Nutritarian Birthday Feast!

My oldest daughter turned 16 yesterday.  We had some fun shopping, then stopped for an express lunch in the van.  Instead of fast-food, we went to the local grocery store and built three huge salads for David, myself, and our daughter. Grabbed a loaf of bread, jar of peanut butter and jar of all fruit for the other children.  We were all excited to have good stuff to eat and cheap for on the road!

After that we ate our way through the apple orchard while we picked to fill our bucket of fresh apples.  Now, that's some healthy fun!

We cruised home for a Taco Bar night.  We tried something new by baking corn tortillas in the oven like this, making some great taco shells for our filling of black beans mixed with onions, garlic, mushrooms, collards, and seasoning, brown rice mixed with mixed vegetable medley, dried onion, garlic, and more seasoning, and of course, a giant fresh salad and salsa.  Everyone was quite happy with the birthday girl for giving us an excuse to eat such yummy food. :)

The best part of the meal came at the end, of course. She was so excited to plan out her birthday dessert, Nutritarian style.

She chose Dark Chocolate Nice Cream mixed with Raw Brownie Bites.  We called it Live by Chocolate Nice Cream. (spin off of our old favorite, Death By Chocolate Ice cream).

 

 Delicious!!  She truly is a genius.

 

I always tease my children that their birthday is also MY birthday. After all, who did all the work, right?  ;)  So, I was pretty happy to see the scale down half a pound this morning. I'm calling that a belated birthday gift to me!

In A Rush

Aren't I always in a rush?  I sure feel like it these days.

Problem is, this rushing has left me no time for exercise this week. Not cool.

Went out for dinner last night with my husband. We went to a local place. We shared some fried button mushrooms. Melt in your mouth so good!! Of course, they were battered and fried! We were okay with that as a treat, though.  I also had a spinach salad topped with cucumber, cranberries, and almonds. I'm a big baby and picked off the onions and tomatoes. Sure wish I liked those raw.

I also indulged and had some of the yummy, yet not healthy warm bread.  Again, occasional treat, so no guilt for me. :)

Scale was EXACTLY THE SAME today as last time I weighed in.  I was actually pretty happy to see that considering the salt intake from last night and the lack of activity this week.

Today was a great day for eating. Tried two new recipes and they received mixed reviews. I was proud of myself for keeping up with the kitchen tasks while schooling and wading through my pile of emails and scheduling needs. 

Another new recipe for tomorrow.  Really hoping it's a winner. The children have been having a hard time with some of the new foods we've been eating.

Potluck on Saturday. I'm making Apple Baked Beans and cornbread muffins.  Bringing our kind of food for a potluck is going to be an interesting experiment.  I need to get tough skinned and not mind if no one really likes what we bring. ;)

I'm here...I didn't disappear!

Okay, I know you've been worried. Normally, an absence of a few days from my blog means I've been hitting the chocolate chips pretty hard.

Not this time!! :D

I have been staying up too late, though, leaving me spacey and tired and not able to put too many coherent sentences together.

Friday night I was spent. I just did NOT want to spend another minute in my kitchen making food. I was craving a nice dinner at a nice place with nice people around me.  No food to prep or cook and no dishes to oversee. 

Thing is, going out to eat while staying plant strong is nearly impossible! Even a salad at most of our local places is loaded with stuff I'd pick out.  I don't want to pay $10 for a plate of lettuce-hold-the-dressing, iykwim. ;)

We decided on a new Mexican restaurant near us. I looked over their menu before we left and chose one of the vegetarian options they had. I ordered it without the dairy. It was devine!! Tortilla stuffed with a medley of vegetables, topped with tomatillo sauce.  A side of lettuce, tomatoes, black beans, and rice.  I left the rice, since it was white.  I only ate one enchilada and left some beans on the plate as well. I was stuffed with yummy food!  We did splurge and have the chips and salsa and I ignored the fact that the tortilla was white flour. I enjoyed my meal with an abundance of gratitude!

Saturday was busy with household tasks, meals, picking up and dropping off my daughter for work, and grocery shopping. We actually only needed one cart this week. Shocking.

