Front Beach Road, PCB!

Sadly vacation is over!!! Waking up to this view for a week really spoiled us all! The constant crashing of the waves onto white sand has such a calming and soothing effect!!! 

It was the one week that it rained in Panama City Beach! Lucky us (sarcastic tone). We waited until the sky semi-cleared and went out again!

 I enjoyed two packages of the Via Cinnamon Spice instant coffees. When I used sugar, these held no flavor for me! Now, sans sugar, they are the packages with the most taste to them for me! Go figure!!! Made me think about the common denominator in most of the foods I used to eat, sugar....umm...not good.

 I knew the lunch menu for the week, nachos, spagetti with meatballs, burgers, arroz con leche. I gathered my bag and almost ran out of the house in search for healthy foods! I knew that I was not going to spend my vacation stuck in the kitchen cooking elaborate meals for myself. So I searched in hopes of ready to eat healthy alternatives to go with salads (my green for the week.)  I was surprised to find a healthy section at WinnDixie. 

Buffalo Burgers- can never go wrong with this meat! Tofurky - first time trying them. The flavor was surprisingly really good! The texture, not so much, a little to mushy for my taste! The portabella mushroom burgers were the BEST. Super good taste and great texture!! I used the grassfed beef over a salad, really good!!!

 Of course, after a long drive and still having to follow a two year old around, I bought starbucks! Yikes!!! I choose the best thing I saw on the menu, a Skinny sugar free vanilla latte, 120 calories.

Overall, I think the heatlhy section of food, really helped! It was very tempting to see the other people around me eat all the goodies that I would have loved to be tasting and sit there and pretend that my salad and lean matched up to it!

But in the end, I am happy to have controlled the impulses to reach across and take just one bite of the sweet smelling arroz con leche or a just a small bite of the hamburger with toasted bun and melted cheese!! I resisted, and I am grateful.

One of my biggest food goals was to be able to resist, take in the moment and move past the food temptations. Seeing the pictures of the vacation I took with my daughter, yes i am only half way there, but the double chin was almost non existant as where before it would have been ever present!!! That made it worth it! No thanks cheeseburger!!!

Goodbye 39! Hello Panama City Beach!!

So here I am, with 39 pounds lost to date! 39! Yay! I am about half way towards my goal, only 39 more left to go.   I feel happy that I am half way there and that it looks so promising. 

This week I am on vacation!! A "real one" finally! We have taken a few mini vacations to Galveston and even stayed there over an entire week. But there is something about actually driving to another state, to a place I have not been to before that makes it feel like a real vacation!

I started off with packing my meals in little plastic bags. So things would not be scattered throughout! It looked something like this:

Then I started getting super nervous about running low or out of food. Not because I wasn't taking enough, but for the what if's that could come up! So back to the Medifast office, I went to get two more little boxes! The just in case boxes!!! That brought me to this:

I was also able to include the fish oil and B-6 pills, can of peanut butter (not mine, for my daughter), and the scale.

And here are these beauties waiting for snack time. Not all of these are for me, I am sharing with everyone going on the trip, 12 of us....maybe I need more bags!

The goal is to continue staying on plan, of course. Specifically, my goal is to keep track of my meal and set my cell phone alarm for my next meal time. And to take the time out to eat. Don't rush through it. I feel mastering this skill while on vacation we help me make it a priority in the long run.

Copy Cat Hummus!!

I love Hummus! More than I can explain! The texture, the taste, how is goes with everything!! So, to say that I miss it, is an understatement.
I wanted to spice things up and stop eating fish! But when I went into the fridge I had three Tilapia fillets defrosted...=(. So I cooked them stove top with Olive oil and Ms. Dash No Salt Lemon Pepper.

But the memory of Hummus haunted me......what to do? Make a copy cat!! I had these veggies that needed to be used. So I cooked them stovetop with olive oil and italian seasonings for a few minutes. Then added water, covered and let them get nice and soft.

 Lots of veggie goodness.

 Pulsed them in the processor, until I got this! Thick enough like hummus! Love it, the texture is great and the flavor of veggies is great!

 This is 3 ounces of Tilapia with salad and my copy cat veg hummus! So good.

I received this great chart from the office, that lists the ounce equivalence of measuring cups for all sorts of veggies. Everytime I measured out my salad greens I noticed some where larger or smaller, just depending on the type of lettuce or measuring cup. This chart is fantastic!! Now there will be no question as to how much is a cup of lettuce! The above has half the portion of the Lean with close to one serving of the lettuce (half a cup equals 2 ounces). The above has roughly once ounce of lettuce to allow for the cherry tomatoes. And spoonful of the veggie puree!

Spiced Up Fish!

Loving tilapia right now!!! Last week I prepared it with three different spices and had myself a taste test! I used Mrs. Dash, Salt-Free Lemon Pepper & Tomato Basil Garlic and McCormick's Perfect Pinch Cajun.

Prepared stove top with a little olive oil. Dinner was served. A little piece of each spiced up fish.  Overall, they were all pretty good! The Cajun was the best, just enough spice without making it spicy! This is a half portion of the daily Lean and Green.

The Lemon Pepper spice made a second appearance during the week. This portion is the full Lean and Green for the day. My healthy fats included olive oil and the Walden Farms Thousand Island dressing. Paired with baby green salad with tomatoes,broccoli and chopped white mushrooms.

 

Yesterday's weigh in was a little dissapointing. I lost only one pound during the last week. Its good to hear that at least there was a loss. But not meeting my two average was a let down.

Week 9 - Goodbye 31!

This morning started off with some basic meal planning for the week. Its great to have a fridge stocked up with meats, so mostly veggies this week! Easy grocery store run....hopefully!

