Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Skinny Fajita Salad

I totally made this up tonight and boy is it a winner! Try it! It doesn't even taste skinny!!

7 oz (cooked weight) of 99% fat free turkey strips (found mine at Fred Meyer)
10 sprays wishbone balsamic salad spritzer
10 sprays wishbone Italian salad spritzer
Few shakes of Mrs.Dash salt free chicken seasoning
Few shakes of Mrs.Dash salt free fiesta lime seasoning
Few shakes of onion powder
Few shakes of parsley flakes
1/2 cup any color bell pepper pieces
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup romaine lettuce

At least an hour before beginning to cook, put turkey in a quart size ziplock bag. Add a few shakes of Mrs.Dash chicken seasoning and 10 sprays of wishbone Italian dressing spritzer. Close the bag and massage for a few minutes, spreading the spices and dressing evenly. Refrigerate for an hour or overnight.

In a large skillet, spray a light coating of nonstick cooking spray. Add the peppers in an even layer and sauté for about 5 minutes. Turn the pieces over and repeat. Once the peppers are soft, move them to the outer edges of the pan. Place the mushroom slices in an even layer in the center of the pan. Sauté until golden brown, then flip and repeat. Once all the veggies and soft and browned, add a few shakes of onion powder and parsley flakes. Stir mixture until well blended. Add turkey strips and brown until no pink remains. Add a few shakes of Mrs.Dash fiesta lime seasoning and stir everything thoroughly.
On a plate, place the romaine lettuce and dress with the balsamic salad spritzer. Toss to coat evenly. Add turkey mixture on top and voila! Enjoy!

Only 288 calories for the entire meal!


Monday, October 29, 2012

The Hoodie Experiment : Week Three

Looking at these pictures this week, I think I see a small difference, but in the wrong direction. Unfortunately, as my body obviously hates me, Aunt Flo has made an appearance for the second time this month... It's only been 10 days since she left and now she's back. Ugh. Obviously not normal, but what else is new. I am feeling bloated and tired and just blah. I still don't have my replacement scale, but maybe that's a good thing this week. I wouldn't want to be disappointed if the number went up a little due to my stupid uterus. I swear it hates me. Sigh...

Friday, October 26, 2012

My new food is here!

Oh happy day! Just when it was time to eat, and I was dreading swallowing down fruit punch (blargh!), the UPS man appeared at the door! He was carrying the box of all the yummy new foods I ordered. Now I can start working the not so great tasting stuff in with the things I like, and make it a little less painful! As I sit here typing, I am enjoying honey mustard pretzels, and by enjoy, I really do mean enjoy =) Finding things you like makes it easier. But honestly, it's not even hard anymore. It was never really ever hard to begin with. I think I was very fortunate to have an easy transition. Once my mind was made up, and I was ready, there was no looking back. It was not an option.

 My Mom made me realize the other night, that we are very much alike in that aspect. She quit drinking pretty suddenly, after making up her mind in 2003. She is coming up on 10 years sober in March of '13. (I AM SO PROUD OF YOU MAMAN!) We make up our minds, and that's it. It's the Marinier blood in us ;)

At the very beginning, Trinity told me, "It's not about the food. The food is only a tool." When you're used to eating like I used to, you don't truly understand. 2.5 weeks in and 10.7 lbs down, I totally get it now. Yes, it's nice when things taste good, but really, the only reason that food is going in is to keep you well nourished on your weight loss journey. Regardless, I'm glad I like things! :D



Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Cauliflower Lasagna

Many people have asked me about how to make the delicious meal my mom and I enjoyed last night. Thank you to my health coach Trinity for posting it! It's very filling and delicious!


Cauliflower Lasagna

Ingredients

4 cups cooked cauliflower, grated or shredded in the food processor
3-4 cups shredded low-fat mozzarella, divided
1 cup eggbeaters
1 - 1 1/2 cups non-fat (or low-fat) cottage cheese
6 Tbsp parmesan cheese (optional)
16 oz 99% lean ground turkey, cooked with Italian seasonings
2-3 cups no sugar added, low-carb spaghetti sauce (or no sugar, no salt tomato sauce)


Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and spray 9x13 casserole dish with non-stick spray. In a medium bowl, mix cauliflower, eggbeaters and half the mozzarella. In another small bowl, mix the cottage cheese and parmesan cheese (if using).
Spread half the spaghetti/tomato sauce in the bottom of the casserole dish. Spread half of the cauliflower mixture over the sauce. Spread half of the cottage cheese mixture over the cauliflower mixture. Spread half the ground turkey over the cottage cheese. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Spread remaining mozzarella over top of lasagna.
Bake for 45-55 minutes, then allow to cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