Today we grazed a bit. I think I'm just going to not fuss about snacking on Sundays as long as the snacks are nutritious.  I did overdo the grains this weekend. The tortilla on Friday, brown rice on Saturday, and I had TWO pieces of Ezekiel bread toast tonight for my dinner.  It was lovely.

My weight still is going down, but not in very high increments. Still, down is what I want to see.

Very little exercise this weekend.  I took a walk with some kiddos around town on Saturday, but that's been all. I need to get to bed at a decent hour tonight so I can get back to my habit-building goals.

So, that's my weekend report. I don't like being away from here for long periods of time. I know it drags my motivation down a bit. Thankfully, I still had good things to report this time.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Started the day a little behind, due to waking up in the middle of the night to check out the meteor shower with the big kids.  Fun, but we were dragging this morning!

I got in my work out and was thrilled to see the scale down again! What a great way to start the next month of progress. :)

Today I was still pretty tired and lacking ambition.  I muddled my way through school and meals.  Today we tried Ezekiel bread for the children's pb&j and it was great. They all loved it.  And, they didn't complain at all about the leaf of romaine I put in their sandwiches.  That was great.

For dinner I made No-Meat Balls with marinara sauce. I served it over whole wheat pasta for the children, no pasta for me. 

 

It was good, but had a little too much of some kind of spice to it. Not sure which.  Everyone was happy to have something fun like that for dinner. I'm pretty sure Honoree' thought it was a regular meat ball. ;)

 

 

Ruth took on the task of making dessert tonight and she did a great job.  She took her favorite recipe for tarts and altered it.  She replaced the flour with garbanzo bean flour and oat flour, and replaced the butter with applesauce. Look at that cutie rolling out her dough.

 

 

Then she filled them with diced apples and cinnamon. She was so happy to have a dessert that everyone (except Daddy who is still on his juice fast) could enjoy.

 

 

That's about it for tonight. I'm tired and hoping to be asleep early.  I'm hoping to get some good things done tomorrow so I'm more energetic and ready for some fun in the evening.



Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Good Things:
Made good choices up until dinner time
Got a double meal made for dinner, one for friends, one for kiddos
Schooling complete
Choring directed

Not So Good Things:
Gave up at dinner and just went with the best I could do while eating out
Very little exercise today

I am feeling just blah.  I could not get myself moving today.  I did fine eating-wise up until dinner. We delivered a meal and then went out to eat for our date. I decided to just enjoy and ordered baked fish. More fat than I'd choose, but the fish was a nice treat for the week. I enjoyed a lovely salad of fresh greens but also over did it on the bread.  Sigh.

We went out for a decaf coffee which had cream and sweetener. I decided to just enjoy the treat with my husband and work it off tomorrow.  We did get out for a walk around town when we got home, so I at least got in some activity.

I'm feeling just beat.  I'm sleeping well, but something is making me drag. I'm not sure what it is.  It could be my cycle. It could be the grains. It could be I'm a little low on iron?? I don't know, but I am definitely going to work on loading my plate with greens tomorrow to flush out whatever it may be.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Real Quick:

Busy last couple of days.  Some ups, some downs.

This poison ivy has really gotten the best of me. Yesterday I could barely move my arms. I'm on David's meds and it is starting to lift a bit.

I haven't exercised for two days now. Needed to today, but got bogged down with a birthday gift project.  Yesterday was the first day I ended over on calories for the day. Bummer.

I did well today, though.  I made a very yummy French Lentil Soup from my End of Diabetes book. Turned out so good!  Who knew I really did like lima beans??

David ordered a late night pizza for the children to enjoy during bible time. Guess my soup didn't go over quite as well with them. ;)  It was SOOOO hard to resist a slice of that meat lovers delight!  But, he was sweet and ordered some plain potato skins for E and I to enjoy together.  So, we still got a treat. :)

It's been HOT here too, so no walks for me.  With David leaving early in the mornings to work now that the rain let off, I've been lazy and sleeping in.

I need to enter in the recipe for the soup so I can see how my day ended today. I'm feeling pretty confident that I'm close...but maybe over again with those potato skins.

