Smoothies are my friends!

I did it! I bought a blender last Friday, along with all kinds of fruit, as well as light soy milk, coconut milk, and OJ concentrate so I could be fully equipped to make some yummy healthy breakfast smoothies! I'm so proud of myself because I've become a semi-professional. Meaning I cut up all my fruit and placed them in portion appropriate zip lock bags and then stored them in the freezer. I also bought a few jars of baby food, because the little jars with the lids were perfect for my left over coconut milk! (No, I didn't eat the baby food. I did consider it for a minute or two but then just decided to heck with it and scooped the food into the trash).

I was all geared up and so excited to make my first smoothie on Saturday morning. I asked Greg if he wanted one, but he opted for eggs, toast, and sausage instead. Typical male! So by the time I got finished preparing his meal I was literally about to bounce off the walls with all my excited anticipation about my blackberry-apple smoothie I was going to make. I followed the recipe to a "T" and then got a little thrill when I selected the "smoothie" option on the blender. After about thirty seconds, I was able to place my glass under the dispenser (yes, it has a little fountain style dispenser. I know you're jealous!), filled it up with the purple smoothie, took my first glorious sip, and thought, "Ewww".

Yup, my first smoothie was not the best. I drank it anyway and reminded myself that at least I got two servings of fruit plus a dairy into my diet. Luckily, I wasn't discouraged because I was armed with several smoothie recipe's. Sunday we had breakfast at a friends house so my next Smoothie was yesterday. And it was FABULOUS!! It was a yummy strawberry-banana smoothie that my friend Krissy emailed me. And today was just as good with a pineapple-coconut smoothie.

The great thing about these past three breakfasts are that they work so great with my WW diet. WW online has a section where I plug in everything I eat so I can keep track of my points throughout the day. They also have a box in the bottom corner with all the elements of the food pyramid that one is supposed to intake daily. Whereas pre-smoothie life I was lucky if I got 1 serving of fruit in a day, now I'm getting anywhere from 1-2 in the morning as well as a dairy, and a glass of liquid for the day! As an added bonus, I never drink the full smoothie in the morning so I have a small afternoon "smoothie snack"! I'm so glad I listened to what the universe was telling me and began making these amazing breakfasts!

PINEAPPLE COCONUT SMOOTHIE 3 WW Points

16 oz. canned pineapple, undrained (I used fresh pineapple along with some of the juice)
6 oz. frozen OJ concentrate (I used the Unsweetened kind)
1/2 cup light coconut milk (couldn't find "light" so oh well!)
1 cup ice (I used 4 large ice cubes)

STRAWBERRY BANANA SMOOTHIE 4 WW Points

1 banana
1 cup strawberries
1 cup light soy milk
1/2 cup light non-fat yogurt (called for 6 oz. but I figured 4 was good enough!)

Progress Report

Now that it's April I figured it would be a good time to let everyone know about the progress about the goals I set for myself this year. (Plus, this is a good way to keep me accountable!)

1. To put money into our online savings account at least once a week. I've actually been doing really well with this. But, I have to admit I got really frustrated with myself at first. You see, I always thought that in order to save I had to be saving a large lump sum at one time. There have been weeks that literally all I could put into savings was $25. If only I had this mind set two years ago, that adds up to $600 plus interest! Besides, doesn't the saying go, "A penny saved is a penny earned". Another thing that has helped me is that I've started a schedule for ourselves. My husband gets paid every week, so I've made a list of his pay days, and then I write what bills I have to pay that week, then I leave about $400 for our spending money/grocery shopping/gas for the week, then I put the rest into savings. It's really been helping!

2. To apply for our passports. I still haven't done this, but I did find the applications! That's a start, right?

3. To read all of Sophie Kinsella's books. I actually read the last one last week! But I also discovered that she also pens novels using a different name. So...maybe those will be on my list for next year!

4. To write at least the first section of my book. Nope...I haven't done this yet. To be frank, I haven't even wrote another word since I posted my goal list. Those puzzles I've been doing had me distracted!

