I took my own advice and "just DID it" today! Yep, it's true. I exercised!!!! I've been having a rough time getting back in the groove. Some days I'm all about it and then other days I barely move around the house. But today was a good day.
I decided if my crazy dog wasn't going to cooperate and be a good walking buddy, then she's going to have to learn how to be a good running buddy. She's not GREAT, but she is much better at running alongside me - the quicker pace affords her less opportunity to get distracted by all the wildlife. So we went for 3 short runs today and a short walk - about 20-30 minutes each time and definitely a good workout in this heat and humidity.
Unfortunately, I didn't get much of anything else done today. I did brave the rattlesnake family living in the yard and ventured into my little garden to pick some cherry tomatoes. There weren't many - enough for an afternoon snack though! I even found a slicing tomato that will be great on tonight's tacos. The green peppers look ripe, but they're soooooo small that I decided to leave them a bit longer and see if they hit a growth spurt. B says we have some watermelon and cantaloupe growing - but I sure didn't see any!
As I already said, tonight's dinner is tacos made with lean ground beef, veggies, FF sour cream and served on whole wheat tortillas. Sounds YUMMY to me! The youngest will have leftover chicken and veggies that I cooked in a foil packet for her last night. She's my allergy baby so I'm always cooking something different for her. We should all be eating like her though - nothing but fruit, veggies and lean meats - no sauces, cheese or processed foods for her. She's the healthiest one in the family.
When we went looking for a dog to adopt I had envisioned a tiny little thing that I could carry around in my purse (or the diaper bag) like all the chi chi women on TV. Instead, we ended up with a rambunctious 30# puppy who thinks she's a lap dog. "Oh well," I thought. "At least I'll have a good walking buddy."
Not so much!
Never take a beagle/basset hound for a walk. We live in the country. On a dirt road. Nature at our door step. LOTS of distractions for a puppy - especially a hound dog! We did manage to walk for half an hour today, but it was full of stops and starts and most of the walk was me practically dragging the dog behind me. I am hopeful that she will learn to be a good walking buddy, but for now, she leaves a lot to be desired!
Thankfully our walk did leave me feeling much better. My headache is all but gone and I even made dinner. Imagine that! Tonight's dinner was delicious and oh so filling.
creamy chicken & veggie bake
roasted cauliflower
baked potato
salad
The chicken was oooooooooooh so tasty and even got a thumbs up from the kids - who don't normally like casseroles or stuffing, for that matter. Here's the recipe:
Preheat oven to 400*. Spray 13x9 pan with non-stick spray. Combine 1/2 package of stuffing mix with 1 cup water until moistened and set aside. Spread other half of dry stuffing mix over bottom of pan. Top with cubed chicken. In a bowl combine veggies, soup and remaining 1 C water and then spread evenly over chicken. Top with remaining stuffing mixture, salt and pepper. Cook for 30 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.
**Mine had to cook a little bit longer because the chicken was partially frozen. I used broccoli, peas and carrots for the veggies and it turned out quite colorful and extremely tasty.
*gah!* The headache persists. I soooo wish it would go away.
I'm supposed to be figuring out what to make for dinner - but I'm not. This is one of those times when I think - errr when I KNOW - that planning my menu ahead would make my life so much simpler. What I really should do is construct a list of meals I could make with the ingredients on hand and then cross them off as I prepare them. A reference list of sorts, I suppose. That way I won't feel boxed in by a "planned menu" yet I'll have a ready list of options posted right on the fridge. I've done that in the past and it works rather well. Too bad I currently lack the energy to get that going. *sigh*
So this weekend was a toughie for me. Lots of stress from dd1's test and traveling/car trouble and outrageous heat and complete grumpiness on my end. All excuses, I know. I read a website that I linked to from justme17you and the guy was soooo right about all the excuses we make. He basically said to shut up and DO IT! And he's right. That's what I need to do.