My thrill over the scale going down-down-down ended when it went up that bit.  I need new incentive and motivation.  But, mostly, I need to get rid of this stinkin' rash so I can FEEL better and not be going crazy!!

Daniel Fast - Day Seventeen

June 26, 2013

Day Seventeen.

Sigh.

I'm still feeling slump-ish, unmotivated, irritable. I don't know what the change is for. The weather has been rainy and stormy. It would be strange for that to make such an impact on me. I just can't figure out why I'm feeling so extremely different than I was last week. Sigh.

Today I made up a new something yummy for breakfast. I tried my hand at water sautéing and it turned out delicious. I cooked up some cauliflower and a few carrots sticks that needed to get eaten.  I love how they browned a bit in the pan, almost crunchy.  I topped it with some hot sauce and crunched on my lovely little plate of breakfast vegies.

David and I went out for our date tonight. We decided to try Chinese food since they have a vegetarian section on their menu. We enjoyed two different dishes of mixed vegies. I'm not sure what the sauces were made of, but I'm hoping it was fine since it was labeled vegetarian. Then we headed over to Tropical Café for fruit smoothies, hold the turbinado.  Very yummy. 

Came home and played some wii games together.  It was nice to get in something active with all the rain we are getting this week. Cheered me up some, I think.

Hoping to get to bed before 10pm tonight. I've been up late the last few nights.

Daniel Fast - Day Fourteen

June 23, 2013

Day Fourteen

Today went well. It was tough at lunch. Instead of the burgers and hot dogs that my in-laws had planned to make, they served yummy rotisserie chicken and rice.  Oh, how I've been longing for chicken!  I could have easily resisted the burgers, but the chicken was One Tough Temptation.

I did it, though. :)  We enjoyed our vegie skewers and corn on the cob. I figured out that I do NOT like eggplant. I'm pretty proud of myself for trying, though.

I also did great at church tonight. There was a party of sorts after the worship time with all manner of sweets, chips, and treats.  Thankfully, I wasn't hungry at all after eating our peanut butter and all-fruit rice cakes at dinner.  It wasn't a hard thing to resist. Especially when I could visit with friends, the gooey brownies faded from my memory.

What I did do today that left me really defeated was something I told myself I wouldn't do.  I stepped on a scale.  I haven't weighed myself since we were going to the YMCA. I don't know what I weighed going into this fast, so I have no frame of reference.  I shouldn't care about the scale. I did not go on this fast as a weight loss tool. Yet, I can't help myself from wondering if eating this way would make an impact on my weight.  I have been recording my food and I am under on calories almost every day. Surely, I should see some loss. Yet, how would I know??

The number I saw on the scale was NOT a pretty number. Not what I was hoping to see, that's for sure. Sigh.  I don't know what I was hoping to see. But, two weeks on the Daniel Fast isn't going to get me to a pretty number. Now I know.

One cool thing I learned today is that I really like grilled cauliflower.  Yum.

Quick Update

I haven't journaled for a bit. My numbers have all been amazingly low.  So much so, that I have even gotten a little lax on how I round out each meal. I'm still being cautious on portions and amounts of protein. Actually, what I've been lax about is not eating enough most of the time.  I don't leave the table hungry, and with all these snacks, I guess it's just feeling hard to make my meals as large as the menu says they should be.

That said, I had 2 slices of Sam's pizza over the weekend while we were out shopping.  I thought for sure it was going to do me in.  Not so! My numbers were perfect! I don't get it because pizza before, especially 2 slices, would have sent me way over. Could be the meter. Could be insulin, I guess, even though I'm still only taking 10 units at bedtime.  Could have been all the activity I had that day with shopping and such.  Whatever it was, I'll take it!

I haven't been doing any official exercise.  We have, however, been doing a lot of cleaning, purging, and moving as we are rearranging most every room in our house right now.  My husband finished his last exam this past weekend (woohoo!) so we emptied his office and that leads to an avalanche of "newness". ;) 

His new "thing", he declared, now that this year of studying and testing is over, is Diet and Exercise. I'm excited! First my daughter, now my hubby!  It's amazing to watch everyone get excited about health and strength and want to do it together!  A little weird it is happening now that I can't fully join in, but I'm so thankful.  And, to be fair, I *am* working hard on my health, just not on weight loss, so I guess I am still part of the team. ;)  Just need to focus a bit more on strength than I have been.

