Healthy Living Update

I am starting my 5th week of Weight Watchers. So far, so good. I have notice the weight is not coming off as fast anymore, but that is to be expected. I have hit a pretty steady weight loss. That is a much healthier approach, and I believe what will make the difference in this being a lifestyle change.

As far as meals go, I have been cooking a LOT of fresh, seasonal vegetables. My Dad has a garden, and right now zucchini, squash, cucumbers and okra are in full season, so we eat a combination of those almost every day! I roast, grill, saute. Whatever sounds good for the night. We have been using a lot of the Mrs. Dash salt-free seasoning blends to change up the flavors. Amazingly, I think our grocery bill has actually decreased. Because we are not buying hardly anything that is processed or frozen, and trying to eat fresh, seasonal produce. Also, I have been putting more thought into meals so that we aren't as wasteful. I eat a lot of leftovers for lunches, too. For examples, when I make turkey burgers, I will put the extras in a container in the fridge. Then at lunch I can pop one in the toaster oven with a slice of reduced-fat cheese, and serve it over a bed of greens, topped with tomatoes and onion. YUM!

I have also been trying to increase my weekly workouts. My goal has been to "work-out" at least four times a week. Whether this is in the gym or by riding our bikes, I want to get some type of physical activity where I am out of breath and sweating. I also have some videos that I can do at home. I recently bought a new yoga mat, block and strap so I can start working on my stretching. Yoga was a great way for me to change my body, in that it helped elongate my muscles and give me that "lean" look I am striving for. So my goal is to get back into that, although there are not any classes offered around here. I guess I am on my own!

It helps greatly that I have a wonderful support system at home. Jay has made a drastic change in his lifestyle. I am so unbelievably proud of him! He has made some serious changes, and the difference in his body is already amazing. We both decided this was something we wanted to do for not only ourselves, but our future children. I don't want to be so tired and sluggish that when I do get pregnant I am miserable. We also both want to be able to run around and play with our kids, not just come home and plop down on the couch because we are tired.

So here is to the next few weeks, I guess. I still would like to lose about 15 more pounds, give or take. Once I get to that point, I would like to go into maintenance and see where my body "naturally" falls within a few pound range.

Back on the Wagon

I am going to veer from my normal blog material. I am by NO means writing a healthy eating/living blog. I mean, most of my meals are centered around dessert. But, after feeling bad about my body image for the last few weeks, on top of being miserable in my pants, I have decided to change things up. Again. :)

I actually GOT UP AT 6:00AM to work out! This is a freaking miracle people. I don't do mornings. I don't do working out. And to combine the two.... Wowza. It helped that J decided to get up and go with me. Granted - he can come back home and nap :) But I needed the moral support to get my lazy hind-end out of bed. I got about 45 minutes of work-out time in. Started with a walk/jog interval on the treadmill, did some crunches on the balance ball, and worked my thighs and arm flab. I just want to feel good about myself - so I know this will help.

Also, we have started "meal planning" each of our main meals during the week. On Saturday, I went through a list of some recipes - new and old. Actually, for a wedding gift, we got a subscription to E-Meals. It is a meal planning service that gives you 5-7 meals per week AND a grocery list. We used this as our base. But, some of the meals we just won't ever like - so I substitute in. We also have a subscription to Cooking Light which I love. And I own about 500 cookbooks :) So between all the resources, we came up with a pretty healthy, summer inspired menu for the next seven days!

The recipe we made last night was AWESOME! So awesome, that I am going to include it below. I am not going to give exact measurements, ect - because I don't know them. I am the type to use a recipe (unless I am baking) as a "guide" and just kind of go with the flow. I even took pictures to share :-)

Warm Chicken Salad with Grilled Onions

(adapted from E-Meals.com)

Ingredients:  (Serves 2)

• 1 large chicken breast, filleted and pounded or 2 small pounded to uniform thickness
• 1 1/2 cups olive oil/vinegar salad dressing (we used a Greek inspired)
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes/ halved
• 1 medium purple onion, sliced thickly (do NOT separate rings)
• 1/2 cucumber, diced
• romaine lettuce

Directions:

1.  Marinate the chicken breasts in 1/2-1 cup salad dressing (enough to cover) for 2 hours in fridge
2. Chop cucumber and tomatoes, marinate in 1/2 cup salad dressing for 2 hours in fridge
3. Grill chicken breasts after marinating until done
4. Spray onion rings lightly with cooking spray (we used olive oil base) and grill until tender
5. Chop romaine lettuce and place on plate; top with sliced chicken breast, tomato/cucumber mixture and grilled onions
6. Drizzle with remaining salad dressing if needed

We served ours with grilled corn-on-the-cob and fresh, grilled asparagus. For the asparagus, we used our Armatele grill pan and lightly coated the asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper.

This meal was outstanding. It will definitely be making a rotation in our weekly line-up. You could do all types of variations on this too. Just marinate the chicken/protein in a different flavor and add grilled veggies to fit the "theme."

I also lucked out to some spiffy dessert. Strawberries were on sale for $0.99 a container (bushel? peck? pound?), so I stocked up on three. Along with some light cool-whip and the tiny, round pound cakes. J kept telling me that when I wanted dessert, to let him know because he wanted to fix it. Here is what he brought me:

Oh yeah! I am a lucky girl!

Oh - we do all of our grocery shopping at Aldi's. For this week - which included seven nightly meals, plus stuff for breakfast and lunch, and all produce was fresh, our grocery total was about $100. Not bad at all. I also had to grab a few pantry staples that won't be on the list next week - so this is on the higher end. But, I don't consider this figure to be high for two people, with ALL fruits/veggies fresh. Nothing was canned or processed when it came to produce or meats.

Hopefully I will get the vacation photos uploaded soon - I haven't even looked at them!