Splurge for Dinner!

So, I made a nice healthy dinner for Cliff and I tonight,
which included the below food plus lean venison.

My plate

Broccoli nutrition facts

Cliff's plate

Cottage cheese, unsweetened apple sauce, and cinnamon! What an easy, filling side dish!

AND... I also made 2 servings of french fries!

I LOVE Checkers fries... a weakness, I know!

If you make sure to eat a small portion, these are fine!

These are way better than their squeeze-only counterparts!

Two servings!

You see, I did some high intensity interval training on a local running trail with my friend Sam which meant I had extra calories for dinner! I knew I had to use this opportunity to my advantage and make these Checkers fries I've been eying in my freezer for weeks! I made two servings, one for hubby and one for me. Cliff said he didn't want his, so I not only splurged on my serving, but I indulged on his TOO!!! Yummy! I never get to eat like that nowadays, so I am obviously feeling lucky tonight! Thank you intervals (I never thought I would say that)!

My 444 Calorie Dinner!

Here is what I ate tonight: Taco Salad and Brussel Sprouts! This meal was so stinking filling! That was mostly because of the brussels sprouts though. Most veggies are that way- low calorie and very filling if you eat enough! The brussel sprouts look like they are smothered in butter, but they aren't! It's a zero calorie butter substitute that I use every once in a long while when I want to feel like I'm indulging when I'm not at all!

The taco salad had the following: fresh lettuce, a fourth of a tomato, sour cream, black bean and corn salsa(from Walmart - LOVE this kind), and
3 oz of venison from my daddy's hunting!

Since I am counting calories, I'm am always looking for healthy foods that not only fill me up, but also have enough protein! I work out a lot and need to fuel my body. When I don't eat enough protein, I feel tired and that keeps me from working out - not good! (=

Cottage Cheese and Apple Sauce

One of my favorite snacks is cottage cheese and apple sauce! When I measured out the servings for my snack this evening, it nearly filled a bowl for only 140 calories! Perfect low calorie snack to fill my tummy, not to mention the protein!

Fruit Breakfast This Morning

....Was a BUST )= I chose an apple, a banana, and an orange. First, the apple was sour, which was disappointing because golden delicious(my fav) is always sweet! Second, I had the banana and it wasn't quite ripe, so it wasn't sweet either. It was chalky-yuck. Lastly, I had a big beautiful orange which was dry! It was not juicy at all and that made it gross. Wow, I hope this doesn't come across like complaining, I'm mostly just surprised that not even one item from Publix was tasty because I am normally super impressed by the quality of their produce! (In their defense I'm sure the bananas will taste good when they've ripened a bit.) Anyhow, here is a pic of what looks like a fabulous breakfast! (Don't let these cute fruities fool you!)

Salad for Lunch!

Salad is one of my favorite things to eat for lunch! I try to keep a plethora of ingredients on hand to make a huge salad! I measure out the ingredients to count the calories and add it to my daily total because, yes, salads have calories too! Here are a few pictures of my salad the other day.

Sunset Walk

Last night, Cliff and I went for a walk a little while before sunset! We were out for 1 hour and 5 minutes and I burned 209 calories! On the way back, we were walking west and that's when I captured a few pretty pics with my iPhone. (=

A review of Lose It! (www.loseit.com)

Okay, so I’ve been counting every single calorie I put in my mouth for 3 weeks now! I figured I would give using LoseIt! a shot for a while before reporting back.

During the past weeks, I have regulated my eating habits, influenced others to join me, and even LOST WEIGHT, which was the main goal in the first place! After the first week, my husband, Cliff decided to join me on LoseIt! and so did my mom! It has been really fun to be able to comment on each others progress and encourage each other when we lose a pound or even just a half a pound at a time.

At one point my mom got frustrated with the process because she had been counting her calories for days and had no actual weight loss yet. I told her to hang in there... That it took time for me as well, and within two days, she had lost 2lbs! The next day, she lost 2 more!


My recommendation is to weigh in only once per week, which is what my husband has done since he started. Because our weight changes from day to day, the best way to really track weight loss is to give it time…

(Even though you may have a strong urge like I do to step on the scale ALL.THE.TIME! Also, I can’t help it that every time I lose half a pound I am running to Cliff to tell him! – poor guy!)

Okay, Okay, I know you are dying to know how much I lost, so here it is:

I LOST 4 lbs so far!

(Only 13lbs left!)

G Shawna

Counting calories to lose weight!

I found a new website that I decided to use to help me count calories!
 

I lost 10 lbs last fall by counting my calories every day(the old fashioned way by writing it down) and working out 2-3 times a week at the gym with a girlfriend! This year I want to lose even more: 17lbs! (Wowza... that seems like a really BIG number) which includes the two that I gained back this time, and I will be at my perfect weight (in my opinion of course). So I decided to use Lose It! even though there are so many websites to chose from because I didn’t want to spend very long researching. I was just ready to get started entering my calories for the day! 

My official weight loss start date was October 27th, 2011!

More updates coming soon!!!

G Shawna