5. To loose 25 pounds. I'm excited to say that today was my weigh in for Weight Watchers and I've lost 8.2 pounds since starting my weight loss journey! Yay! Only 16.8 to go. Ugh!

6. To finish the Harry Potter series. I plan on starting book five next week!

7. To pay off our Gordon's account. I did this! Well, actually, I kind of cheated and just took money out of savings to pay it. But, I'm pretty sure that's what Suze Orman would have told me to do!

8. To grow my hair out longer. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but just the past two weeks I really have been thinking that my hair seems longer! Since I started WW, I also began taking a multi-vitamin (Vitamin Code for Women). I'm kind of thinking that those may be helping! And now that we have our bike I really would like my hair to be long enough to braid again so it won't be so wind-blown while we're riding!

9. To deep clean the camper at least once a week. I have been so awesome about doing this! Thursday has been my designated "clean" day. And several people laughed at me when I tell them this and say, "Oh I bet that takes twenty minutes". I wish! Try two hours! This is what I do: Everyday I wash the dishes, make the bed and vacuum. But on Thursdays I also, clean the microwave, clean the oven, clean the kitchen and bathroom sinks, clean the toilet, dust, scrub the shower, mop, Windex the mirrors, and sometimes give Shady a bath!

10. To actually get the pictures that are taking up space on my laptop printed, labeled, and in a photo album. Okay, I actually just started this one on Monday. Oh. My. Gosh. This is an even bigger task than I imagined. I literally have pictures from way back in 2002. So far I have the pictures divided into years. Now I'm going through and trying to put them in chronological order. I've also ordered about 100 pictures that were on my camera yesterday. And I have also started going through my files on the laptop to see which pictures still need to be printed off. (I even came across a picture that was taken of me back in October. It's one that I'm not too proud of because it really shows how much weight I had gained. So if I'm brave enough, I may use it as a "before and after" pic when I reach my goal weight!) Then, once I get every single stinkin' picture printed and in order, I start the mundane task of putting them in an album and labeling them. The upside is that I found pics of Greg and I when we had just started dating! I was so skinny, my hair was super long and a lot curlier (don't know where my curls have disappeared to over the years), and it was when I died my hair darker and wore green contacts! Hmmmm....and Greg was so adorable! With his tan face and highlighted hair! It was so much fun walking down memory lane. We even found a pic of us with our old Honda Shadow!

So there you have it! I'll be sure and post more updates in a few months! Stay tuned!

I need a large serving of Inspiration, please.

Lately I have been so uninspired and unmotivated. You may remember me mentioning that I'd like to loose 25 lbs. I've been following Weight Watchers and going to Curves, but unfortunately, I haven't been doing too great with the whole Weight Watchers thing. I go over my points every week, which is so frustrating. I blame most of it on going out to eat way too much. Thankfully I have been ordering what I consider to be more healthy choices, but still.....

As far as Curves goes, I am steadily approaching my second weigh in day. My first weight in was extremely successful! I had lost 7 3/4 inches! Yay! Most of which was in my abs and waist. I typically go to Curves on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Sadly, Curves only counts as 1 activity point as far as WW is concerned. Ugh.

It's been almost two months since I began my weight loss journey, and so far I've only lost 6.2 lbs. I'm not very impressed. Which lead to me not going to Curves one week (well, that was mainly because I pulled a muscle in my back) and not caring about WW for about two weeks. I wasn't really putting any pressure on myself because I felt like bathing suit season was a long ways away. That is until the temps reached the 70's last week. Which made me realize that summer will be here before I know it. I figured it was time I got some new inspiration. How did I do that? I went bikini shopping! ie: I looked at bikini's online. And the picture I've posted is of the bikini I'm going to buy as soon as I loose the remaining 19 lbs. Wow! That's a scary number to me!

So, my game plan has been refreshed! I'm determined to follow my WW points better. Luckily, my week starts over on Wednesdays, and I'm proud to say I stayed within my points yesterday! I'm also going to start walking 45 minutes to 1 hour on my non-Curves days. And, I'm doing crunches every evening. I'm also thinking about going to a yoga class on Wednesday evenings since the yoga class I usually went to in the afternoons was canceled.

