Meal Planning Monday

Monday:
     Breakfast: 2 whole wheat waffles, banana, coffee
     Lunch: Professional Development at work - probably out to eat - salad or sandwich??
     Dinner: Whole wheat spaghetti, garlic toast, salad, pudding cup

Tuesday:
     Breakfast: Granola, banana, coffee
     Lunch: 1/2 bologna sandwich, carrot, apple
     Dinner: Chicken drumsticks w/Shake and Bake coating, 1/2 baked potato, green beans, chocolate milk

Wednesday:
     Breakfast: 2 slices toast, 2 slices turkey bacon, banana, coffee
     Lunch: 1/2 day of school - probably out to eat again
     Dinner: Egg salad sandwich, apple, Baked Tostitos, chocolate banana smoothie

Thursday:
     Breakfast: Scrambled egg w/ham and cheese mixed in, banana, coffee
     Lunch: 1/2 ham sandwich, apple, carrot
     Dinner: Tuesday night leftovers

Friday:
     Breakfast: 1 c. Cheerios, banana, coffee
     Lunch: Chef salad with boiled egg whites and turkey bacon, apple
     Dinner: Probably kids meal at Chick-Fil-A

Saturday:
     It's my birthday!!! Not too concerned with what I'll be eating today...I know Michel's delicious 3-layer chocolate cake will be on the menu :)

Sunday:
     We're staying at my parents' house Saturday night - Sunday, so I'm not too sure what I'll be eating. One thing's for sure, though...I'll need to hit the gym hard core on Monday morning!

Delicious, low-fat, low-cal brownies

I've talked about these brownies quite a bit, and had several requests for the recipe, so here it is:

I found this recipe when watching the Cooking Channel one day. Michel found it online, and one day we decided to try it out, and it's been a hit ever since! We always have the ingredients on hand, and we make these at least once a month!  http://health.discovery.com/fansites/devin-alexander/recipes/brownies.html

If you don't want to follow the link, though, here's the recipe:

1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sugar
4 egg whites
1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 square pan, or a pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix together unsweetened applesauce, vanilla, sugar, and egg whites with a whisk until well-blended.

Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt to the mixture and stir until well-combined. Pour it into the prepared pan and add in the chocolate chips. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

The recipe says to cut it into 12 brownies, but that just seems too small for me, so we cut it into 8 brownies :) The brownies turn out something like this:

They're moist, chocolatey, and so delicious!!

Cutting them into 12 brownies makes each brownie 88 calories and 1 g. of fat. Cutting them into 8 brownies makes each brownie 133 calories and 1.5 g of fat! Not too shabby for a delicious brownie!!

Saturday Weekly Weigh-In

Weight gained/lost: I actually maintained this week.

I'm not too surprised by this because I didn't start trying to eat right until last Monday, but I weighed in last Saturday, and then on Wednesday Michel and I went to Macaroni Grill for our delayed Valentine's celebration! I've been working out hard core, though, so I'm proud of what I've done this week.

My biggest accomplishment of the week: Last night, Michel suggested we buy some ice cream for dessert tonight (we usually have a special dessert on the weekends), and I said that I would get him some, but I didn't want any. For anyone who doesn't know, I LOVE ice cream!! I'll eat it when it's snowing outside! I can turn down cake and cookies, but I can never turn down ice cream, so for me to turn it down is pretty big! But he didn't want to eat it in front of me, so instead, I'm making us some low-fat brownies! The recipe I found is DELICIOUS, moist, and only 88 calories!