This makes 4 "lean and green" portions and is a perfect dish for leftovers! It is extremely filling and super tasty.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Weigh in Tuesday

As dubbed by my best friend Jawnell, today is Weigh in Tuesday. Sadly, my scale is broken. It's just reading an error message. :( I've contacted the company who say it was probably defective and they are sending me a new one. In the meantime, since I can't weigh myself this morning, I whipped out the measuring tape and I measured. I wasn't expecting much but I wanted to at least do something! I was surprised with the results!

Arm: start 16 in now 15 in
Chest: start 54.5 in now 52 in
Waist: start 60 in now 57 in
Hips: start 57 in now 57 in
Thigh: start 30.5 in now 29.5 in

Exciting!! I'm dying to know if I'm under 300!! I'll try to find a scale ASAP!

Monday, October 22, 2012

The Hoodie Experiment : Week Two

Well, I don't know how I managed such good lighting in my bathroom last week, because this week I couldn't get a good picture to save my life. So I apologize if it looks a little funny, but I put a filter on it to make it a little bit lighter see you could see. It would probably help if I wasn't wearing all black LOL, but those of you that know me, this is very normal for me. I can't wait to get colorful skinny clothes!!

While I was at it, I took a side view picture, because I had taken one last week just for my own personal viewing. But I figured I could put them next to each other and see. Not much has changed, but! It's beginning!

The first big change

There are little things here and there that I've noticed changing in the last two weeks, but today, I definitely see the first big change. For the last year or so, my wedding right has been getting so tight I could hardly take it off. I had to twist and pull and it left big dents in my finger. Happy to report that today, it slides around easily and comes right off in one smooth try. I'm sure lowering my sodium content has much to do with that, but it's still very exciting!

In other exciting news, I found fat-free feta cheese at Safeway tonight!! Woo hoo! Guilt free protein to put on my salads! I had some tonight and it was delish!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Temptations & Uterus Melting

Today, we helped our great friends Patrick and Krysi move into their new (first) home. I am so happy for them! It's a great house that they can grow their little family into. My job was to babysit their adorable 14 month old son Logan so the boys could do the heavy lifting.That being said, I needed my medifast meals today to be extremely fast and easy. I had hot cocoa for breakfast and brought along 4 bars for the rest of the day. I normally limit myself to 2 bars per day to have a little variety in my eating, but today I really did need it to be quick and easy. Logan and I had the best time. I cuddled him for three hours while he slept, we danced, tickled and laughed bunches, and explored his new house. He is such a happy little soul, his smile and laughter is infectious.

His lovely mama got home in the early evening while Aaron and Patrick kept moving the heavy stuff, and since there was literally no food in the house, Krysi was so sweet and considerate and asked if it would be rude of her to order takeout. I decided at the start of this journey that MY issues with my diet would absolutely not deter anyone else to do what they pleased. It was very sweet of her to ask, and I told her it would not bother me. She went to pick up Chinese food, and the silly girl was eating behind the corner in the kitchen. I invited her to come sit with me and told her she didn't need to hide. Her plate looked delicious, with rice and noodles and everything I miss, and smelled heavenly as well, but that voice in my head said no and I flipped a switch that turned it off. I was flirting with the thought of being tempted for a second, but it didn't last long. I am glad, because later in the evening when I came home, I was rewarded with a delicious diet approved meal that I felt great about. Three servings of roasted veggies, (mushrooms, zucchinis, and asparagus) a 4 oz grilled chicken breast, and 2 vegetarian sausage patties to make up the protein for my small chicken. Oh and of course a wedge of laughing cow light for my healthy fat. It was amazingly delicious!

We left their house at about 8:30 pm and by then little Logan was pretty tired. When he realized we were about ready to say goodbye, he got very sad and started to cry and launched himself at me. I gave him hugs and kisses and tried handing him back to his parents, but he was sobbing and fighting to stay in my arms. Can you say heartbreak and uterus melting?!?! It took about 10 minutes to detach him from me and get his attention onto something else. But he noticed when we tried to sneak out and he started to cry and chase after me. I almost cried too. I could still hear him through the front door as we walked to the car. <\3 Needless to say, my maternal clock was ticking so loudly I could barely think, but the one thought that did make it through was, I have to keep going and stay strong so I can have my own baby sooner than later. Oy. Rough goodbye, little Logan, rough goodbye. But see you soon <3

Friday, October 19, 2012

Sometimes it's hard to measure...

