Day 16

I went to the grocery story the other day & as I waited in line at the check-out line, I was surprised at what I saw..........healthy food!  I had somehow managed to buy a grocery cart full of fruits, veggies, healthy protein, and whole grains......with NO junk food & yes, if you know me.....I DID say veggies!  If Jillian Michaels had gotten a peek at my cart, I think she would have been impressed.......especially if she had seen my previous grocery carts.  I hope to keep it up.

In my A+ grocery cart the other day, I had an assortment of berries.  I have always had a hard time with berries staying fresh for long.  I found a tip on Pinterest for washing fruits & veggies and gave it a try.  It says to always soak them in a 1:4 ratio of vinegar and water to help remove toxins and pesticides. Leave them soaking for up to an hour, longer with non-organic apples. It works great, and so far all of my berries are still good. The pin claims that it will help them last up to 3 weeks.......we'll see. 

For years, one of my favorite cooking appliances has been my George Foreman grill.  The one I have had for years broke a while back, so I was delighted to get a new one for Christmas.  Unfortunately, even though the grill is larger and fancier.........it is still a HUGE PAIN to clean!  I grilled chicken breasts on it the other night and it took longer for me to clean the grill than it did to cook them!  Apparently I'm not the only one with this frustration.  I searched "clean George Foreman" grill on Pinterest and numerous pins popped up!  Most of them recommend covering the bottom of the grill and the drip pan with aluminum foil. Duh!  Why didn't I think of that!  I can't wait to try it out! 

Now that I am feeling better and everyone else is "healthy" in my house again, it's time to get back on track. With my busy schedule, I don't want to use the "I don't have time!" excuse anymore.  It is so easy to push exercise to the side after working all day, so I'm going to "attempt" to wake up early in the morning to get my exercise out of the way.  I read an article that gave a few tips on surviving an early morning workout.  It suggests getting 7-8 hours of sleep the night before, sleeping in your (clean) exercise clothes, not hitting the snooze button (yikes!), know exactly what you plan on doing to exercise, play some high energy music, and most importantly........Don't make it a choice!  No excuses.........When my alarm clock goes off at 5:30 a.m., I MUST remember......Everything 4:13!

Day 15

 Today I find it hard to whine and complain about my weight loss struggle, family battle with the flu, and other stress in my life in light of the tragic loss of a sweet innocent child from the Gene Witt family. It is hard to imagine the heartache, pain, and anger her mother is dealing with right now.  Tragedies like this leave me wondering.......Why?  Why would God allow something like this to happen?  How could something good ever possibly come from this?  In times of tragedy and loss, we need to trust God with a child-like faith. Even though we don't have all of the answers and can't make sense of "why", we need to trust Him and have the assurance that God can be trusted to be just and loving.  Please say a prayer for the family of Lexi Brown and the Gene Witt family as we cope with this heartbreaking tragedy...........Remember Everything 4:13!
 Link to article in Bradenton Herald

Day 14

It's easy to get a lot done while you're home with a sick child.  I finished all the laundry, caught up on my school work, and watched lots of TV.  One problem though, I eat when I'm bored!  By dinnertime, I found that I had eaten all of my points.........on what?!?!?  I munched on "good choices" all day, but apparently they added up!  I ended up having to trade the yummy dinner I made for a 0 point bowl of fruit and had to walk on the treadmill for an hour in order to gain enough activity points to make up for all my munching.  Lesson learned.........no more boredom munchies tomorrow while I play nurse again. 

Today I spent a lot of time worrying about 2 things (well actually 3 if you count.....the flu outbreak in our house).......treadmills & pigs.  1.) My oldest son's pig making it into the fair.........it did!  Yay and 2.)  Burning enough calories on the treadmill to off set my boredom munchies. 

I made a healthy, yummy Chicken Parmesan casserole for dinner tonight.  Even though I ended up not getting to eat it (thanks to my WW point deficit), it got rave reviews from my husband and kids.  I'm looking forward to trying it out tomorrow.  Here's a link to the printable version of the recipe.

Chicken Parmesan Casserole

8 WW+ Points

Ingredients:

2 lbs raw, boneless, skinless chicken breasts-cubed

Italian seasoning/Garlic Salt

Jar of Marinara Sauce

2 cups Low Fat Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded

2 oz. grated parmesan cheese

3.5 oz. garlic croutons, crushed

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly mist a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.

2.  Spread the cubed pieces of chicken across the bottom of the baking dish in a single layer.  Sprinkle with italian seasoning & garlic salt.  Spread the marinara sauce evenly across the top.  On top of the sauce, sprinkle 1 c. mozzarella & half of the parmesan cheese evenly across the dish.  Sprinkle the crushed croutons across the top and follow with the remaining cheese.

3.  Bake for 40-45 minutes.  Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

With my house fighting the flu, my oldest son dealing with his pig/fair this week, plus all of my responsibilities at home, work, and school.......this is one of those weeks where you can either laugh or cry.  I prefer to laugh & find the funny side of things.  So, on a positive note............You can see the floor in my laundry room!  I found a dead lizard at the bottom of the pile since the pile of clothes has been there so long.......but all of the laundry is done for now!  Now, the job for tomorrow is putting it all up where it belongs so we can find the pool table and bed in the spare bedroom..........baby steps and Everything 4:13!

Day 13

(Click here to watch the Sweet Brown video.)