The last two days I've worked hard at rearranging shelves, books, toys, furniture, you name it.  Today is going to be a rest day while I catch up on grading and school stuff.  I'm hoping to get out for a walk after lunch, though.  I have one here who has been super hard to love and I think a walk for the two of us would be a good thing.

My daughter and husband have been planning a family celebration for Valentine's day.  She's planning to make some mini-muffins for our dessert so we have something more "healthy". Love that girl.  I'm feeling a little bad that I'm not real involved in the planning and prep. But, honestly, I'm feeling swamped right now with duties and I just can't keep up.  So, I'm choosing to be blessed and enjoy their efforts. :)

Blessings to you all this Valentine's day!  Enjoy your treats, but remember to strive for balance as well as grace!!

Tuesday January 31, 2012

Today's Good Things:
Up on time
Followed meal plan
30 min exercise before lunch
My husband got home about an hour early and brought me a treat so we could still have a bit of date night
Sorted baby clothes
Evening stretch with my Ruthy

Today's Not So Good Things:
Felt down and defeated most of the day
Fasting number highest yet
Short on patience with the littles

Today's Food Choices and Numbers:
Fasting: 108
Breakfast: Chicken thigh
After: 107
Snack: english muffin with pb
Lunch: Grilled turkey ham and cheese on ww, carrot sticks, clementine
After: 111
Snack: pb sandwich crackers, handful of pretzels
Dinner: eggs scrambled with bacon and cheese, 1 piece rye toast w/ butter, clementine
After: 111
Snack: buffalo chicken sub (about 4 inch)

I did get in grains today and I guess I did okay with them. I noticed, though, that I was eating less at my meals than the meal plan suggests. Personally, I don't mind. I always feel like it's too much for me.  Maybe this will be part of the trick to keep my numbers on course.  I've also dropped having milk at my meals, also suggested by the GD diet.  I find I do crave milk while pg, but I also know that since I'm drinking skim, it's basically just sugar going down. With as much yogurt and cheese as I'm getting, I'm not concerned about losing the calcium and I don't believe there's much else to the store bought milk.  We'll see what happens in the coming days with decreasing the amount of foods at each meal. I don't walk away from a meal hungry, so I'm not concerned with baby's growth at this point.

So after a tough day, my sweet husband called to say he was going to be home by 8pm. That was especially nice since Tuesdays are our normally scheduled date night. We've had to set that aside now that he's wearing an accountant's hat again and working tax season hours.  When he got home, he had a special treat for me. Half his sub he had at dinner.  He knows I love buffalo chicken. :)  So, since I've been experimenting with my evening snack and haven't found anything that is working, I decided to enjoy the treat he brought for me and have it for my snack.  It was yummy. ;)

Sorted baby clothes today. They're in the wash and tomorrow I can have fun folding, hanging and setting up Baby Dear's dresser.  Folded laundry with my two oldest girls tonight which was very sweet.  Got in 30min on Wii Fit this morning since I knew I wouldn't be out for an afternoon walk. We have sewing lessons after lunch and it was snowing most of the day. Walking in snow is fun, but not when it's covering the ice on the road. Not ready to take the chance of slipping with Baby. Did notice that I was about .5 pound down today from last week.  That varies for so many reasons that I don't pay much attention. Just glad to see I haven't gained any huge amounts. Another good sign on the GD front.

Praying tomorrow gives me a good start. My husband doesn't have to leave early so we'll be together for family devotions. That's always a better start to my day. I just want to be motivated to work hard and do well. That's my prayer.

Also, I updated my "Tools" button to include my description of the Wii games we use at our house. I listed the two that give the most exercise. The other games we have are Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, and Cabella's Summer Camp (or something like that).  We've purposed to keep the game choices focused on exercise and activity rather than games and fantasy type play. Just our preference.

Sunday January 29, 2012 Happy Birthday Benj!

