livestrong.com on a regular basis just to keep track of how much I'm eating a day, it seems to help when I keep a food journal.  If you decide to follow along with me on this journey, good luck!!

I jogged a mile... and didn't die.

I suppose it's obvious my blogging days came to a skreeching hault after I posted a start to get healthy deal.  I won't offer any excuses, I just lost interest in it for a while.  I am back now, and excited to meal plan and share with you some very exciting news!  I participated in the Women Can Run 5k walk/run clinic and this past weekend actually gave myself the Mother's day gift of driving to Conway with my little family and staying the night.  During the clinic the longest I jogged was for 7 minutes and I thought I was really pushing myself in that, but I was wrong.  I was able to jog for 13 minutes during the 5k, the entire 1st mile, I finished the 2nd mile by 27 minutes and the entire race in 40 minutes, 14 seconds!   It was very exciting and I was thrilled the rest of the day.  Here is a picture of me and my good friend Amanda (who ran it in 26 minutes) running me in and encouraging me to go as fast as I was physically able.

So there you have it, the WCR 5k clinic works!

I'll have more on my meal plan later in the week.

trying to stick with it...

Well so my blog is late - again.  I'll just make it short and to the point, I have stayed the same weight wise as I have cheated on my health(ier) eating lifestyle a bit too much this week.  I'm going to get back on it today.  Water, healthy food, or at least healthy portions and back to logging my daily food intake as well.  My menu plan is a bit scattered this week since we have family in from out of town, but here it is.  For more great menu plans and other fantastic ideas go to orgjunkie, for some terrific recipes and reviews try allrecipes.com and for great ideas for food, photography, home and garden and home schooling try the pioneer woman! 

Sunday ~ Fending for ourselves

Monday ~ Out to eat

Tuesday ~ Out to eat

Wednesday ~ taco salad

Thursday ~ Out to eat

Friday ~ something with eggplant and zucchini... I didn't make it last week.

Saturday ~ something with turkey or chicken and sweet potatoes

I hope this week finds you all as blessed as I am, remember God has a purpose for you, you were born for his purpose, and He will make you aware of it in His time if you seek Him.  

eating doing my regular mommy activities and losing wieght!

So last week I blogged about trying to lose weight, and this week I am very happy to report that I have lost 6 pounds!!!  I feel like doing cartwheels, I won't because I'd break something, but that's how happy I am!  I posted some recipes last week that were as close the ones in my cook book as I could get, and I'll post the modifications I made to make them healthy and reviews of each.  I have to note, I was told about a website live strong that helps me keep a food/activity journal and I have cut soda out of my life.  I believe that with these changes I will be able to be successful... now if I can just STICK WITH IT!  My plan to stay motivated is to try to be a lead communicator for the women can walk/run 5k to my friends and family that might be interested in training for a 5k.  This may sound like a lot of change, but I have been over weight, actually if you want to get technical, obese, for 10 years now and I am tired of being fat, pray for me ya'll.  Part of my success in sticking to the healthier eating is due largely to a cookbook my Aunt Pattie put together for me at Christmas. I have been going through the "main meal" section for my meal plan ideas and making each recipe and writing down how well we like each one.  This weeks plan is simple, follow 4 more recipes out of the book!  I'll post reviews of last weeks recipes after my menu plan.

Sunday ~ Turkey burgers and fries

Monday ~ Taco Soup (I added 1 can of beef broth instead water)

Tuesday~ Broccoli quiche  and fruit

Tuesday ~ Eggplant quesadillas and black beans

Wednesday ~ Zucchini two ways crispy zucchini and potato pancakes & sauteed zucchini

Thursday ~ Vegetarian tortilla chili served with chips, cheese and sour cream

Friday ~ C.O.R.N.*

*C.O.R.N. - clean out refridgerator night.

So there  you have it, my menu plan for the week, hopefully I'll continue to see some weight loss.  Something else that has amazed me is my new found energy, I always assumed that once I quit drinking soda that I would see a lack of energy, but it has been the opposite!  Now onto the reviews of last weeks meals.

Chicken artichoke pizza ~ from this recipe I omitted the garlic, roma tomatoes and olives, I added yellow and red bell peppers.  My husband and I really enjoyed this recipe, but my 9 year old wasn't a fan.  I think the next time I decide to make pizza, I will do a mini pepperoni just for her, but I will for sure make this again!

Black bean and couscous salad ~ from this recipe I omitted the red wine vinegar, corn and cilantro.  As it turns out this recipe is a little dry.  My hubby has suggested to me the next time I try it out to leave the spinach as is and add in more lime.  We really like couscous so we'll try this again with more liquid.

I posted this rice recipe but actually the recipe I followed is this:

Green Chile-Black Bean Chicken

cooking spray

chicken (I used one boneless skinless breast I roasted earlier in the week and one can of chicken)

1 cup chopped onion

salt and pepper to taste

1 can black beans drained

1 cup grape tomatoes halved

1 can chopped green chiles

1 cup reduced fat sour cream (optional)

heat large skillet over medium heat.

spray with cooking spray (I added a bit of olive oil too)

add chicken and onion to the pan

sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

cook 7 minutes stirring occasionally, until cooked thru.

add black beans, tomatoes, and green chiles to chicken.

cook 2 minutes stirring until everything is thoroughly heated.

garnish with cilantro, hot sauce and sour cream if you like! 

This was a big 2 thumbs up from everyone in the family! This was by far the best recipe of the week. 

Turkey Picadillo the only thing that I added to this was a package of taco seasoning and it was great!  I added the left overs to some taco soup and it was fantastic, even the kids ate it up!

Well there you have it, new recipes, and hopefully by summer, a new me!!!