My Eats for Week One of the Back to Basics Challenge

I wanted to post daily about what I ate, but it was a busy week. I tend to stick to the same foods most of the week anyway, so it isn't a big deal.

Breakfasts (around 5:30ish): This is one of my two big downfalls this week. I prepped my health Eeg McMuffins, but still craved (and gave into) the real Egg McMuffin as a meal with a Diet Coke. Who needs pop for breakfast? I know most people drink coffee and it is basically the same idea with caffeine to get your day started. Either way, this is one of the things I'll be working on for week two- no McDonald's breakfasts on weekdays before work.

First a.m. snack (7:30ish): I don't have a ton of time once I get to work to get prepped for the day and eat a snack, so I keep it simple and already prepared. Usually some kind of protein or granola bar.

Second a.m. snack (10:00): My staple for this snack is baby carrots and a piece of light string cheese.

Lunch (11:30): This is something that I change week to week, but usually eat the same thing at least all five days of the work week. This week I had a simple chicken recipe (baked chicken breasts with salsa and tortilla chips), rice, and broccoli.

First p.m. snack (2:30-3:00ish): I made some peanut butter protein cookies from a recipe I have on Pinterest. I had them on some days and some days I ate big sugar cookies. I have been craving the frosted cookies that they sell at Family Express. I remember getting them on the drive between college and my parent's house on weekends. The one difference is that now I am overweight and then I was 120 lbs. My goal is to try to avoid the frosted cookies all together, but if the cravings get bad I will get one instead of a six pack to keep around.

Healthy

Not healthy

Dinner (anywhere from 5:00-7:00 depending if I am on my own or my hubby is cooking): My husband made three meals this week and I kept the leftovers for other nights. He made chicken kebabs on the grill, rosemary chicken and broccoli, and campfire chicken packets on the grill.

I can't find my pics of the meals from when I ate them, but these are my leftovers.

Second p.m. snack: (I don't eat this everyday, just when I'm still hungry): Some days I had cookies like I discussed above, some days I had nothing, and some days I had the WW chocolates like I planned.

Since I gained weight back, I haven't bought too much in the way of clothing. I borrowed back some of my old clothes that I gave to my sister and find items on clearance once in a while to help have more choices than the same few outfits. Very little of my clothes make me feel great at the moment, but I don't want to spend a bunch of money on clothes that I hope will be big for me sometime soon. Here are a couple of outfits I wore to work in which I did feel good wearing:

Fourth of July 2013 + Some Healthy Eats

I'm here with a Fourth of July recap and to share some of the healthier things I've been eating recently. Let's start with the Fourth of July...

I spent most of the daytime doing fun activities like working on homework, doing the dishes, working on homework, mowing the yard, working on homework, doing some laundry, and oh yeah, working on homework. I didn't realize how much work summer classes are. I guess I'll know for next time! And while Sebastion is cute, he was not much of a help with the homework...

The hubs and I grilled out for dinner. We made chicken kebabs with onion and green pepper. Our side dish was potatoes with onion which were grilled in a foil packet with some olive oil, seasoned salt, and pepper. It was healthy and on plan.

After dinner I did a little more work for grad school. Then we went to my father-in-law's house to shoot off fireworks. He lives on a cul-de-sac which is convenient for that kind of thing. I don't mind watching fireworks, but I'm really not into buying them and setting them off. This year I actually found one that I wanted to buy and actually set off myself. It is called "Frog Princess" and it is pink. Enough said!

It was a fountain that had some pink in it which was cool.

When I picked it up the hubs said I could get the Frog Prince too. Both of them have eyes and mouths which light up and flicker. They are definitely cute.

To be completely honest, I've been trying to follow that super aggressive plan this week. I've had some great days and some not so great days. My downfalls are cravings of chocolate (specifically Kit Kats) and Egg McMuffins. I've also done some great things like sit through cravings without eating them and finding other alternatives to snack on. Here are some of the healthier things I've eaten this week so far:

My Recent Healthy Eats - June 2013

I know that I haven't been the best about talking about my weight loss recently which, by the way, is the whole point of this blog. I am also glad I have a place to share my DIY and crafty projects too, but I figure I'm overdue for some healthy food ideas.