I scoured the Internet high and low for "how many whole mushrooms equals half a cup" and to no avail. Then I tried to convert "how much does a half cup of veggies weigh". We all know I'm not a math whiz, but all this measuring confusion is driving me batty. I settled for 6 pieces each of mushrooms, zucchini, and yellow peppers. How do you measure what a half cup of a veggie is anyway? Anyone? Do you chop it, fit it in half a cup, then try to remember how many pieces it was? Lol. Geesh. I'll have to do more research. But you definitely need whole veggies or bigger chunks when you're making this. Yum!

The Gym

Aaron and I joined a gym earlier this month; Planet Fitness in Vancouver. It was too good to pass up. It's only $20 per month for the both of us. I knew I wanted to start going as part of my program, but as recommended by Take Shape For Life, I waited a little until my body was used to less calories. I still have to be careful and not go workout crazy. It's a fine balance between fat burning mode and starvation mode. I need to make sure my body doesn't think it's getting too little, or it will start holding on to fat. Lol. That would be bad. But I want to work out anyway, to start building up some muscle mass. It felt great when I was done! I'm excited to start going often. I'll do a little cardio, but mostly focus on weight training to tone and stuff :) I'm glad the first workout is behind me! :)

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Tonight, I wanted to eat.

Like I explained to Trinity, I wasn't necessarily "starving", but my brain and mind wanted to eat. Is it the habits and brain finally catching up and wanting to binge? Who knows. All I know is I wanted to eat. We came home earlier tonight so I could fix dinner sooner than later. I had leftover spaghetti squash in the fridge that needed to be eaten or thrown away and I didn't want to waste. There was probably a good cup a a half there, (rather than a cup) but I just plopped it on my plate. I wanted something green too so I made a very small side salad. My lean protein was a grilled chicken breast. I was trying to eat slowly but I just wanted to EAT. So I did. Afterwards I felt slightly guilty. Guilty over a half a cup of squash lol. After I computed everything and I texted Trinity, I felt better. Turns out today was the day I've had the lowest amount of calories since I started. I ate a little more squash than I should have, but in the end, it didn't harm anything, and I hope that I've gotten this need to eat something substantial out of the way. One day at a time, right?

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Week 2, here we go!

When in doubt and starving.... Have egg whites for your lean protein. I had a cup and a half (!!) of egg whites, with a vegetarian sausage patty crumbled in, and with mushrooms and zucchini yummmmmy! It made a big ol heaping bowlful and now I feel like I ate a huge meal, but still ate healthy! Best of both worlds!

Aunt Flo is still with me, *grumble* I hope she takes a hike soon. The last few days, I've been feeling super bloated and (icky!) gassy. Like there are constant bubbles in my tummy. I'm sure it's my digestive tract adjusting to all the soy, but in the meantime I stopped at the pharmacy tonight and with the pharmacist's recommendation, bought some Beano. It says directly on the box it helps digest soy and high fiber veggies, so fingers crossed it helps me! I feel like I've gained all the weight back just in bloat. EW.

Today I modified, and placed my new medifast order. I'm very excited that the next box of food delivered to me will be filled with things I look forward to eating all day, not just things that leave me choosing the lesser of two evils everyday ;) I really am very glad that there are several things in the medifast line that I enjoy. It will make these coming months much more enjoyable. =]

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Success!

My first week is over, done, behind me!
And the best part, is I have great results to show for it!

WEIGH IN: WEEK 1

Starting Weight: 307.5 lbs
Current Weight: 302.0 lbs
Weekly Loss: 5.5 lbs
Total Loss: 5.5 lbs

I am ecstatic! What great motivation to keep on keeping on!

Monday, October 15, 2012

The Hoodie Experiment : Week One

My awesome mom got me this hoodie a few years ago. I've worn it maybe three times. It was always a little snug from the get go but got progressively worse as time went on. I didn't want to wear out in public. So! I decided to chart the progress of how this now ill fitting hoodie will change over the course of this journey. Each week on Mondays before my weigh in, I will take a new picture of me in the hoodie! Can't wait to see what it looks like in a few weeks!!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Dinner success!

I finally fixed my spaghetti squash and buffalo meatballs. Omg. Outta this world! I get to eat this and lose weight?! Heck yes! Yumm!

