Another Outing

Another day, another work outing.  We have our sales kick-off today and it's being held at.............where else........a bar.  I realize I'm getting old because having to leave work, drive to the city for an afternoon at a bar and then sitting in rush hour traffic on the way home no longer sounds fun to me!  Yes, I'm old.  I know it'll be fun once I get there, I think it's being in the city and having to worry about traffic that's getting me.  Either way, that gives me a good excuse not to drink more than a drink so that's good for the diet!  My massage yesterday was awesome.  She only spent time on my back because of all of the knots!  Afterwards we went to Costco and got some good things to eat/freeze.  They had low sodium ham and turkey on sale so we stocked up.

Getting Back on Track

After "Pizza-gate" on Monday I feel like I got back on track yesterday.  I stayed within my calorie target, drank all of my water, a finally feel like I'm back in my routine.  I'm pretty excited for today, I'm getting a massage!  Chris bought me a series of massages for Valentine's Day last year.  We never got around to using them, they are expiring in the next few weeks so it's time to use them up :)  I get really bad knots in my back, so I'm hoping this will help.

I Ate Pizza

I probably broke a dieting cardinal rule and I ate pizza last night.  Yes, PIZZA.  Horrible I know.  On a positive note though, I stayed within my calorie target.  I went on My Fitness Pal before diving in and looked up the type of pizza we were having and calculated how many pieces I could have and stayed close to my target.  I know that pizza isn't good for me and I shouldn't eat it if I want to lose weight, however there are just those times when you want to eat it.  It's the only thing I ate, we didn't get any appetizers, I didn't have a drink with it, I had my four squares and that was it.

Getting Back into my Routine

This weekend with my family was awesome!  We had a lot of laughs, shared a ton of great stories and drank a lot of champagne!  For as much as I loved all of it, I'm actually very glad to be back home with no trips in sight.  I really need to get back into a routine.  After having been out of town for work, then to MI for the weekend I feel a little sluggish.  I'm happy that I can get back to eating on my schedule, what I usually eat, workout, etc.  Who would have thought :)

Happy Birthday Gram!

Today is my grandma's 89th birthday!

We celebrated with her yesterday.  Instead of our usual fare of pasta, pizza, etc. we ordered trays of Subway sandwiches!  It was perfect, just overlook the amount of champagne that was drank from 6 pm - 1:30 am once we got back to Aunt Rhonda's and started laughing and sharing stories.  Alcohol doesn't count when the majority of it is bubbles right?  :)  Back at it 100% tomorrow.

A Snowy Morning

It's a very pretty morning here in Michigan.  We got some snow last night and it's making everything really pretty this morning!

Today we're going to go and celebrate Grandma's 89th birthday at the MediLodge.

Off to MI

This weekend is my grandma's 89th birthday.  Some of my family and I are going up to Michigan to visit her.  Chris is going to hang back and be here with the movers and wrap stuff up at my condo for me.  I have a pretty awesome husband!  I'm not worried about going out of town again because the family that I'm going to go and be with are all dieting too :)

Yesterday's food is kind of odd.  I didn't have much to eat at my condo while we were packing up so dinner was chips and salsa and beer.  Obviously not the best but I thought it was fitting because I'm pretty sure that's what I had the day I moved in!

A bittersweet day

I'm back from my trip and I'm proud of myself for having the will power to not go overboard!  I'm off of work today and tomorrow.  Today is bittersweet.  Chris and I are packing up my condo, I'm moving out for good tomorrow.  I am very glad that the sale is over and we're able to move on, however I'm sad to be leaving as well.  This was my first "grown up" place.  There are a ton of great memories here.  On the flip side, Chris and I will be able to have a start in our own place one day and start our own great memories together.

The Dessert Plate

Day two of my trip was an overall success.  Breakfast and lunch were fine.  I actually went online before ordering lunch to check out the menu/nutritional information for the place the team wanted to order from and made them change the restaurant because their "salads" were between 750 - 1500 calories, FOR A SALAD.  That's my intake for the day!  So we ordered from Jimmy John's and I got an unwich!  

Then last night we went to Eddie Merlot's for dinner.  While everyone shared appetizers, I had a small side salad.  They had plenty of fish choices and I ordered asparagus (as opposed to the mashed potatoes the others got.)  Dessert was my biggest accomplishment.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Their dessert plates

My dessert plate!

Day One was a Success!