Wish me luck and hopefully in another couple of months I'll have some exciting weight loss news for ya'll!

Dear Girl Scout Cookie

Dear Girl Scout Cookie,
Every year I can always tell when it's Girl Scout Cookie time. I start seeing the famous boxes every where I look. And the instant I see the bright green box of Thin Mints or the purple box of Samoas, my mouth instantly starts to salivate. But I kind of figured this year would be different. I told myself I wouldn't buy any boxes and I would stick to my Weight Watchers plan.
I'm sure you weren't too surprised though when I was approached by one of my nieces who asked me if I would like to buy some Girl Scout Cookies. So, you see, I was really saying yes to her and not to you, poor Girl Scout Cookie.
Last Saturday I received my package of Girl Scout Cookies in the mail. I immediately put them in a drawer and said that I would only give them to my hubby. But, you knew better, didn't you, Girl Scout Cookie? You knew I would immediately open the boxes just to "taste" each individual one.
Now that I have ate half of my boxes I've received, I now have a new plan of action. I'm just going to hurry and eat you. Just so I can be done with you. So take that, Girl Scout Cookie!

Sincerely,
A member of GSC addicts anonymous


P.S. Can you tell me why three measly sugar free chocolate chip cookies are FOUR WW points? Is that legal?

This is hard stuff

Some of you may recall me writing a few months ago about my work-out plan. Well, I'm sad to report that I have fallen off the bandwagon. About November I got so discouraged because I wasn't seeing any changes in my body that I made excuses to not go to the gym, I quit going to yoga, and was easily persuaded to not attend Nia classes. But, with a new year comes new beginnings, so I told myself that when we came back to Lamar after our Christmas vacation that I would join Curves.

What I hadn't planned on doing was joining Weight Watchers. But, I happened to see a commercial about a free week trial on TV, and coincidentally, the next day my friend Krissy blogged about how she was going to start on WW. So, I decided to throw all caution to the wind and make a go for it. Last Wednesday was my first day on WW, and let me tell ya, it was majorly hard! For those who are not familiar with WW, they use a point system. The way it works is I type in the computer (because I'm doing the online version) what my age, height, and weight is, and what my goal weight is. Then they base a daily amount of points for each person. My daily point level is 20. They also have flex points. I have 35 flex points each week and I can use those all in one day or spread them out. Another cool thing that WW offers is activity points. I enter in my activity, be it walking on the treadmill or vacuuming for twenty minutes (not like that applies to me anymore), and the system calculates how many points you have earned. Once you use your flex points for the week, it begins subtracting your activity points.

Now that you know the process, let me just tell you; my first week was extremely hard. My first day alone I ate 39 points. Wow! And for the first three days I literally went to bed feeling like I was hungry. My initial reaction was that I hated WW and that I just wanted to EAT!!! That was when I realized that that is exactly what my problem is. I kid you not, I can eat pretty much the same amount of food as my husband. Not good. What is ironic is that before I got married, I would literally have people ask me if I have eaten anything recently, or if I wanted some extra food. I used to be that skinny. Also, people always warned me that one day my metabolism would catch up to me. They were right.

Yesterday was my last day of my week. And really, by the last few days, I didn't feel like I was going to bed hungry. And surprisingly I didn't even eat into my activity points (which came from going to the gym and walking on the treadmill for 45 minutes). Believe me, I was pretty stoked to "weigh in" this morning and see that I had lost 4 pounds!!!! My ideal goal from the beginning is to loose 25 pounds. I'm so excited that it looks like I am well on my way to achieving that goal!

Today I finally signed up for Curves. I love that you get a complete work out in in thirty minutes! And next week my yoga classes start up again! I honestly can't wait! Visions of being able to fit into my favorite Lucky jeans again, as well as a sexy new bikini, are really helping me trudge along!

Please keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll try to keep everyone posted on my success!