"Eat right and exercise!!!!" he says. That's the only way to lose weight. I know it. I've always known it! But I've always fought it. I'm getting there though and every day is a little better than the day before. I am slowly starting to remember how good I felt the last time I made this journey and I am kicking myself less each day for having to take this journey for the second time. It really sucks to be losing the same weight AGAIN. But apparently I didn't learn my lesson the first time around. So here I am. Taking the same journey. I do know that this is a neverending journey though so I'm not in as big a hurry as I was before. I know this is something I will have to do for the rest of my life - not for a period of time. I think that was my mistake last time. I got bored with it - burned out before reaching goal and then could never get back on the wagon and then got derailed by life. But this time THIS is life - there's nothing to derail me from my plan. Oh I may have times when I slow down or even go backwards, but they will be short-lived, because now I eat better and exercise more and that's just who I am. I am no longer the fat momma' that I used to be! And I will lose this weight one pound, or a fraction of a pound, at a time. I will do it.
84. I want to be able to comfortably cross my legs.
83. I don't want to turn beet red at the slightest exertion...like crossing my legs
82. I want to be able to bend over and pick something up off the floor instead of having to kick it to one of the kids for them to pick up...or without having to do my fancy trick where I kick the object straight up into the air so I can catch it. Taaadaaaaaa
Well Friday was just more fun than a person should be allowed to have
The test was a definite ordeal. S went into total panic mode (kicking, screaming, tears, we had to hold her down and call in a reinforcement....it was just B-A-D) but she did get through it and the tech was so sweet to her during and after the test. I told the tech that next time (the other 2 girls also need this test) I'd bring the margueritas if she provided the sedatives LOL
Before leaving town we had to put a new tire on the van. But, OF COURSE, it turned out that we needed 4 new tires AND a new spare due to a manufacturer's defect. But, OF COURSE, they only had 2 in stock *sigh* Thankfully we made it home OK. It took about 3 hours to get the tires changed (I have no idea why since there was only 1 car ahead of us!) and we finished up right at rush hour...of course There's only 1 way to get out of the big city - and that's across a 3 mile bridge over the water. Talk about gridlock We made it though and stopped at a nice park on the other side before heading home. We had to drive through all those lovely touristy places along the Gulf on a Friday night - so the 2.5 hour trip home actually took 5 hours But we made it! Here's the kicker though...the tech casually mentioned that S might have a little pain when she goes potty for the next couple of days - so the child REFUSED to go potty!!!! We finally convinced her to do it, but she still only went twice in 36 hours!!!!
Nothing but Fun City at our house!
Hmmm - now to make this about weight loss....Let's just say it wasn't pretty. Actually the whole weekend has been a bust. But tomorrow is a new day and I WILL make better choices because I DO want to lose this weight and I KNOW it's not going to magically happen unless I do some serious work. And work I will.
I'm not going to post any weight loss reasons today. I have a pseudo-migraine going on and all I want is for the kids to go to bed so I can go to bed. Gotta' love days like that!
I made the crockpot pineapple chicken for dinner and it was OK, but it tasted better after I added a couple tablespoons of brown sugar to the sauce. I used crushed pineapple instead of the tidbits and it came out rather soupy, so I added in some brown sugar and then spooned the sauce over the chicken and some brown rice. I don't think the brown sugar could have added more than a point since we didn't even use all the sauce. My oldest daughter doesn't like her foods "mixed" but I made mine into a kind of stirfry with the chicken, brown rice, sugar snap peas, carrots and more peas It was TASTY!!!! I cooked it with the soy sauce since we had last night's leftovers for my food allergic daughter, but next time I'll skip the soy since I really don't like the salty taste anyway.
It was good, but not one of my all-time favorite dinners.
89. I've heard the saying that no one thinks about you as much as YOU think about you LOL but when I walk past a group of people and I hear them laughing...I don't want to wonder if they are laughing or talking about me.
