Monday's Meal

Happy Monday! (Yeah, right.) 

Since I've been eating clean, I spend a LOT of time searching for recipes that don't include butter, sugar and other no-no items.  The best recipes I've found have been thanks to Instagram and Pinterest.  There are many great accounts posting fitness motivation and recipes.   

I have designated Mondays as recipe day.  Each week I'll share a new recipe that I've found and tried.  Up first: 

Garlic & Lemon Chicken

 posted by Key Ingredient on Pinterest 

Ingredients
4      chicken breasts
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 1 juiced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ pound trimmed green beans (I used 2 cans)
6       red potatoes, cubed or quartered

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a large baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer in the bottom of the dish or skillet.
In a large bowl, combine the remaining oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper; add the green beans and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the green beans and arrange them on top of the lemon slices. Add the potatoes to the same olive-oil mixture and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, arrange the potatoes along the inside edge of the dish or skillet on top of the green beans. Place the chicken in the same bowl with the olive-oil mixture and coat thoroughly. Place the chicken, skin-side up, in the dish or skillet. Pour any of the remaining olive-oil mixture over the chicken. Roast for 50 minutes. Remove the chicken from the dish or skillet. Place the beans and potatoes back in oven for 10 minutes more or until the potatoes are tender. Place a chicken breast on each of 4 serving plates; divide the green beans and potatoes equally. Serve warm.

This recipe is super-easy and something that takes very little prep time.  Best part: it was DELICIOUS! Even Hubs and the kiddos were fans.  I only ate two bites of potato, but had my fill of the green beans.  

If you try it out, let me know what you thought! 

Progress is a process

Hey, guys.  Hope all is well in your lives and summer has been a fantastic one filled with lots of sunshine, love and happiness! My summer has been great, though not quite long enough.  I (finally) graduated in May with my Bachelor of Arts in History, and I will begin my first graduate courses in just a few weeks as I pursue my Masters in History.  I am equal parts excited and terrified at taking on graduate school.  My oldest daughter starts kindergarten and my youngest starts pre-k on the 19th.  Basically, this month is going to be jam-packed with new adventures for all of us.  I welcome the challenges! 

I last posted back in April and was attempting, yet again, to cut back on bad food and be more active.  This has been an off-and-on thing since I fell off the wagon last Spring. In June I jumped back on the wagon in full force, and have since created a great fitness routine that I'm  proud to say the Hubs has joined in on, and I have changed my meals to strictly clean foods.  My mindset has become less about weight loss and more about fitness.  I want to be fit and healthy.  I want my kids to see my husband and I eating well and exercising - and enjoying it - so they can learn good habits and being healthy will just be a part of life for them, and not something they have to struggle with. 

What really boosted my motivation recently has been Extreme Weight Loss with Chris Powell.  I saw a preview for an episode, so I went on YouTube and found several episodes from seasons past.  With each episode I watched, I found myself thinking, man, if people 400 and 500 pounds can find the willpower and determination to do this, then I certainly can! I went on Amazon and found a workout dvd by Chris Powell featuring some of the previous participants.  I saw that it had three levels, and one could progress as their fitness improves.  I bought it, and two days later it arrived.  I put it in and set level one, which was only fifteen minutes.  I did it easily and without much sweat.  The next day I jumped to level two, feeling confident.  Needless to say, it kicked my butt! I pushed through and 25 minutes later, as I was going through my cool down stretches, I felt SO proud of myself.  I felt strong.  I felt optimistic.  

A few hours later I found myself excited for the next day to come so I could do the workout again.  Now THAT was a first.  I have never looked forward to exercising, save for basketball and softball practice as a teenager.  The second day, I did the workout, and felt the same sense of accomplishment and excitement.  I made a commitment to myself that I would workout five days a week and eat clean seven days a week.  I did the video workout for a couple of weeks and then decided I should change it up a bit so as to keep from getting bored. I decided to do the video three days a week and treadmill/weights two days. 

Before long, I could feel myself getting stronger.  I had more energy, I had greater endurance.  I found myself choosing to do activities with my kids that I used to dread doing.  If we were going somewhere within walking distance, I set out with the kids and made it an adventure.  I was surprising myself! Then one night, Hubs came in from work and declared he was ready to start working out with me.  Well, imagine my delight! I had a workout partner! Woohoo! 

So, since then Hubs has worked out three days a week with me, and I have actually RAN on the treadmill - something I haven't done since high school - and have demolished 24 pounds.  Tomorrow Hubs and I are moving to the third level of the video workouts, which we plan to do for 2-3 weeks before starting P90X.  It's gonna get real! We did the Ab Ripper X earlier and it was serious business.  Sheesh. 

Anyhoo, that's what's been up with me and what's going on now!  I'll leave you guys with my new motto:

Finish what you started. 

Bring on the blender

One of my most favorite things about my lifestyle changes (both the current one and ALL of the previous efforts before it) is the fact that I genuinely love healthy food.  Granted, I also love fried chicken and chocolate-covered anything, but still... I thoroughly enjoy a nice salad, fresh fruit, a bowl of grapes and strawberries.  I love foods I had previously assumed I'd hate: bean sprouts, tofu, kale.  It's all good in my hood.  But something that has always been a favorite of mine and has grown into an absolute must-have for me:  SMOOTHIES.

I just LOVE 'em!

Strawberry, banana, blueberry, acai berry, doesn't matter what it is, I'm a fan.  What makes smoothies even more awesome is the fact that even if you're not a fan of things like kale or spinach, you can throw a few pieces into the blender with your fruit smoothie and you'll never taste it.  It's a win-win, people.  