Day one of my travel worked out well!!  I'm glad I had the granola bars.  After we got to our hotel we decided to have dinner.  It's freezing outside so we stayed at the hotel.  The restaurant in our hotel is "southern cuisine".  Let me translate what their menu was country fried steak, fried everything, creamy sauces, etc.  They had one fish option on the menu!  So I went with the salmon with a side of polenta and I substituted the mac and cheese side that went with it for sauteed greens.  I didn't have an appetizer, or dessert, or the corn muffins and honey butter that were on our table!  Overall success.

This morning I got up early and took advantage of the hotel gym and walked on the treadmill for 45 minutes. I'm starting to feel a change inside of me, like I WANT to do this, not that I HAVE to do this!  Here's hoping day two is just as easy.

Also I'd like to give a shout out to my cousin Blair who starts student teaching today, GO BB!!

New food find

On Saturday Chris and I went to Sam's Club.  Yes we have both a Sam's and a Costco membership.  I prefer Costco, Chris prefers Sam's.  While we were there we came across Special K breakfast flat bread breakfast sandwiches.  http://www.specialk.com/breakfast-sandwiches/sausage-egg-cheese  We bought them and they are really good!  They aren't too high in calories for an entire meal and it kept me full throughout the morning.

I leave for a work trip today and am worried about maintaining my diet while I'm gone.  So while we were at Sam's I picked up some Kellogg's Fiber Plus granola bars http://www.kelloggs.com/en_US/kelloggs-fiberplus-antioxidants-bar-chocolate-chip.html.  In a moment of weakness I don't want to go to the vending machine and get a bag of chips or candy so I threw a few of those in my suitcase and will use them in case I need a snack mid-day.

 

Burrrr it's cold outside!!

Holy cow did the cold weather come on with a vengeance!  Yesterday it was 47, today is 17.  It makes me want to stay inside and cuddled up under a blanket.  I can't do that today though, too much to do!  I'm going to Louisville tomorrow through Wednesday, so I need to get ready for that.  I'm a little worried about going out of town and eating.  It means eating out for every meal.  I know I can do good for breakfast and lunch, but dinners are a killer.  It usually means appetizers, drinks, desserts, etc.  I just need to not be tempted by all of that and keep reminding myself that a few meals isn't worth ruining the last few weeks over.

A Surprise at the Gym!

Chris and I went to the gym today, something weird happened.  We got there and as per our usual routine we jumped on the elliptical machines for 30 minutes.  I got my heart rate pumping pretty good and had a new playlist to listen to.  I usually watch the 30 minutes tick down and can't wait to get off the machine.  Usually after we do cardio we will go do weights.  Well went the 30 minutes were up I told Chris that I wanted to do another 30 minutes while he was lifting weights!  That has NEVER happened before :)  So I switched machines and got on the treadmill.  About 1/2 way through the treadmill I almost talked myself into stopping, but I just turned the music up higher and fought through it.  Music really does make a huge difference for me.   

Thanks to everyone who made snack suggestions!  I have a favor to ask anyone who may read this.  My cousin Jordan is being deployed to Afghanistan tomorrow for 9 months.  Please keep he and all of our troops in your thoughts and prayers.   

First milestone down!

Sixteen days in and I'm able to post my first 10 pound lost pictures.  There isn't any difference between my first set of pictures and this, but I was pretty excited when I stepped on the scale this morning and saw that I was at 10 lbs.  My Aunt Rhonda said to look at it like I lost 40 sticks of butter :)  I know that I have a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go, but like I said when I started this, I'm looking at it in 10 lb increments.  So on to the next 10 lbs.

 

Smart snacks

I'm looking for new snack alternatives.  As I look at what I'm wasting my calories on, I'm realizing that it's not keeping me full very long.  For example a few weeks ago I made snack packs of carrots, green peppers and celery.  They were good to grab on the go, but I was getting hungry again not too long after eating them. This week I started just doing the celery but adding peanut butter.  I actually use "Better N Peanut Butter" http://www.betternpeanutbutter.com/index.php  It only has 100 calories for 2 tablespoons as opposed to Jiff which is 190.  It tastes like peanut butter but the consistency is not like it at all.  Takes some time to get used to.  Rusty told us about Whole Foods all natural peanut butter, they have a machine there that grinds the peanuts and that's all that comes out.  I went there the other day to get some, but saw that it was 220 calories per 2 tablespoons.  So the jury is still out on which peanut butter I will go with, but the point is by adding it to the celery it keeps me fuller longer and reminds me of my Grandpa Scheel :)

I also came across this link for healthy snacks under 200 calories.  http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/40-crunchy-and-creamy-healthy-snack-ideas-under-200-calories so I'll be checking those out as well.  Anyone have any go to snacks?