 Before the grocery store run, I had a weigh in at 11:30. I went in a little nervous and excited. I had missed last week's meeting. I had no idea how much I had lost or where I was at.  The scale did not dissapoint! Six pounds lost in the the last two weeks! For a grand total of 31 for the entire 9 weeks I have been on the plan! Wow! Its really nice to know! I was running really low on food. So I bought 18 boxes worth of food. I love these collapsable containers that make carrying the goodies home so much easier than plastic after plastic bag!

Here is what the majority of my food looks like.  There are 6 boxes of the chocolate crunch bars. I love these bars, not only love, they are the only ones from all the ones I have tasted that I like. The others are too much on the sweet side for me!

 The Essential 1 meals are my new favorite. They taste so much better than the regular meals. The Dark chocolate Antiodidants Shake is DELISH!!! The new one for this purchase is the Cherry Pomegranate flavor, I love cherries and love the POM drink...so I hope this turns out good.  Another new one is the banana pudding. I hope that turns out good!

 Back during the first week of the plan, I placed all of the Medifast Meals on the first shelf. As I brought on more food and supplies, I am now giving the plan the entire three shelves.  Its good for me to have lots of options in regards to the food that I want to eat on a particular day. I have stocked this up with all of my favorites and the newbies. When I began, I would place the entire 5 medifast meals in one bag, so I could just grab and go. That really worked great...until...it didn't. I started taking things out of one day, I didn't feel like eating, until I ended up with a mess of opened and incomplete bags. So here is the new system. Have all the likes together and pick and chose the day or night before.
The first shelves has all the supplies. Medicine, measuring spoons and cups, flavor insfusers and blender and drink cups.
The food begins on the second shelf. I found these great white magazine organizers that are just the right size for the width of the meal packages. I have one for the Essential shakes, one for soups and the other for the calorie burn cappuccinos.  The basket next to it holds all the bars, next to which is the recipe book. And the top shelf has a plastic shoe box filled with cheese puffs and pretzels. There are two boxes of puddings with some extra brownie and soft serve packages behind them.

Today's half of the lean and green is Salmon, prepared stove top with salt free Mr. Dash and half cup of green beans.

I am waiting for my daughter to wake up and then its off to do some grocery shopping!

Week 6 - Goodbye 24!!!!

I stopped by the office yesterday to pick up a few boxes of meals.  While there they put me on the scale!!! Yikes...not mentally prepared at all! My appointment was on Friday, I still had two more days of losing to do. But on I went............holding breath.........two more down!!!!! I could not believe it! For a grand total of 24lbs gone!!
I have been told, very kindly I must add, that my pants are way too big and that I have to go shopping.  I had tried going shopping a few weeks ago, when my total loss was at 15.5. But now at 24 down, I am sure that I have to be in smaller size...right? I sure hope so, that would be ultimately reassuring and motivating!

Lets talk Energy!! I am not a coffee lover, aside from anything with a green mermaid on it!! I purchased the Essential 1 Calorie Burn favor infusers for my water. They are amazing. They give you tons and tons of energy. I drink one right after or before my second Medifast Meal of the day. And not even a third of the way down, I start feeling the energy kick in! I love it! The strawberry Lemonade is really good. I love the flavor, but the Green tea flavor is not as good but alot smoother to drink. When I need energy I open a pack! Just don't drink one before bedtime or you will be making alot of mental lists as you lay in bed!!!

My super excited meals have included repeated versions of this. Baked salmon with black pepper and canned no salt green beans. Can't go wrong with this meal! I love Salmon and Liver, my two favs! I wonder if I could have liver, must ask!

For the love of Fish!

Last week’s weigh in went FABULOUS!! Loving every minute of this plan!

During the first week on the Medifast Plan, I could only have shakes and bars.  I came to realize that packing just shakes and bars was much more convenient than adding the punch, teas, pretzels and cheese puffs. Why? Who knows! It just worked out better for me.  I LOVE the both cheese puffs and both pretzel flavors. I enjoy those more during the weekends or evening, they take a while to get through when I am at work. Also, during my first week I lost 4-7lbs compared to the 2lbs I was now steadily losing per week!

So last week was a copycat of the first week, well almost!  I made nothing but shakes, shakes and more shakes. There were some bars thrown in there for fun.  I cooked mostly fish, Tilapia and Salmon. Repeating the same Lean and green meal all week may not work for everyone, but I find it helps out with managing my time.  I am in the middle of planning a birthday party for my two year old and staying up late into the night! Having 2-3 meals prepared and having only to worry about fixing my veggie side is great! 

I purposely stayed away from the scale.  I had started the bad habit of weighing everyday, so stressful!! It made weighing in much more enjoyable! Almost like being back in school waiting for  test scores! And it happened! Four pounds lost in one week!!!! WOW!!! I was so happy! Total weight loss to date (as of last Friday) 22.5lbs! Oh my!  Super excited!! Super Happy! This is such a nice number to know that its gone and really...just to think about how easy it has been! If you let the plan work and don’t sabotage it, it will work.  During my initial consultation my counselor pointed out that the plan works. And it sure has! 22.5 is such a great number for me and its very inspirational to know how far I have advanced towards my goal in such a short time!  I always say time is going to pass anyway, why not get to the end of the road, at exactly where you want to be. I am nowhere near my ultimate goal (1/3 of the way there), but I have been re-assured I will reach it by the end of November of this year.

That is the most exciting part, to be at my goal by November. How far is November really? It’s practically around the corner! And it’s been so easy, more than easy; it has made my life less stressful. Meal planning has taken care of itself!!!  Just to think back on the Friday nights of meal and shopping planning we would do! So much easier now!  And I feel great!