I typically buy the bags of frozen fruit in the freezer section at the grocery for my smoothies.  You know, the just-add-milk deals?  So easy and they taste great.  I wish I could experiment more with fresh fruits, but the stuff is so dang expensive.  I do plan to try out a few new recipes, however.  Strawberry-banana smoothies get old after a while.  

Do any of you guys ever try out new smoothie recipes?  Let me know if you have any good ones! 

The Return of the Fat Girl

I'm back.  I've been on hiatus for over a year now.  What happened, you ask?  Well, I was doing fantastic on my lifestyle changes, and then my father came down for a week-long visit from Tennessee and we ATE. EVERYTHING. IN. SIGHT.  Seriously,  I ate a ton of food.  My dad is only able to visit Louisiana 3-4 times a year, so when he does he has to eat every southern food he loves: poboys, fried shrimp, fried oysters, raw oysters, gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish, etouffee, all of it.  Of course, what kind of hostess would I be if I didn't eat along with my guest? 

So, long story short, I spent a week eating nonstop, and then suddenly it was June and I had completely stopped my exercise routine, was eating fried food, fast food, bread (lots and lots of bread), pasta, etc.  It was pitiful.  I was able to distract myself from my failure, though, because I was headed to Europe for a study abroad trip in mid-June.  That trip was fantastic, and I'll tell y'all about it later just for fun.  When I got back it was only a few weeks until my 4-year-old started pre-k, so I was busy with that.  Then my fall semester started.  Then I had my 10-year high school reunion to help plan and pull off in October, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then Spring semester....

Needless to say, I've spent the last year successfully distracting myself from my re-expanding waistline.  I'm so disappointed to admit to you guys (and myself) that I have gained back 22 of the pounds that I lost.  All but 8 pounds.  What a wasted year, health-wise.  I've come back to my blog several times over the past two months, wanting to start writing again, but losing my nerve because I know you guys won't judge me, but I judge myself.  Oh yes, I judge myself.  Especially when I read over my old posts and see how motivated I was and how much progress I was making. 

However, my pity party is going to be a short one.  No time for that, right?  I've wasted one more year, and that stops now.  I am going to try this rodeo again, and hopefully I'll have the willpower and determination to stick with it this time.   I'm not sure if any of you guys have kept my blog on your lists, but hopefully you have and I'll be hearing from you.  I'll be checking to see if you guys are all still around as well. 

Here's to second (or twenty-fifth) chances. 

1st Milestone

I did it.  I hit my first milestone. 

THIRTY POUNDS.

3-0

The big three-and-oh.

That's six 5lb bags of sugar.

meijer.com



120 quarter pounders.

monacome.com



10 cans of Crisco oil





preparednessadvice.com





4 gallons of water



mistymountainspringwater.com



120 sticks of butter

dabbledabbledo.blogspot.com

20 dozen eggs

dreamstime.com

A 32-inch flat screen tv

fareastgizmos.com

I'm beyond proud of myself, but at the same time I'm still in a bit of shock.  I have set weight loss goals for myself many, many times over the past 15 years.  Never once have I ever met any of them.  Even when I went smaller with 15- or 20-pound goals, I could only manage 10 or 12 before giving up and going back to my old habits. 

For the first time, I've actually made it to the first milestone.  I feel like I should throw myself a party.

I still have 103 pounds to go, which is three more 30lb milestones and a last one of 13.  After hitting this first mark, though, I am so confident that I can hit the rest of them, one at a time, until at last, for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, I will be at my "ideal" body weight.  Not only that, I'll be healthy and fit and not have to worry about all of the health problems that come with obesity anymore.  What a day that will be!

Don't ever think you can't do it, guys.  You can do ANYTHING!

Yo!

Hey guys, I'm still kickin'.  Busy gal and all.

I'm over at A Different Path to Loss today sharing a new-ish recipe I found that's low-fat and AWESOME.

Come check it out!

Biggest Fears

Yesterday I was listening to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning while driving to school.  They were discussing their biggest fears, and each person on the show had to take a turn.  Kellie's is being fired.  JC's is doctors. Big Al's is disappointing his parents.  Kidd's is the triangle of death - he wouldn't give his actual fear.  Jenna's is dying in a plane crash.  Then they got to Shannon, the quiet chick who keeps them on schedule and is rarely heard on the show.  Her biggest fear:  getting fat.  

When she said it I immediately got angry.  It was self-defense mode, I'm sure, to react that way.  I'm like that with many things.  If somebody makes a fat joke in general, I get angry.  If an overweight person is discriminated against or made fun of on TV or in a movie, I get angry.  I know this is more about my own self esteem issues than anything, but that does not make it any less wrong to use an obese person as the brunt of a joke or as a good story line.   

I started ranting and raving in my car, to no one in particular, about how insensitive people are, and Oh, you're SO terrified of gaining weight, honey, you should try being overweight for most of your life and being unable to LOSE weight.   I'll admit, I had a small pity party going on in the midst of that rant.  

After thinking about it for a while, though, I realized her fear isn't all that shocking.  If I were forced to examine my own fears, one of my biggest fears is that I'll always be fat.  Isn't all that different from Shannon's fear, is it? 

Even as I'm on this journey, working hard to eat the right foods, smaller portions, exercise, be healthy, in the back of my mind is this nagging voice that says don't bother with all of this, it's too hard.  You'll always be fat.  Just accept it.  Granted, that voice is getting smaller and smaller - I contribute that to my success thus far and the wonderful support I get from my family, friends and blogging buds.  

They say you should face your fears.  If my fear is being fat forever, then I need to face it and shut that fear up by proving it wrong.