Aunt Flow decided to make her monthly visit yesterday. *grumble* I feel so yucky and bloated. My health coach, the lovely Trinity, said that being on your menses often results in less weight loss than you would usually see. BUMMER! But! I get to have another weigh in after it ends, even if its not Tuesday =D we shall see! One day left!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

The week is flying by!

Tomorrow is day 6 already! This week is going pretty fast. Everything is still going well. Yesterday I tried two soups and they weren't too bad! I like savory things better than sweet things anyhow, so I like having those options. Besides the pudding, I've found that the only things I really don't like are the puffs or bites... Ick. I won't be ordering those again.

I was late having my lean and green meal tonight and I was feeling pretty hungry and weak-ish. I'm not doing a very good job of sticking to the meal plan lol. Tonight the plan was to have spaghetti squash and buffalo meatballs. I had no patience to make that tonight. In fact I had no patience to make anything at all. So my sweet hubby sent me to the bedroom to relax and he fixed me grilled shrimp, steamed cauliflower and a salad again. DELICIOUS!

The thing that I've noticed the most the last few days, is the difference between feeling satisfied and feeling stuffed to the seams. I'm realizing it was my habit to eat until I was too full to eat anymore. Measuring my portions carefully and only eating what's on my plate makes a huge difference. You know that ughhhh 'eww fooood babyyy' feeling you get after overeating? I don't feel that anymore. I feel lighter, and have more energy. And the best part is I get to eat again 2.5 hours later :) I think this is a good step for me. I can't wait (but I'm still nervous) until weigh in on Tuesday morning! Yay!

Chicken and wild rice soup with a few pieces of grilled chicken in it.

Friday, October 12, 2012

My before picture, and day 4 disaster.

I've been excited/dreading taking my "before" pictures. Excited because I will only see myself change, but dreading because I hate seeing myself now. Nevertheless, it's part of the process, so here we are.

This morning was a fiasco. I decided I wanted to bring my lean and green to lunch with me today (I'm not sticking to the meal plan at all lol. Whoops) so I got up early to cook my frozen chicken breast on my little George Forman grill. Bad idea... Next time I need to thaw the chicken first, as it burned the top before the middle was done. Oh well. I'll eat it a little charred. Then I completely forgot about my pine nuts in the oven and burned those to a crisp, setting off the smoke alarm and agitating the dogs. When I thought nothing else could go wrong, I realized the can opener was broken and I couldn't open the can of sliced black olives to use as my healthy fats. Geeeez. So I decided to have a wedge of laughing cow light in addition to my breakfast to replace one healthy fat, and I'll have another as my before bed snack. Yikes. Oh well. Deep breath lol


 

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Day 2 & 3

Firstly, things are going good! I had a better day today than I did yesterday I think, because although I woke up with a headache, it went away. Day 2, the headache was with me all day. I think my taste buds are definitely adjusting to the medifast meals because for the last two days, I've (Almost. The pudding killed me. Yuck) enjoyed all the things I tried. Tomorrow, I will be trying the soups. Fingers crossed I will like them! My awesome health coach is coming to see me tomorrow and she is trading some stuff with me! (unloading my pudding, woot woot!) I'm excited to see her too, to see we success in the flesh!

I finally got to the grocery store tonight! Yesterday my poor hubby had a meeting in Seattle and it went over by two hours! By the time he got home we were so tired and hungry we just headed home. I had An egg white scramble with mushrooms and zucchini again. It was good, but I was glad to have something different tonight. I had grilled shrimp, steamed cauliflower, and a salad with tomatoes and pine nuts! Yummmmm. I was salivating and describing how good it was to Aaron the whole time and he said, "you're going to have to describe how delicious your real food dinner is for the next 18 months aren't you?" Haha. Sorry hubs! I loaded up the shrimp and cauliflower on a small side plate rather than a big dinner plate. That way, my plate seemed super full vs completely, pathetically empty. Lol. It worked! Yummy! And the best part is I feel satisfied! Yay! Bring it on, day 4!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Day 1.

I didn't really have any expectations going into my first day. I was excited to begin and felt emotionally ready. Now looking back, I wish I would have been 100% ready. By this I mean, I really should have gone grocery shopping on Tuesday, like I was planning. But when you have your own business, one vehicle, and puppies to take care of, things don't always get to happen in the order you wish they would! I was ready on every other single level possible. I had all the tools. Except for the ingredients for my lean and green meal.