Today's Good Things:
My sweet boy's birthday!!
24 min of Wii fit this afternoon
Lovely day with the family

Today's No So Good Things:
Several bad numbers for the day
Really off on my diet

Today's Food Choices and numbers:
Fasting: 105
Breakfast: slice of turkey ham, 1 piece buttered ww toast
After: 120
Snack:  cheese stick, 1 package pb sandwich crakers
Lunch: 1 slice zuccini bread, then 1/2 hour later 1 soft taco from taco bell (I was desparate. Sigh.)
After: 131
Dinner: 2 small squares of hm grilled pizza, 2 servings of caesar salad w/ hm dressing-no croutons
After: 112
Snack: birthday cake :), and probably cheese and crackers or some type of heavy protein

I started checking my blood sugars again yesterday. Of course, the first two days I start up again are the first days I've been off on my diet in a long while. I was busy doing a family closet purge Saturday and kept forgetting to eat and test. Today was church and that's always hard to get in the right foods at the right time.  I was smart and brought along my morning snack, but completely forgot to pack myself a lunch so I could eat at the right time instead of just snacking like the rest of the fam and eating our big meal when we got home. I have to work on Sundays because we don't typically do three meals. Just breakfast and then a later lunch-supper kind of thing. 

Anyhow, my numbers aren't great. My fasting for Saturday was my best so far, but still on edge at 93, depending on what numbers the docs like. (90 or 95)  I'm still waiting to hear from the GD counselor and I think I'll be putting in a call to the OB office tomorrow to find out what is taking so long. I was encouraged by my good friend that has worked through GD for several pregnancies now to start testing again so I have data for them when they call. She's right. It makes sense. I guess I was just enjoying living with my head in the sand. 

Side note, I had a piece of birthday cake tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it. :) No guilt, just fun with the fam.

Good thing is, testing my blood throughout the day creates a huge amount of accountability and motivation for me.  I should be seeing some better days ahead. :)

Another good thing is that I got a huge project done this weekend by cleaning out our family closet. A ton of stuff heading out the door to help me with my Mega-Purge challenge I've given myself. I also got the dresser and changing station set up. That means it's all ready to fill with baby's clothes and items. It's still really early by my habits, but I'm excited to do it!  I guess knowing she's a girl has made me all the more eager. :)

Wednesday July, 27 2011

Today's Good Things:
Morning mile with my sweetie
Devotions
Did great keeping active with the morning schedule and new chore training
Good food choices for meals and snack
FINALLY finished reorganizing our chore system for the coming year. WHEW!!! (yeah, that's where I've been hiding)

Today's Not So Good Things:
Did I even drink any water today???
Ice cream for family dessert. I should've at least gone for the low-fat/no added sugar kind, right?? Sigh. I can't resist the mocha chip.
Finishing that chore system means I've been doing a lot of sitting for the last few afternoons. Blech.

Been weeding this week, got in a mile with the children yesterday, and processed some vegies from the garden today. Our new chore assignments have me movin' this week and my kitchen has been looking good. :-)  I feel like I've been in a tunnel of sorts with this last project, so I'm really glad the planning and setting up stage is done. Now I need to tackle the mess in the house that came from neglecting the chores I've been obsessing over for the past 2 weeks. Ack!

Tomorrow we mow, weed, and harvest in the morning and get some lesson plans and cleaning done in the afternoon. I am so lovin' this summertime life. :-)

The Vacation Challenge

We just got home from a 12 day whirlwind road trip.  11 states, 3500 miles. That's a ton of driving, visiting, touring, eating on the quick, and...sigh...sitting.

I started out really well. I was being ever so careful with my food choices, trying hard not to indulge in the Munch Your Way Down The Highway tradition. The first couple of days I made sure to get out for walks before we started the next stretch of driving or sitting to visit with far away family and friends. However, as the trip got busier and our stops got shorter, much of that ceased. By the time we were making our mad dash home, I was crunchin' the chips with the best of them. *blush*

However, I still believe I did *much* better than I have in previous times. We didn't stop at as many of our favorite eating places on this trip. We often find ourselves eating our way along as a part of making memories. We did still enjoy some unique favorites, like U.P. pasties, cinnamon raisin biscuits from Hardees, and Arby's roast beef sandwiches. I even deterred us from ordering fries and filling in with carrot sticks and apple slices with our Roast Beef Delights. :-) We skipped some others and I made sure our meals eaten from the camper featured greens as often as possible.  We guzzled plenty of water, though my fiber is down right now, so I'll be working on that.  I did cave and get the pop tarts and cold cereal that everyone loves for vacation, but generally we snacked on peanut butter celery sticks and fruit for our sweet treats.  I'm wishing we had been able to make more time for active touring at our destinations.  We got in some swimming, a bit of walking, but not as much hiking as I had hoped. It was tough to do it while visiting with others and fitting in so much in so little time.