Meal Planning Monday

**I'm posting my breakfast and lunch - for my sake more than anything else. Michel and I only eat dinner that's the same, but this week I'm on my own for dinner on Monday and Thursday.**

Monday: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!
  Breakfast: 1 c. Cheerios, 1 c. coffee, banana
  Lunch: 1/2 ham sandwich, apple, carrot sticks
  Snack: 1 wedge Laughing Cow light cheese
  Dinner:  1/2 baked chicken breast, 1/2 baked potato, salad, skim milk
  Dessert: Chocolate banana smoothie
  **Workout: Run 30 minutes on treadmill - every 10 minutes, increase incline by .5%**

Tuesday:
  Breakfast: Jimmy Dean's D-Light English muffin sandwich, 1 c. coffee, banana
  Lunch: Salad with remaining 1/2 chicken breast, boiled egg whites, turkey bacon, and Fat Free Ranch
  Dinner: Marinated chicken breast, green beans, milk
  Dessert: Sugar free, fat free, double chocolate pudding cup
  **Workout: My first with Michel! We'll be doing many sets and reps of squats, bench press, bent rows, pull ups, and sit ups**

Wednesday:
  Breakfast: 1 scrambled egg, mixed in with a few slices of deli ham, FF shredded cheese, 1 c. coffee,   banana
  Lunch: 1/2 ham sandwich, apple, carrot sticks
  Dinner: Valentine's Day celebration at Macaroni Grill!
**Workout: KenpoX from P90X workout**

Thursday:
  Breakfast: 2 pieces toast, 2 slices turkey bacon, banana (can you tell that I LOVE bananas??), 1 c. coffee
  Lunch: Egg salad sandwich, apple, carrot sticks (I'm also a big fan of apples and raw carrots)
  Dinner: Lean Cuisine microwave pizza, salad
  Dessert: FF, SF pudding cup
**Workout: 30 min. stair machine**

Friday:
  Breakfast: 1/2 c. granola cereal, banana, 1 c. coffee
  Lunch: Healthy Choice mixers, carrot sticks
  Dinner: Chicken Chili, Baked Tostitos
**Workout with Michel: squats, deadlifts, shoulder press, curls, sit ups**

Saturday:
  Breakfast: Whole Wheat Waffles, TWO c. coffee (special weekend treat!), banana
  Lunch: 1/2 p.b. sandwich, apple, carrot
  Dinner: Not sure

Sunday:
  Breakfast:
  Lunch:
  Dinner:

My Fabulous Weekend

A few months ago, Michel told me that there was a pistol class being offered in Nacogdoches this weekend that we wanted to go to, and asked me if that was OK with me since this is the weekend before Valentine's Day, and he has to work on Valentine's Day. However, I'm not really all that into doing something big for Valentine's Day, so it really didn't bother me. So we came to an agreement that I didn't mind him going to Nacogdoches for the weekend if he didn't mind me going to my sister's house in Longview for the weekend (which he was fine with).

Just as a back story, I've always been super close with my sister. She's a couple years older than me, so when she went away to college, I was excited when the opportunity came up that her roommate was away for the weekend and she invited me to stay with her for a weekend by myself (without our parents). We ended up continuing that fun tradition where I would go visit by myself about once per semester. I always got to stay in her dorm room, hang out with her friends, and just have fun - just the two of us. This fun tradition continued on even after she got married. Once a summer, I would find time that was convenient for both of us and go down for a long weekend. I never wanted to overstay my welcome, just get in some good time together! Once I got married, I figured this tradition would have to stop, but it's managed to keep going. It's not that I don't enjoy having my parents and my husband around by any means...it's just something I've gotten used to doing since it has happened at least once a year for the last 9 or 10 years!

So anyways, I headed to Longview after work on Friday afternoon. Once there, I was excited to see that our plans for the evening were to lounge around and stay in, so I immediately changed into my p.j.'s :) Ryan, my brother-in-law, had made us homemade chicken fried steaks (one of my favorites!) and Janette made mashed potatoes and green beans to go alongside...it was delicious! My sister also made no-bake cookies which are my absolute, favorite cookie! Maybe I like going down there for the food too ;) I can't even explain all the great fun I had playing with my 2 and a half year old niece, and cuddling with my sweet 6-week-old nephew! My mom asked me to take lots of pictures, but that didn't end up happening unfortunately. I tried getting some shots of Zane smiling (he was smiling at me a lot on Friday night, but I couldn't get him to do it much since them!), but I did manage to get one cute little picture of him in his little rocker outfit :)

He's super cute and very cuddly, but definitely not small and petite like his big sister! That boy can eat!! My forearms are already sore from holding him so much, and by the end of the weekend I had been spit up on and pooped on, but I wouldn't have changed that for anything! I love my family so much!!