88. I want to have more energy.
87. I want to be able to tie my shoes or paint my toenails without getting all red in the face.
86. I want to be able to sit on the floor and get up gracefully.
85. I want to enjoy our homeschool group beach days.
You don't see me! I am really out running errands and getting ready for tomorrow's trip to the 'big city' so my oldest daughter can have some tests done. Yes - we did FINALLY get the tests scheduled. One is tomorrow and the other one and her dr appointment are on the 18th. Good thing gas is sooooooo cheap and we love road trippin' with 3 kids
Anyway, I hope you all had a happy 4th and/or a happy Canada Day!!!!!!!!! We had a really nice day. We spent a few hours at the beach and then played some games at home while the baby napped and then went to the fireworks. I got lots of exercise, ate healthfully and had a great time. Can't beat that with a stick!
Nothing exciting to report here...But I did want to share tonight's dinner recipe. I haven't had any yet, but am told it's delicious.
Crockpot pineapple chicken
4 (30z) boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 (19 oz) can unsweetened pineapple tidbits (undrained)
2 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP dijon mustard
paprika
pepper
2 cloves minced garlic
Spray your crockpot with non-stick spray. Arrange chicken in bottom of CP. Sprinkle with paprika and pepper. Mix soy sauce, pineapple, mustard together and pour over chicken. Add minced garlic. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours.
*I used frozen breasts, 20 oz crushed pineapple and regular mustard and am cooking it on high for hopefully just 4 hours. I'll let you know how it turns out!
Thank you all so much for being supportive yesterday! (((HUGS))) You had some great suggestions!!!! I am happy to report that I did not eat...much! LOL Seriously though, I had a string cheese, did 15 minutes on the elliptical and drank a bottle of water - pretty good choices overall. I had to laugh out loud at SpaGirl's suggestion to strip naked! That would definitely take away my desire to eat
I agree with many of you that the issue is probably hormonal. She's a sweetie and generally the easiest one in our family to get along with...which probably means teenage years are going to be killer LOL Guess I better get some good coping strategies under my belt now! With 3 daughters, I have a feeling I'll be needing them!!!!
Last night's dinner was a very yummy shrimp stiry fry. I'm the only one in the family who likes sweet & sour, so I make it plain for hubby and 2 of my daughters and then add a couple of tablespoons of sweet & sour sauce to my plate. It's about 120 cals for the sauce, but the rest of the meal is Core (shrimp, veggies, brown rice, soy sauce) so it's not a horrible use of Points.
I did find a Sweet & Sour recipe that I might make for next time though. I wonder how many Points would be in the dressing?
Sweet and Sour Sauce
3/4 cup no sugar added applesauce
1/2 small bottle FF Catalina dressing (THIS is not Core)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
pineapple chunks
The combination of applesauce and salad dressing does seem a bit scarey...but I'm usually pretty happy with the end result of most WW recipes so I'll give it a try.
And I learned something last night....While fat free cheese is great in tacos and on pizza, it's not so good on nachos Guess I'll have to either get used to it, give up the occasional nacho snack or pony up the Points!
I was a little overzealous yesterday and posted 6 reasons instead of 5 I used to think I was good at math LOL
94. I want a regular sized towel to go ALL THE WAY AROUND me.
93. I want to feel good about myself again - to feel like I can take care of myself and make good choices for ME.
92. I want to buy clothes in a "normal" store and I want to be able to shop for clothes that are affordable, stylish and comfortable...not just clothes that fit.
91. I want to take my kids to the waterpark and have fun! I don't want to be concerned with how I look in my swimsuit or worry I'll run into someone hubby works with or someone from church
90. I want to KNOW I'll fit into any booth in any restaurant.
There's only 1 way to get out of the big city - and that's across a 3 mile bridge over the water. Talk about gridlock 
We made it though and stopped at a nice park on the other side before heading home. We had to drive through all those lovely touristy places along the Gulf on a Friday night - so the 2.5 hour trip home actually took 5 hours 
But we made it! Here's the kicker though...the tech casually mentioned that S might have a little pain when she goes potty for the next couple of days - so the child REFUSED to go potty!!!! We finally convinced her to do it, but she still only went twice in 36 hours!!!! 
It was TASTY!!!! I cooked it with the soy sauce since we had last night's leftovers for my food allergic daughter, but next time I'll skip the soy since I really don't like the salty taste anyway. 
Guess I'll have to either get used to it, give up the occasional nacho snack or pony up the Points!