Eat Fresh

I absolutely love this time of year. There is so much fresh produce and plenty of people with gardens. While I wish we had bountiful baskets here, I still think I got a pretty good deal today.

-1 large watermelon (seedless)
-2 large cantaloupes
-4 ears of corn
-1 X large zuccini
-5 tomatoes
-5 cucumbers
-1 Purple Onion
-1 Vidalia Sweet Onion
-1 large bell pepper
-1 large basket of blackberries

$18 spent. Many yummy things to come. I cut up the watermelon, made a tomato, cucumber, onion salad with balsamic vinaigrette and I whipped up some blackberry muffins. I got the recipe from a family member's blog. She had made them with huckleberries. I substituted blackberries. They were very good and only 3 points. Problem is, you can easily scarf down 2-3 of them...so be careful. Here is a link to the recipe. I am looking for a low calorie berry crisp recipe. If you have one, please share.

My addicition

This week I have talked to my friend Jordan almost daily as she has been on my ass to exercise and trying to hold me accountable. She has been sending me articles about plateau busting, and encouraging me to "kill it on the treadmill". It helps that she is doing WW too. A lot of times she end the calls with "the plan works, if you work the plan". This just keeps going thru my head. The other day when I talked to her, I had to laugh and say how sometimes I feel like an alcoholic. Growing up with a mom who attended some AA (alcoholics anonymous) meetings they always ended the meetings with "keep coming back..it works..if you work it". They would assign new members a sponsor (a past alcoholic that has been sober for a long time now), and when you are feeling the craving to drink...call your sponsor. Well, Jordan is my sponsor. I call her, she calls me to make sure I haven't went back to my old ways of feeding my addiction to food. The other night she texted me the serenity prayer (another thing they do in AA), however it works for many things. It goes like this: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."

Through all the jokes and parallels of the two, I started to think about how overeating really is an addiction. The bad thing about it though is how it differs from a lot of other addictions. You don't have to drink, smoke, gamble, watch pornography, do drugs or play video games to live...but you do have to eat. With AA you give up alcohol entirely, not even one sip, they do not promote moderation but with overeating you just can't do that or you would die. I think it is hard because for those of us that do struggle, you have to be able to find that balance. I want to do a 180 and get addicted to things that are good for me like eating fresh, exercise, etc. I believe that we all have our addictions. What is yours? Is it negatively impacting your life? If so, think about the steps to giving it up.

Alcoholics follow a 12 step program to recovery but it would work for almost any addiction.
In summary you are to:
-Admit that one cannot control one's addiction or compulsion;
-Recognize a greater power that can give strength;
-Exame past errors with the help of a sponsor (experienced member);
-Make amends for these errors;
-Learn to live a new life with a new code of behavior;
-Help others that suffer from the same addictions or compulsions.

My goal for the future is to help others that suffer with the same addiction as I do. I have several friends that are overweight and wanting to lose. While I am still in recovery myself, I'd be happy to be your sponsor! We can do it together. I want to pay it forward.

Salsa Pork Chops

So Tonight, I am making this recipe. I have been told by a friend that it is great and tastes like sweet and sour pork. I'll let you know how it turns out. Because I have some fresh garden bell peppers I think I will add some. Seems easy enough.

Salsa Pork Chops

1 cup medium or hot thick and chunky salsa
1 (15 ounce) can crushed pinapple in juice, undrained
1/2 cup chopped green onions
cooking spray
4 (5 ounce) center cut pork chops, trimmed

1. Combine first 3 ingerdients in a bowl, set a side.
2. Coat nonstick skillet with cooking spray, place over heat until hot
add pork and cook 4 mins on each side or until browned
add salsa mixture to skillet. Simmer, uncovered 8 mins. until pork is done
turning pork ocassionally.

A Rainbow

So today there was a rain storm during my CPR class and when I got done there was a beautiful rainbow. I wish I would of taken a picture. It was vibrantly colored and a full 180 degree arch. Spectacular. It gave me hope that I can take this one day at a time.

Tonight, Travis emailed me an article titled "Women are most attractive at age 31". I know it sounds silly but I was really excited to read it. For those of you that know me, you know that my 30th birthday was hard for me. Seems crazy but I had felt like even though I have accomplished some great things: a good marriage, home, career, kids, school, etc I felt like I let my twenties go. My entire twenties I was obese. Aren't you supposed to be your absolute most beautiful in your 20's and I let them just slide by and didn't feel beautiful at all. I didn't even take advantage of them. However...there is hope; a rainbow after the storm. According to this article I won't be most beautiful until I am 31! That means I have until November 29th to really get looking good. haha. :) Here is a link to the article.

There is beauty at all ages but I just want to feel beautiful again. I want to be more than the girl with the pretty face. When I was in high school, I taught aerobics and there was a lady that worked at the gym with me, her name was Corrie. She was really cute, had a pretty face but was about 230-250 pounds. I used to always come home and ask my grandma, "Why doesn't Corrie try to lose weight, I mean she works at a gym and she has such a pretty face; she should come to one of my aerobics classes. She would be so much prettier if she would just lose some weight. She has potential". How those comments have came back to haunt me. I am the president for a local society, The East TN Health Care Executives, at one of our meetings about a year ago a female CEO from another hospital came up to me and said "You have such a pretty face". I wanted to vomit as my own words came back to bight me in the ASS. (As they usually do). I know that I am capable of this. I was always told that if you put your mind to it that you can achieve anything. Well, I AM PUTTING MY MIND TO IT...now lets see great things this week!