Food rut

I feel like I'm getting into a food rut for breakfast and lunch.  I realized I was eating the same thing everyday. For breakfast a yogurt and and orange, for lunch a salad with some kind of protein, for a snack an apple, for dinner chicken and a veggie.  While those are all good choices, I find myself getting bored with them.  So I'm going to make more of an effort to switch it up a bit.

I'm a little frustrated because the scale for the past few days has been stuck at -8lbs.  Yes that's good, but not where I want it to stay.  I know I need to work out more, 3 times since I started isn't going to cut it, but I was hoping for a little more result in just changing my eating habits.  I guess I need to stop hoping for that and get to the gym more often.

I went to the gym!

Last night we finally made it to the gym.  Holy cow was it crowded.  I'm used to the usual right after New Years rush, however it was packed there.  Almost every cardio machine was taken and the weights were equally as crowded.  We found two Precor machines that were next to each other and did 30 mins on them and then we did some strength training, I forget which muscle groups, delts and lats maybe?  We were at the gym for a little over an hour.  Also after dinner last night I watched The Biggest Loser AND had my 5 lb weights next to me and used them!  I was making up my own exercises and when Chris came upstairs he looked at me funny, but I told him I didn't care, the point was I was keeping my promise and using them while watching the show.   

Last night is when all of that cooking that I did a few weeks ago came in handy!  We got home at 8pm from the gym and I was starving.  Luckily I had the chicken breasts already cooked, I took one out of the freezer, popped it into the microwave, heated up some peas and within a few minutes I was having dinner.  I also made some tea.  Now over the weekend we were at Woodfield and went into Tevana (a tea store).  Well I got sucked into listening about one of the teas that's good for digestion and weight loss and before I knew it I bought it.  Well, they do a really good job there not exactly telling you how much the tea is until the very end.  Let's just say that for the cost of it, it should work miracles!!  

I haven't broken out the crockpot in awhile, but I found this link on Pinterest yesterday so I thought I'd put it up here for anyone interested.  If you try any of them out let me know and I'll do the same.  http://greatist.com/health/healthy-crock-pot-recipes/ 

I know that I didn't eat enough calories yesterday.  I was trying to cut back since I splurged a bit over the weekend.  I also didn't plan ahead and had to throw my lunch together in the morning since I didn't do it the night before so I didn't have time to plan it out.  

Where did the weekend go?

This weekend was so much fun, but it went by so fast.  The last few weeks I've been focused on getting into a better eating routine, now it's time to get into a better workout routine.  I need to start using those memberships!  There are so many excuses I'm tired, I'm sick, I don't want to workout where I work, the weather is bad, I have a headache, yadda yadda yadda.  It's time to live up to the blog title with no more excuses!  This week is going to be gym focused.

Such a fun Saturday and food

We had so much fun yesterday!  We got together with our friends Eric and Ann for Eric's birthday.  We did some retail damage at Woodfield Mall and then went to Wildfire for dinner.  YUM.  I have to say that although I didn't stick to a strict diet, that I did make some good choices.  I went with fish, asparagus and wild rice.  It was very good.  I stayed away from the dessert and the bread, again with that bread!  I'm no longer calling January "no drink" because it's not working :)  We did drink yesterday, today my body wishes it was still on "no drink January" LOL.

So as I said we were celebrating Eric's birthday.  Today is actually his birthday, the big 40!  As you may remember from a previous post Eric is my weight loss hero.  He's lost almost 70 lbs since he started.  Happy Birthday Eric!!!!!!!!!!!  Another of my favs is celebrating a birthday today as well, my cousin Ted.  Happy Birthday to my Spain buddy :)

Honey Ginger Salmon and 1-11-13 food

Last night I made salmon, it turned out really good.

Honey Ginger Salmon - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/ginger-salmon/

INGREDIENTS:

2 teaspoons olive oil 1 tablespoon honey 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger 1 pound salmon fillets

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	In a small bowl, blend olive oil, honey, Dijon mustard and ginger
3.	Brush salmon fillets evenly with the olive oil mixture. Place in a medium baking dish. Bake 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

When I put the recipe in the recipe builder on My Fitness Pal with the ingredients that I used, the calories were more than the one I saw online.  I used the calories from My Fitness Pal.  I served it with spaghetti squash that I made in the microwave.  I pierced the squash all over with a fork and then cook it in the microwave.  The directions said 2 - 3 minutes per pound, but it needed a little more than that.  I think I put it in for 15 minutes and I had a 3 pound squash, after I tried it I could probably could have gone in for a few more minutes.  Once it's cooled a little, cut it length wise and scoop out the seeds.  After that take a fork and shred it so it looks like spaghetti.  I just put a little Smart Balance spread on it and some salt and pepper.  