Wow.......what a day!  My youngest woke up this morning with a 103 fever.  Knowing that we had a VERY busy week, I rushed to the walk-in clinic first thing this morning.  He.....has......the......flu!  I am in full disinfect mode with Tamiflu, Clorox wipes, Lysol, Airborne, and Emergen-C. Having somebody in the house sick with the flu is never fun, but this is the worst possible week my family could have someone sick.  This week marks the beginning of the fair.  I'm sure you're wondering......what's the big deal about the fair?  I'm not worried about the rides, the junk food, and rip-off games..........I'm worried about keeping my oldest son "flu free" so that he can show his pig in the fair.  On second thought, We ALL need to stay well so that we can endure the long rides to and from the fairgrounds and long nights in the stands watching the "pigs." So.......hopefully my disinfecting and airborne immunity fighting efforts will keep the flu at bay.  We'll see!

Between all of my trips upstairs to tend to my patient, going back and forth to the laundry room washing sheets, and cleaning countertops and doorways..........I didn't have ANY problem meeting and exceeding my ActiveLink challenge for the day.  (Wow.......I found a positive point in all of this!)  My eating wasn't that great today, but I still managed to track everything and stay within my point allowance.  I'm going to keep my chin up and do my best to stay on track, stay well, and remember.........Everything 4:13!

Day 12

 I purchased an ActiveLink at my first Weight Watchers meeting last week.  It is a new Weight Watchers product that you can carry in your pocket, around your neck, or clipped to your waist.  It monitors your activity throughout the day and gives you various challenges to "move more".  Last week I had to resume normal activity without doing any extra exercise so that it could get a "baseline".  The assessment finished yesterday and with my normal daily activity, I earn 1 Activity Point each day.  Every 4 weeks, it gives you a "challenge".  My first challenge is to increase my activity level from 1 points a day to 4 & get 5 lights to light up on the ActiveLink ............Challenge Accepted!

I didn't have time to formally exercise today, but I was determined to win challenge by the end of the night.  Instead of removing all of the junk piled on the treadmill or doing some boring exercise video, I decided to make it a family affair and play the X-box.  After doing Just Dance Kids and Kinect Adventures for 45 minutes, I was at 123% of my goal (& out of breath and sweating)........The ActiveLink only had 4 lights......uggh!  Almost there, but not quite enough.  To help get that fifth light to turn on, I set the timer on my phone for 5 minutes and did jumping jacks, jogged in place, etc.  Once the timer went off..........5 lights!  I win!  I can already tell that this new "toy" and the "over achiever" in me are going to be a perfect match.  

 Today's Girlfriends in God devotion focused on life's disappointments.  The focus verse was John 16:33, "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world". When one faces trouble or disappointment, it is easy to question God and his "glory moments". In the devotion Sharon Jaynes says, "Glory moments do not require a physical vision, but a spiritual revelation—an understanding of a greater reality than this physical world in which we live. The unseen world is very real, and while we may not see God’s activity with our physical eyes, we can be assured of His provision and protection in ways we may never understand."  It is important for me to remember His provision and protection when I am troubled throughout my weight loss journey and also remember........Everything 4:13!

Day 11

 I left a pair of blue jeans laying on my bed this morning and suddenly hear my 7 year old son scream........"Mommy!  There's a HUGE pair of jeans in your bedroom.....I think a giant must have left them or something!"  Wow......What a way to start the morning!  (The sad thing is that the jeans are actually TOO tight!)  It hurt to hear, but it was true!  I got to thinking about what he said and decided that I will NEVER, EVER get rid of those jeans now.  Not because I want to wear them, but when I reach my goal weight I want them to ALWAYS be a reminder of where I started and that I don't ever want to go back.  It also made me realize that although I am ashamed of those enormous jeans, it never occurred to my son that they could possibly be mine.  In his eyes, I am not overweight.  To him, I am a princess and the most beautiful woman in the world!  I need to remember that.

 

My devotion this morning was very fitting in preparation for my son's "giant jeans" comment.  It focused on how women always strive to measure up to "perfection" and that always focusing on ourselves is not in God's plan.  The devotion ended by saying, "We were designed to focus on Him. Shifting our attention from ourselves to God will change our perspective. God longs for our obsession to be Him."  One of the focus verses was Isaiah 42:8, “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols”.  Click here to view today's devotion.  I need to quit striving for perfection and remember.........The only perfect one is HIM........Everything 4:13!

Day 10

 2.6 pounds down........it definitely wasn't a "Biggest Loser weigh-in" number, but I'll take it.  I've done numerous diets where I've lost 5-7 pounds in one week, only to gain it back PLUS some.  Doctor's recommend 2 pound weekly weight loss for permanent results, so that is what I'm going to shoot for each week so I'm happy, happy, happy with my results!

 

 Speaking of happy, I FINALLY won the battle against the elusive birthday cake!  It is Weight Watcher's 50th Anniversary this year.  In honor of their birthday, they have released "Celebration Bars".  They had free samples at tonight's meeting and they taste JUST like birthday cake! (only 2 points, too)  The birthday cake that's been talking to me all week is now in the trash & if ever I have a sudden craving for more.......I will have the "Celebration Bars" to help me survive.

 "No food is bad food with Weight Watchers"......that was the opening statement at tonight's meeting.  It is so true.......the point's system allows you to have a little "splurge" every now and then to keep you from feeling deprived, which typically leads you to binge/fall off the wagon.  So.......after the meeting I decided to treat myself and my 7 year old to some frozen yogurt from "You Say When" for Spirit Night at school............it was only a 4 point splurge too!

2 Corinthians 12:9 was the focus verse of my devotion this morning.  So often, I let the negative thoughts of my weakness (AKA: weight) overshadow the positives in my life.  The devotion says, "There are a lot of people who would trade their best day for my worst day."  That is so true......I am blessed with a wonderful family, wonderful friends, a beautiful home, and an amazing job, etc.  (The list goes on and on!)  Instead of letting my "weakness" overpower my life, I need to remember to focus on God's Grace & all he has provided and has planned for me in the future............Everything 4:13!