Weight Watcher results: Week 13

205.2??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I packed my lunch every day! I didn't cheat, I put time in on the treadmill, I did the stairs! Why? It is so discouraging. I have been feeling so good and had lots of happy moments but when the scale doesn't move it is so upsetting. It is like I can't see a 1 as the first digit. I am stuck! I will not make excuses. Every season on the biggest loser I see contestants say that they lost inches and not pounds, well that may be true but when you are overweight the scale should move all the time. I really did try to give it a good effort. I still have not been good about my water though and it has been harder to find the time to work out now that I am back to work.

A good story that happened this week though...so I have bought Levi Midrise Bootcut jeans for years. Size 16 regular. Well I had two pairs that I have pretty much worn out. A little over a year ago, I walked in the store bought the same exact jeans that I always have (knowing that they would fit) and got home. The next day I tried them on and seriously could not even get them over my hips. What happened? Did they change the sizing? I thought about taking them back but I was depressed and didn't understand why my other pairs still fit just fine. Well, they must of been stretched out. :) So a few days I was wearing my trusty jeans and I noticed that I was starting to get a hole in the thigh. Dang it! My favorite jeans; not jean shopping...please NO! I pulled out the pair that I had bought a year ago and they just slipped right on. AMAZING! They fit great and they are brand spanking new. Friday night, Trav wanted to go on a date so we went and saw the movie Inception. It was a good flick and I got to wear my new jeans.

I WILL NOT BE STUCK IN THE 200s. I WILL NOT BE BROKEN. I WILL CONTINUE TO WORK THE PLAN...AND THE PLAN WILL WORK!!

Temptation

So, today at work there were several temptations. We had a rep that always brings in cookies there today (he comes 2x a month) and it was the weekly trip to Walmart where our office manager stocks up on candy to fill the bowls in the waiting area. I also facilitated an afternoon meeting which means you are able to get free drinks (soda/tea) while attending. This is some of what I saw today. Did I partake?

Well.....I had one single starburst candy at 4:30 as I walked out the door. So close! At least it was only 20 calories and I still was able to stay within my points for the day. I did an hour on the treadmill tonight in order to make up for it. I have earned 9 activity points; my goal was 15 by Sunday. Looks like I'll be working out on Friday and Saturday too.

Back to the temptation...Thankfully the cookies didn't look very good. I know that I am still not strong. If that would of been a plate of my sister-in-law's cookies, I would have definitely ate one. Did I mention that she makes the very best cookies. All flavors: chocolate chip, pumpkin, double chocolate, snicker-doodle, etc...they are all wonderful. Sweets are definitely my weakness. The good thing that I have learned from Weight Watchers is that you dont have to give them all up in order to have success, it is portion control. So why is it that I always want to go back for more. Why is one not satisfying enough? Will it ever be? I hope so. I really want to be able to still enjoy food and splurge a little on special occasions but have the ability to stop.

Feeling a Good Week

I feel a good week coming on...I have been really good, meeting all my goals. I have been doing the stairs at work in addition to my time on the treadmill and my calves are in knots but it is a good pain. The tenderness reminds me that I am accomplishing something. I have packed my lunch every day for work and I am actually eating breakfast at work too. I bought to boxes of cereal and I buy a small carton of skim milk in the cafeteria. I lasts for all three days and is way more convenient than bringing milk from home. If you haven't ever tried Fiber One Carmel Delight, you should. It has like 10 grams of fiber and almost tastes like something naughty. :)

Yesterday I was off; and I wanted to get in a little extra exercise so I walked to the farm across the street from our subdivision. I bought some melons, cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes and we have been enjoying all the yummy fresh produce. I love cantaloupe. A half of a one is only 2 points on weight watchers and I can easily eat a half for a snack or with my small sandwich at lunch. I still need to do better about my water intake. I love to fill up my hospital mug but I keep forgetting and leaving it at home. Guess I need to steal another one from the storeroom..haha.

Being back to work is okay. It definitely makes it harder to fit everything in. Spending time with the kiddos is most important to me so I feel like as soon as I get home it is lots of reading, playing, dancing, singing and interaction. By the time they go to bed, I am pooped and its time to exercise. I wish that your body only needed 5 hours of sleep but mine surely needs 7 and prefers 8. I think I am going to try and focus on exercising for longer stretches on the days that I am off and if I can exercise on work days it will be a bonus.

Some friends have asked me about the scale at the hospital (the original that I weighed in on). It is my plan to weigh on it next Monday morning to see the true results of my efforts, so stay tuned. I am really hoping to move the pendulum to the 100s. I am hoping for a good week. I haven't cheated and weighed daily as I don't want to get discouraged with the daily up and downs. Well, I need to get Hudson out of the bath and into bed and then I've got a minimum of 30 minutes to walk-run...wish my calves weren't killing me.