Eating the Medifast meals during the day wasn't so bad. I discovered things I liked, things I could tolerate, things I thought I liked at first, then recanted lol, and things I could not stand. It was an educational experience, that's for sure. But I made it through! Then, we stayed at work a little later than normal, and I decided I was too hungry to go hardcore grocery shopping. I was getting a slight headache and just wanted real food. So I decided to skip my meal plan for the day, and to head to safeway to pick up egg whites and veggies to make a super fast scramble. By the time I got there at 9 pm, I was pretty darn hungry and it would have been so easy to just grab something quick, but i got only what I needed, and pickle spears (recommended the first few days if you are hungry). I went home, cooked it, and ate it probably too quickly because I was still hungry, lol, but I had more water (drank SO much yesterday!) and had some pickle spears and went to bed. Overall, I was irritated that I didn't have the opportunity to stick to my meal plan from the get go, but I figured getting something healthy (and approved!) in my belly NOW was better than going to the grocery store for an hour, starving, and be tempted to get something fast and unapproved. I feel like maybe I passed a little test last night. It's not easy, but if I can make it through the first few days, I know I'll be okay :)

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Ready? GO!

In the beginning, I was definitely agonizing over whether or not i should share my starting stats. But as I've started this, I've seen how many people are behind me, not judging. And from the mouth of my very wise health coach, the starting numbers are only important so we can watch them go down! So! At the starting line, this is the real me.

Starting weight: 307.5 lbs
Arm: 16 in
Chest: 54.5 in
Waist: 60 in
Hips: 57 in
Thigh: 30.5 in

I can't wait to say goodbye to the 300's forever! That will be my first goal. Will I achieve it this week? Only time will tell!

As I'm writing this entry, I am enjoying (for the most part lol) my first medifast breakfast. Cinnamon and brown sugar cereal crunch.

Overall, it has a pretty good flavor and a very appealing crunchy texture. I'm eating it plain right now, and I think in the future, adding milk as part of my healthy fats for the day will help with the kind of "chalkiness" you get after a few bites. Breakfast, success! I can't believe it'll be time to eat in 1.5 hrs already lol.

Monday, October 8, 2012

On the lean and green menu this week!

I just finished planning my first week's lean & green menu, and it was pretty intense! First, I had to figure out from the list what exactly I wanted to eat, and then I had to come up with ways to put them in recipes. Everything is pretty basic so far, but I'm sure as I go along I'll come up with more ideas and ways to make my menu more exciting.
Here's a list of the things I'll be eating in the evening this week.

Tuesday:
Grilled shrimp, cauliflower rice, and a side salad with tomatoes, pine nuts, and balsamic breeze dressing.

Wednesday:
Baked chicken breast and roasted
asparagus, zucchini, and mushrooms.

Thursday:
An egg white vegetable (mushrooms and zucchini) omelette with MorningStar Farms veggie sausage links, and two wedges of laughing cow light cheese.

Friday:
Spaghetti squash "spaghetti" with light tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, and ground buffalo.

Saturday:
Grilled chicken salad with tomatoes, pine nuts, sliced black olives, and balsamic breeze dressing.

Sunday:
Chicken kebabs with mushrooms, zucchini, and green and red peppers. Two wedges of laughing cow light cheese.

Monday:
Shrimp stir fry With mushrooms, zucchini, Broccoli, and Shirataki noodles (which I am very interested in trying. They are made out of plant root, and have zero cal, zero fat, and they are a free addition to any meal.)

So that's it! It's going to be an interesting week, but at least I know I will have delicious meals to look forward to at the end of the day.
I will post pictures, and reviews of my meals on my blog. Bon appétit!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Motivation!

Sometimes it's just the little things that motivate you to try your best. I want to give myself plenty of happy things o look forward to, including adding marbles from my "pounds to lose" jar, to my "pounds lost" jar. =]

It's almost time!

Almost all the things I need are here! I need to make my grocery list, and go buy my lean and green fixins, then I'm ready to begin! I should be ready by tomorrow, but it will all depend if I can go grocery shopping tonight... I'm thinking since tomorrow is the day off, I will go then, and begin Tuesday morning. I want to have a little bit of alone quiet time to reflect about what I'm about to begin tonight, I think. Once I start, I don't think it will be too difficult, as far as temptations go, but I want to be emotionally prepared as well. I'm sure I'll have all sorts of ups and downs and revelations in my heart of hearts as I go through this change. A little meditation and peace and quiet might be just what I need before jumping off the edge.