Overall, I'm pleased with how we did. We still have a lot of room for improvement, but I am clearly making better choices as a way of life. Even vacation life. :-)

Wednesday June 1, 2011 Fancy Schmancy Dinner

Today's Good Things:
Morning walk
At least an hour of push mowing
catching up on school lessons
Lovely evening out with my sweet husband complete with an hour alone to talk over cappucino...mmmmmm...
Did well sticking with the low carbs for dinner and appetizers (notice I didn't say dessert?? Ahem.)

Today's Not So Good Things:
Chips for snack with dh
Missed my bible time...such a slow start this morning
Behind on laundry and housework
I ate The Whole Thing for dessert. Ack!

We went to an annual business meeting tonight. It's a special treat at a restaurant that serves amazing food. I was careful to avoid the crackers, bread and potatoes the whole evening. I chose cheese and fruit for appetizers along with the irresistable bacon wrapped scallops and over-sized shrimp cocktail. Wow!  For dinner my plate was more than half full with fresh salad and steamed vegies, the rest were small portions of chicken marsala and a piece of stuffed baked haddock. So delicious!

I was quite pleased that I resisted the carb load, so I splurged at the incredible dessert table. I picked this unbelievable chocolate cookie pie thing. Heavenly. It was a treat and I know I won't have that level of dessert again anytime soon, so I enjoyed it without guilt. ;-)

I enjoyed the evening with my husband. Neither of us really enjoys the shmoozing that is involved with this event, but tonight we were blessed to meet a man that attended the same christian college my husband did the same year my husband was there. That was so neat! While sitting together at dinner, we also found that we share homeschooling in common with their family as well. We were delighted the Lord used us to encourage this man and hopefully his wife as well. We were praising the Lord on the way home for such a neat blessing to be found in this evening. Thank you, Lord!

Another Favorite Treat

I've switched over to greek yogurt recently. I was told to watch out because it has more bite than regular plain yogurt. Guess what? They were right, but I really love it! Usually I mix it with some frozen berries.  Tonite, I diced up a freshly peeled, juicy orange and covered it with a generous helping of thick, protein-rich, creamy, plain, fat-free goodness and YUM!  Increasing my protein has been making a difference and the greek yogurt is a great, healthy choice to meet that goal. :-)

Thursday April 8, 2011 On A Roll :)

Today's Good Things:
Great morning of choring and lesson work
Super day eating
First day of a new bible study - such a blessing!
BIG answer to prayer for our fam
Fun night out for an ice cream treat.

Today's Not So Good Things:
No exercise
Missed my bible/prayer time
Behind on grading

Another great day. :-)  After dinner, I was still a few hundred calories from my lowest goal (1500). We decided to take the fam to McD's for ice cream. (cheap and low-cal....for ice cream, that is ;-) )  I'm a little high on carbs, but still under 200g for the day.  The scale was friendly this morning, keeping me motivated to stay on track this week.

Tomorrow is FRIDAY! We have a possible visit with friends and then we head to the park for kickball in the afternoon. I'm excited to be out in the sunshine and play with my children. :D

Wednesday April 6, 2011 Score!

Today's Good Things:
Ate Great!!!!
Ended the day at 133g of carbs! Under my daily goal!
Met my water goal
Got in a family walk before dinner
Super busy/productive day with the File Pile
Catchin' up on laundry

Today's Not So Good Things:
Struggled through lesson work with One In Particular
No Morning 15 or Afternoon 15 - I didn't even THINK about it. Weird.