TGIF

At the beginning of this I said I was going to be honest about everything; the good, the bad and the ugly.  Well last night "No Drink January" failed.  We went out to dinner with my mom and I ended up having some wine.  I'm not going to beat myself up over it, it happened, it was good and I enjoyed it :)  On the plus side, I made really good choices for dinner.  We were at an Italian restaurant and I managed to stay away from pasta, heavy sauce and the BREAD.  Oh the bread looked so good!

TGIF!  The weekend is just a few hours away!  Tomorrow we're going out to dinner with our friends Eric and Ann.  I've already checked out the menu and have an idea of what I'll order.  I'm also planning on trying out my new workout shoes this weekend!

Shoes, kudos and food

I'm feeling so much better today than I was yesterday and the day before.  I'm back at work today, I've been working from home the past two days.  I wanted to get out of the house last night and get some fresh air.  Chris and I went to Running for Kicks in Palos Heights.  When we were working out over the weekend,  I noticed that my feet, especially my heels, hurt afterwards.  It has been awhile since I got a new pair of workout shoes.  I decided to make the investment in a good pair.  Running for Kicks is really cool.  Someone works with you to find the best pair for your feet.  She started out by asking what kind of working out we do and where.  Then she measured my foot sitting, then standing.  They watch how you walk without shoes on, then start bringing out different shoes.  With each shoe she had me walk on the treadmill so that she could see how my foot reacted to that shoe.  I think I probably tried on about 6 pair before we found the right one.  The only downfall is that they were out of the pink ones :(  Here is what they look like:

I'm excited to start using them.  Being sick this week threw off my hope in getting to the gym more than twice this week.

I have to give a huge SHOUT OUT to some of my relatives.  I had no idea that when I started doing this that I would inspire others to start to lose weight as well.  I was texting with one of my aunts last night (everyone will remain nameless since I didn't ask them if I could post this) and she told me that she lost 6 lbs this week and another one of my aunts lost 4 lbs.  Kudos to you guys and anyone that's trying to lose weight.  That's awesome and I'm super proud of you.

On to yesterday's food.  My food journals are all whacked out over the past few days from being sick.  There was a lot of soup :)  Today's food is much more back on track, you'll see that tomorrow.

1-8-13 food

I didn't feel so good yesterday, thought I was coming down with the flu.  I'm still not 100% today, but feeling better than yesterday.  My food reflects the fact that I didn't feel good.  I didn't have any appetite in the morning, I was trying to eat bland foods.  Hopefully today is a better day and I'm able to get myself out of bed.

Sad day and 1/7/13 food

Oh what a sad day today is.  That game last night was hard to watch.  I will say though, on a positive note, who wouldn't want to have a 12 - 1 season?  They had a great ride this year and it was fun to be a part of!

We went out for the first half to a bar and grill.  As previously mentioned, no drink January was temporarily put on hold for the game.  So I had a few Coors Lights and it was 1/2 price burger night.  So I had a burger and substituted the fries for veggies.  I tried to find a comparable burger on my fitness pal, so I'm kind of guessing with that one.  Knowing I was going out last night, I tried to keep the calories down during the day.

January 6th food and GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHH, there are SOOOOOOOOOOO (that's for you Rusty, lol) many things to be excited about today.  I am counting down the hours until the ND game tonight.  I'm working today so I couldn't wear all of my Irish gear to work, however I'm pretty sure by my green sweater and shamrock earrings people know who I'm rooting for.  I have my outfit at home all set!  My ND t-shirt, my new ND BCS Championship sweatshirt (thanks Rusty!), my new ND hat with a little extra sparkle and my new ND socks (Christmas was good this year!!)  I'm like a kid in a candy store today, although that would probably defeat the purpose of losing weight HA.  I'm going to keep calling my mom today and hanging up because her ringer for me is the ND fight song :)