Saturday Weekly Weigh-in

So, I weighed myself today...I'm really trying to stay as accountable as possible! I'm at my sister and brother in-law's house for the weekend, though, so I'm not really trying to eat well until Monday. Come Monday, it's on though!

Next Saturday, I'll post if I gained or lost, and how much it was.
My goal is to lose 5-7 pounds. Even more important than losing a few pounds is inches...I really want to lose some inches from my waist and hips.

I took my measurements, too. In about a month from today I'll post them with + or - however many inches!

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Trying New Things

This story starts a few years ago. When I graduated high school, I was a pretty chubby teenager. I'm 5'0" and I weighed about 135 pounds. That's quite a bit for how short I am! The New Year's after I graduated, my parents and I all joined Weight Watchers, and I dropped to my lowest weight of 119. I've always managed to keep it off, and occasionally have lost more. Before I got married, I hit the gym hard, hired a personal trainer, and was at my all-time lowest weight of about 115 and a low percentage of body fat.

As many of you know, I asked for, and received, the P90X workout system for Christmas.

I started almost 6 weeks ago, and was so excited to have lost 3 pounds my first week. And then the weight loss journey has stopped. I've been kind of disappointed in the results I've seen, or lack thereof. I'm not trying to blame P90X...it's possible it just isn't meant for me. I'm not completely giving up on it, but I am putting it on pause to try something new. What I do like about it though is the length of the workouts - I usually get in a 60 minute workout 5-6 days a week. For results to not show up on the scale, or in the way my clothes fit, has been kind of a let down to me. 

So, why am I posting this?? First and foremost: accountability. One of the things that I loved about Weight Watchers was weighing in. It was in front of an employee, and anyone else who was behind you in line. That alone was motivation not to cheat! My new plan is this: I am joining the Joe Farmer Rec center that Michel is a member at. Three evenings a week he's going up there with me to make me work my tail off (I asked him for his help...I don't want anyone thinking that he's making me feel inferior or anything of the sort!). He works out pretty hard, and I've always gotten the best results with a personal trainer. I don't have the money to do that anymore, but he won't let me get away with slacking, so we're going to see how this works! 

My plan is this: Every Saturday morning, I'll get up and weigh (I might even be brave enough to put my starting weight...who knows???)! I'll post on Saturday if I gained or lost anything. Since I am trying to lose less than ten pounds, the weight will come off very slowly, but I'm fine with that. Once a month, I'll post measurements and if I've gained or lost inches. I care more about the inches than I do the weight.  Every Monday, I plan on posting my meal plan for that week (sorry Katy, I'm stealing that idea from you!). So if you're interested in my progress, make sure to check back plenty of times throughout the week. 

Part of my motivation for the sudden lifestyle change is: 

This GORGEOUS beach in Hawaii!!

Michel and I are planning a summer vacation to Hawaii in 2012, and though that's a year and a half away, I want to see what I can achieve right now! I'm really excited to give this a try and let my family and friends know how it's going for me!

I LOVE coupons!!

Since April or May of last year, I've been trying to save us some money while grocery shopping by using coupons or strategic shopping. Some weeks I do great, other weeks not so great. What I've realized that I don't do is buy in bulk when the deal is good. So this week and last, I've really been trying to not just buy what I need for that week at the store, but buy the good deals (products that we'll definitely use, but we're not necessarily in need of it at that time). Today, during Michel's and my exciting lunch date, I had to go to CVS to get a prescription that I was out of, and decided to do my deal shopping while I was there.