So today was simply amazing afa as eating goes. I was so busy with my hands/brain that I didn't even think about snacking. However, I didn't think about exercising either, so it was a good thing!  I got supper going late tonite (Baked buffalo chicken with skinless thighs, seasons red potatoes and a large salad), so dh took us all out for a family walk while we waited for dinner to cook. That was lovely, even though it was quite cold and windy. When he suggested going I realized that I hadn't even thought of exercise all day and I was SO happy to head out for some fresh air. Love that guy. :-)

I've been making some good progress on the File Pile. It's hard to get at that project and still do the Mom-things that need doing. I'm happy with the results so far, though. I'm having fun strolling down memory lane as I go through all the paperwork of our schooling over the years.

Did I mention that we are on a hiatus from going out to eat? Last week dh cancelled his business cc, which means all Treats and Splurges our O.U.T. until we have enough cash saved up.  I'm excited to see how avoiding the restaurants and take-out food will effect my weight-loss efforts.

Okay, off to enjoy my Yogurt Bowl. (plain greek yogurt with frozen mixed berries, sprinkled with cinnamon. Yum...now that I'm getting used to the flavor of the greek yogurt. ;-) )

Monday April 4, 2011 - Spring is in the Air!

Today's Good Things:
Met my lowish-carb goal
Great day school wise
Great day with chores
Kept up with meals well
House is semi-tidy
Kept Laundry rollin'
Got a good start on this week's project
After dinner mile with dh

Today's Not So Good Things:
Munched on chocolate chips that should have all been given away
Missed my Morning 15
Rainy/snowy so missed my Afternoon 15
Struggling with a tmi issue that also prevented me from too much activity

I had a surprisingly great Monday! That rarely happens here and I'm delighted.

Food wise I did really well, even with my afternoon snack with dh and a yummy dessert of fat free pudding that my dd made for us to share. I ended the day with 155 grams of carbs. I'm pleased, since my goal is to get as close to 150 as possible each day. Had I skipped those treats, I'd have been under my goal. Cool seeing that it's doable.

Also got in a 1 mile quick walk with dh before he headed out for an evening meeting. That does us so much good. I love having a little escape like that. Good for body, soul, and heart.

I made some good headway on the File Pile today. Dd planted her seedlings and the girlies started some flower seeds. The smell of that dirt was invigorating! Oh, I love that spring is in the air. Even though it snowed all morning, it melted by afternoon and I can still see the GRASS! Just the smell of the rain, mud, and warmth makes me want to MOVE and smile.

Friday April 1, 2011 Hangin' In

Today's Good Things:
Nor'Easter - Really, it was good b/c it meant that dh worked from home :D
Great Friday family day
Got in some chapters in a new book
Did well with calories

Today's Not So Good Things:
No exercise

Even with having a treat of pizza for lunch, I'm still able to enjoy a yummy snack of greek yogurt, frozen fruit and a couple slices of turkey breast before bed. Awesome!  I really am getting the hang of this. ;-)

Oh, I was able to see the number on the scale I saw a couple of weeks ago. I'm starting to feel hopeful for Monday's weigh-in. I'm choosing not to beat myself up for taking two weeks to get back to where I was. :-/

Wednesday March 9, 2011 Finished Well

Today's Good Things:
Great eating day, right at 1500 cals
Good day working with the children
Dealt well with my stress/frustrations
Got in 1.5miles with ds this afternoon
2 more spreadsheets done for school planning

Today's Not So Good Things:
Minor emotional meltdown this morning - really blasted dh :(

I was very pleased with my eating today. Even kept my carbs under the 200 mark, which is what I've given myself as my "top" goal for now. That was with the ice cream bar treat that dh and I enjoyed together for dessert.  I was thrilled to get in 1.5 miles this afternoon, especially since I spent the rest of the day schooling and planning at the kitchen table.

Emotionally, I really lost it this morning. I'm having a rough time with some things and the flood gates erupted today. I feel horrible for allowing it to happen, but I honestly feel much better. Sigh. Poor dh, I know *he* isn't feeling better. :(

So, I need to add Prayer and Journaling to my list of things that I am trying to reprioritize in my day. It shows that I'm off balance there, for sure.