Ok so onto my next thing to be excited about.  The Biggest Loser premiered last night.  I LOVE that show.  It's so motivating.  I figure if the contestants can work out 5 - 6 hours a day, it shouldn't be hard for me to find an hour a day.  Last year I said I was going to keep my weights near me while I watched it and use them while I was sitting there.  That lasted an episode :)  I think I'll try that again this year.  Speaking of the gym, Chris and I did make it there again yesterday.  I can't believe how much I've digressed over the past few months.  When I was working out at the beginning of the year I was able to do strength training with a fairly good amount of weight, well that's out the window now!  It was hard for me to do 10 lbs.  I'll get back there, I'm not worried.  Plus, Chris is doing an awesome job in keeping me from getting bored while were at the gym.  He's coming up with all sorts of exercises to using the bands, medicine ball, weights, etc.  Thanks honey :)

Yesterday I made kale chips.  They turned out ok, not my best batch, but I do like them.  Meijer was out of the bunches of kale so I got a bag of baby kale.  The problem with that is the leaves are pretty small so once they were cooked, they just kind of disintegrated in our mouth.  I wouldn't use the baby one's again, but I will make kale chips again.  They're easy, a good snack and give me the salty/crunchy that I sometimes crave.  What I usually do is buy a big bunch of kale and cut it into 2 - 3 inch pieces, also pre-heat the oven to 400.  I put that into a bowl and drizzle a little olive oil and sea salt and mix it together.  Spray a cookie sheet with Pam and lay one layer of kale on the sheet.  Then I bake it for 15 mins or more, they should be crunchy not still wet.  They shrink quite a bit, so you can buy a pretty big bunch.  

Now on to yesterday's food.  Oh, before I forget.  I know that Chris and I declared this month "No Drink January" however we did agree that we'd be allowed to have a few drinks for the game tonight.  So you will see alcohol on tomorrow's diary :)  LET'S GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 5, 13

We did it, we went to the gym.  HOLY MOLY I'm sore!!  Good sore, but I can't move my arms right now and it hurts when I walk :)  I had my heart rate monitor with me and between my cardio and strength training I burned 523 calories.  I made a smoothie for post workout that was skim milk, a scoop of vanilla protein powder and some frozen berries (no sugar or syrup added).  I like to freeze it so that it seems like I'm eating ice cream.  We're going to go back to the gym today, working on a different muscle group :)

The gym and yesterday's food

Today is the big day, we're going back to the gym.  It scares the crud out of me.  I'm going to do what I can and not worry too much about going in guns blazing.  I really have NO excuse not to go to the gym.  I have a membership at THREE gyms!  We have a free one in our building at work, Chris and I are members at Xsport and then at a charity event a few months ago we won a couples membership to the Oak Forest fitness center.  So when I say I have no excuse I mean it :)  I have my heart rate monitor ready to go and I made a protein shake for afterwards.

Last night I made a pork loin, it's one of our favorites.  Our friend Ann gave me the recipe and it couldn't be easier.  Get a pork loin and cover it in brown mustard, I also added some minced garlic.  Roast it uncovered (I did it at 400) until the internal temp is 160 (some people like it still a little pink, but we like it cooked through).  For our 5lb roast it was about 2 hours 15 minutes.  Let it rest awhile before you cut it, delish!

Now onto yesterday's food.

My Fitness Pal and food

This time last year Chris and I started a "Biggest Loser" competition with our friends Eric and Ann.  Eric kicked all of our butts!!  He's my weight loss hero :)  In 2012 Eric lost 60+ lbs and he's still going.  Seeing him and how great he's done is part of my motivation, thanks EPH!!  When we started the competition we started using the My Fitness Pal app.  It's AMAZING.  You can download it on your phone and/or tablet.  You can also access it just by going to www.myfitnesspal.com  It helps so much with keeping yourself in check.  It makes me second guess myself before putting food in my mouth because I look it up first.

Here's how it works, when you eat you log into your account and look up the food you've had.  Now you can do something as simple as type in "apple" and it will come up with all of the different types of apples and their nutritional information.  If you have a specific brand, you can type that in.  For example, yesterday I had Kraft Free Italian Dressing.  If you type that in the search box it brings everything up for you - calories, carbs, protein, fat, etc.  Then it calculates it for the day.  One of my favorite features is if you're using your phone you can scan the bar code on the package and it automatically brings up all of the information.  You can also create recipes (I did this for my egg mcmuffin from yesterday) and then it assigns the nutritional information to it and if you eat it again at a different time you don't have to enter everything in again.  It even has restaurant information, so if I'm out at Lone Star and I get a side salad and chicken breast I can find that in there.  That's helped me more than once change my order while we were out.  You can also track all of your exercise and water.  I sound like a commercial for my fitness pal :)