Breakfasts

This is a healthier version of an Egg McMuffin which I got off of Pinterest. I added a Meijer brand organic fruit stripe to round out this breakfast.

I don't think you need a recipe for this one! Whole wheat Eggos with sugar free syrup (Mrs. Butterworth's and Hungry Jack's are the best).

Another recipe off of Pinterest (Vegan/Gluten-Free Carrot Cake and Zucchini Bread Oatmeal) to try out my new $4 garage sale crock pot. It is yummy! And my crock pot works great, so I'll be spraying its ugliness with some high heat spray paint to make it look more acceptable and less early '90's in a bad pastel pink way.

Lunches/Dinners

Whole wheat spaghetti with sauce. Another easy meal!

Easy turkey lasagna that I got from a Weight Watchers cookbook I scored for $0.50 at a garage sale. This is a yummy one too!

 

Another easy and good meal - turkey burger on whole wheat bun.

Snacks

Greek yogurt covered frozen strawberries - good for a hot day!

The usual cake mix + diet dew cupcakes. All you need is one box of cake mix (my favorite is the funfetti from Aldi) and one 12 oz. can of diet pop.

 

I'll be doing a weigh in a few days to see how much weight I lost this June. I'm sure I won't be super thrilled with the number, because I was sick at the beginning of the month and didn't eat the best. As long as I'm down a little though, I'll not be too hard on myself.

I'm Still Alive and Losing Weight

I know that I've been a bad, bad weight loss blogger. The good news is that I have lost a ton of weight since the beginning of the year, between 14-15 pounds to be exact. That was enough to get me back to what I was this past August which meant I got to dig out some smaller clothes to wear! 

An outfit that hasn't fit for a while that I wore this week.

So even though I haven't been posting as regularly, I've been keeping up on eating right and working out. Most of the time I go to the gym 2-3 times a week. I do the weights two times and go on the treadmill once. I got a "warm" day this week and took a walk outside which was a nice change of pace. I took some pictures of the machines that I use at the gym, so I hope to get a post up about that soon.

I thought I'd use this post to write about a few things since my last post from my daily life. I've gotten a few rewards for my weight loss recently. I got a Chuck Berry CD and a $25 iTunes gift card as part of my rewards system that I set up for myself. I spent my iTunes card on Young the Giant and the newer Fleet Foxes albums. The video below is for "Cough Syrup" by Young the Giant which is the song that got me to listen to the band and buy their album.

I'm about 1.8 pounds away from my next reward of a key chain photo album which I can use to show the doggies off to people. I also won a weekly raffle for the walking challenge at work. I think I'm supposed to get a $20 check, but I haven't seen it yet. I can't remember if I talked about my last Diet Bet, but I did complete my goal of losing 4% in a month and got $21 (I put $10 into the pot).

 

Way back at the end of January the hubs had to go to a conference for work in Orlando for a week. Some people were even taking their spouses with them, but I couldn't go. :( I can't take off of work for a week for one, and secondly I can't miss my grad school classes. The hubs was nice though and bought me a present. It is a Cheshire Cat pillow pet.

 

 

We've actually seen a few days of winter weather (aka snow) since I last wrote, but we haven't really had a blizzard or anything like that. I'm kinda thinking that we might get away with a mild winter for Northwest Indiana.

I've been spending more and more time doing things for grad school such as reading and writing assignments on Blackboard. Both of the classes I am taking have big group projects that we are starting to work on, so grad school will be taking up more and more time. I'm happy to have two monitors though, because it comes in handy for having Blackboard on one screen and Word on the other.

 

The bed in my office works great for stacking papers and books.

The dogs also like to help me with my homework...

Lilly barks at me until I put her in my lap which isn't always convenient.

Sebastion likes to take over the bed and make a mess of the pillows.

And this one, Benjamin, likes to...

tear the futon mattress apart while I'm in the other room.

Here are some random pictures of meals and snacks from the past two weeks that haven't been posted on here yet.