I did my shopping in 2 transactions. In the first transaction, I bought 6 jars of Skippy peanut butter, and 3 jars of Ragu pasta sauce.  In the second transaction, I bought 1 Cover Girl mascara and 1 Cover Girl eyeliner (these weren't on that great of a sale, but I was almost out of both). Here's what I did to get the most bang for my buck:

Transaction #1:

Spend $15 in select Unilever products and get back $5 ECB

- 6 jars Skippy peanut butter on sale 3/$5 = $10

**Used 2 $0.55/1 Skippy p.b. (wish I'd had 6 of them to get even more savings!)

- 3 jars Ragu pasta sauce on sale 3/$5 = $5

- Used 2 $0.30/1 Ragu pasta sauce

Total: $15.01

- Used coupon that CVS e-mailed to me that was $3 off when you spend $15 or more

Total Out of Pocket after coupons figured in: $10.41!!

Earned: $5.00 ECB

SAVED: $13.38!!!

Transaction #2:

*Buy 1 Cover Girl item, get 2nd 50% off*

1 Cover Girl mascara = $10.49 

(seriously?? I don't remember it costing this much!!)

-Used $1/1 CoverGirl product

1 Cover Girl eyeliner =  $4.19 

-Used 1/1 CoverGirl product

Total: $14.68

-Used $5.00 ECB from previous transaction

Total Out Of Pocket after ECBs and coupons: 

$8.31!!

Saved: $11.20

Transactions 1 and 2 together cost me (out of pocket): 

$18.72!!

Without coupons or the strategic deal shopping all items together would have cost:

$43.30!! That's a savings of 57% :) 

I love saving money!!

 

This is still Texas, right???

Today marks the 4th consecutive day that I've been out of school due to winter weather! Does that ever happen in Texas?? If it does, it certainly has never happened in my lifetime! This storm took most people by surprise, too. Monday night (1/31), around 2:30 in the morning, I heard a ton of sleet/freezing rain hitting our window. This wasn't supposed to happen until 8 or 9:00 on Tuesday morning. I got up at 4:40 to do P90X and got a phone call around 5:30 that school was called off. There was a ton of ice covering the ground, and the high for that day was only 17 degrees, so nothing melted! Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all the same - highs only in the upper teens or low 20s, so Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Thursday night, I got calls telling me that school for the FOLLOWING day had already been cancelled! Using two bad weather days in one year is highly unlikely for us, but using FOUR bad weather days all in a row...that's unheard of!

On Thursday night, snow was predicted to start falling. The majority of it was supposed to fall to the south of us, though (like Houston area). Our area was only supposed to get a trace - 1". Apparently, the storm took a wrong turn, and dumped all the snow over the DFW metroplex because this is what Michel and I woke up to this morning:

It's been falling consistently for the last 4 or 5 hours!! After 4 days off of school and this much snowfall, I really don't feel like I'm in Texas anymore!

Yesterday, Michel and I had decided that we were developing some major cabin fever, and we were going to go out for lunch today. We weren't counting on this much snow falling, but we really wanted to get out and Michel's a safe driver, so we went for it! While we were driving a took a picture out the window just to show how deep the snow is...you can't see lane markers on the road, and can't even tell where the road stops and the curb begins!

We went to Cowboy Chicken in Allen and Michel was sweet enough to indulge me in my obsessive picture-taking! Being stuck inside for 3 days in a row makes a lunch date out something that I want to capture on film :)

Today marked the first day since Monday that I had on pants that were not elastic, AND put on makeup!! I've been living in my pajamas the last several days and not bothering to put on makeup since I hadn't left the house :)

This one's my favorite, though! It might even be next year's Christmas card :)

We've had a lot of fun eating junk food, being lazy, and spending some quality time together! Hope you've had a great snow day/week!!