Anyway, the reason for my rant, I'm going to use my fitness pal again to start tracking again.  I'm going to use that to post on here what I ate the day before.  Lunch usually looks like a ton because I'm eating a salad, so I put each individual ingredient in there depending on what's in the fridge that day.  You'll see pop on there from yesterday.  I'm going to make an effort to cut pop out of my diet as well.  I'm not sure I can cut out both pop and coffee, so I'm sticking with my morning coffee however it's black - no cream, no sugar.  I do put a little (no more than a teaspoon) sugar free syrup in it, but I'm trying to cut back on that as well.

My fitness pal warned me yesterday that I ate to little, HA I don't think that's happened for a few months!  I know I need to up the calories a little bit and I will as I get more into the swing of things and start working out again.  Speaking of that, we're going to the gym this weekend, but will be taking baby steps there :)  So here is my food for yesterday.

 Thanks for reading!  xoxo Nicole

Starting off on the right foot!

Wow, first I need to start by saying THANK YOU to everyone!  The amount of comments, emails, calls and texts I've received over the past few days have been amazing and inspiring.  Thank you all for your love and support.

Yesterday I spent the whole afternoon cooking!  Yes, cooking!  I know that seems weird for someone who is trying to lose weight, but hear me out.  In the past, when I've been successful in losing weight, it's because I've prepared myself for the week.  I have my meals (for the most part) planned out or cooked, that way when I get home there isn't any "there's nothing in the fridge, lets go out to eat" or "lets order a pizza".  So that's what I did yesterday, I got ready for the next few weeks.  I'm going to post what I made so that I remember for future cooking, but also in case anyone else wants to try out a few of them.

• I baked a bunch of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  I just put them on a cookie sheet (sprayed with Pam) and sprinkled some seasonings (Italian herbs, garlic and onion powder) and put them in a 400 degree oven for 30 mins.  Then I put each on in an individual freezer bag with the date on it and popped them in the freezer.
• I browned up a few pounds of ground turkey.  I don't use any prepackaged seasoning mixes because of Chris's high blood pressure so I used the same seasonings that I did on the chicken.  I like to put turkey on my salads at lunch to give it some protein.  I found that in the past I'd make a huge salad for lunch with only veggies and an hour or two later I'd be hungry again.  By just adding a little protein (turkey, tuna, etc.) to the salad, it keeps me fuller longer.
• Salad time!  I find that I'm much more likely to make a salad if everything is already chopped up and ready to go.  I don't want to have to think about chopping veggies while I throw my lunch together for work.  So I chopped up all of the extra veggies that I had and put them into separate baggies.  This time I had cucumbers, carrots, mushrooms, green peppers, cherry tomatoes.  My acupuncturist also told me that eating salads that are darker in color are better, so I went with a spring mix without spinach.  
• When we were in Colorado this past August, my cousin Heather made eggs in a muffin tin.  I thought it was the coolest idea.  I followed this recipe, however I did make one adjustment.  I sauteed up some onions and mushrooms with some Pam and put them in the bottom of the muffin tin first.  After they were done, I put them in freezer bags and will take them out as needed.  I also bought some 90 whole wheat sandwich thins and 40 calorie cheese slices, I plan on using them to make my own, healthy egg mcmuffins.  http://www.ehow.com/how_5623008_cook-eggs-muffin-pan.html#page=7
• When I was on Weight Watchers I made this soup a lot.  It's good, low in calories and pretty filling.  Yesterday I made a HUGE pot of it and then put individual servings in tupperware containers for the freezer. http://www.food.com/recipe/ww-0-point-weight-watchers-cabbage-soup-128956

Chris and I also decided that this is going to be "No Drink January".  I know that laying off drinking is one of the best ways to kick start a diet, so that's our plan.

So now for the tough part, I stepped on the scale yesterday for the first time in months.  I almost threw up at the number.  People have asked if I have an end goal in mind and I do, but it's hard to tell someone, yes I have over 100 lbs to lose.  That makes me ill.  So, instead of looking at the big number, I'm going to look at my 10 lb increments.  It's tough for me to look at these pictures, much less upload them for the internet universe to see, but I promised myself I'd put it all out there - the good, the bad and the ugly.  Here I am at the start of this plan, I give you............the ugly!