Feeling better

So I'm starting to feel kinda better, not 100% yet but not like I was.  I'm down home at my parents for the weekend and haven't really eaten much since I'm not feeling too good.  But there is good news to all of this, I'm down 2 more pounds!! Woo haha.  So now I"m down 7 lbs, 43 more to go.  My goal for this upcoming week is to start exercising some, hopefully I'll be feeling better so I can do so. 
So tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday!! WOOO!  Who are you rooting for?? I'm going for the Colts.  So then the big thing comes down to food for the big day.  I am going to be completely honest with with you all....I'm not going to be really calorie counting tomorrow.  I'm just going to have fun with my family and not worry about it for a day.  I know I know I'm terrible, but I figure it's one day.  And with how much I eat anyways it won't be too bad.  Remember that when trying to loose weight I'm having to force my self to eat more haha.  It surprises me how much food it takes to reach 1500 calories with only eating healthy food! Crazy!!!
Well I'm out of here for the day, I gotta run to the store to get stuff for tomorrow and then going to my sister's color guard comp later today.  I will talk to everyone later!!  Happy weight loss!

Michele

Sick

Well I have managed to catch a bad cold...yay go me haha.  During all of this those I have been trying to think of healthy eating still, even while your sick.  So I went to the store looking for something that would feel good on my throat while being easy on my stomach.  I thought soup, that would be a great option!!  So I found Campbell's light chicken with rice condensed soup.  I was afraid at first that this would not have much flavor to it, but I was pleasantly surprise!  It was actually very very good.  It only has 70 calories in it!!  So I had a couple of crackers along with it and it was a great dinner for being sick.  Also for breakfast I had toast with peanut butter which is full of protein and still soothing on the stomach!!  Another good option if your throat is sore is Ben and Jerry's Froyo!!  mmmm it's so good, and not too horrible for you either, better than ice cream!  So give it a try!
So since I have decided that this year will be a new start for me not only with the loosing weight am I trying to change but other aspects of my life...I actually took a chance on Tuesday night and tried out for the acapella group on campus.  Unfortunately I had managed to loose my voice that day and did not make it in.  I was though, very proud of myself for even trying out.  The old me wouldn't have even tried because of fear of rejection.  I know it's not related to weight loss but it was a pretty big step for this new me!! 
Well everyone, I think I'm going to go have some soup and relax and maybe do some reading for classes.  Have a good day everyone and stay healthy!!

Michele

Pound for Pound challenge

Hello everyone!!  So I was watching the Rachel Ray show this morning and they were talking about this new program called the pound for pound challenge.  Pretty much what you do is go to this web site http://www.pfpchallenge.com/ and you pledge to loose a certain amount of weight.  For every pound that you say they donate enough money to buy a pound of food to donate to your local food shelter!  I challenge all of you out there to do the same.  I pledged for 30 lbs because I know this is a very realistic number for this challenge!!!
So I do want to share with you what I had last night for dinner because it was super good, and not to mention super healthy!!  We're talking about like 350 calories at most!!  So what got me to thinking about making this meal was thinking about how healthy sweet potatoes are for you!  One prob though, I"m not a huge fan of them!!  So I got to thinking about what I could do to make these yams edible for me haha.  So I decided to make baked sweet potato fries!! Here's the recpie for you all!!

Sweet Potato Fries
1/2 sweet potato
1 Tbs butter
1ts seasoning salt

Preheat oven to 425, line a cookie sheet with foil and place a cooling rack on top of foil.  Peel and cut the sweet potato into strips, about 1/2 inch wide.  Melt the butter in the microwave and add the seasoning salt to the butter.  Toss the potatoes in the butter mixture and space evenly on the cooling rack.  Baked for about 15 minutes and check on them.  Then if not quite crispy enough bake for a little longer.  I had to bake mine for about 20 minutes all together!!

Now remember that this recipe is enough for only one person, so double, triple, quadruple depending on how many people you are feeding!!
To go along with these wonderful fries I grilled a 4 oz steak in my grill pan with some simple steak seasoning, and had some coleslaw along with it!  The coleslaw I got as a mix and I'm sure I could cut down on calories by making my own sauce for it, which my mom knows how to make a really really really good one but I need to get the recipe from her for it.
Well I will leave you with a pic of the meal and I really hope that you too join the challenge to loose weight and donate to your local food shelter!!

Michele

2nd week of school

 Well hello everyone!!  I know it's been about a week since I've written but just a lot has been going on.  To start, good news! I'm 5 lbs down!! WOOO 45 more to go!! I can do it!  I sat down and re-evaluated how I was going about loosing weight.  I calculated up my calories and everything and realized that I was not eating enough.  I've lost weight before by eating about 5 small meals a day, about 350 calories per meal.  So I sat down and made my self a menu for the week making sure that I get in enough calories.  This method gets your metabolism going and helps you burn fat!  So for each meal I'm making sure that I"m getting protein in, and 3 times a day I'm getting my dairy!!  Veggies and fruits are also an important part to it all. 
So today I had a breakfast burrito, which is nice and small, prob like 200 calories, then I had a banana, and some milk.  I think I might even be under my 340 there...oh well...if I"m a little under it's better than waht I was doing!!  Then for my mid morning snack I had a home made trail mix.  Now I had to do homemade because most of the trail mixes that sunflower, or whole food markets offer have almonds in them, and I am allergic to almonds.  So I made a mix of cashews, sunflower seeds, walnuts, coconut shavings, and yogurt covered peanuts!  Lots of protein!!  I was going to eat 1/2 a cup to meet the calorie intake, but I was way too full and only ended up eating about half of that.  My body is going to take a few days to getting use to eating so much, so often haha.
For Lunch I'm going out with my best friend of 18 years!! Don't worry, I"ll make sure I make smart choices about what I eat!!  Another good thing to have if your trying to loose weight is tea!! Weather it's black, green, white, or what ever, it's so good for you!!  So I'm having a glass of it now with my mid morning snack so I can get those anti-oxidants!! 
So for afternoon snack I am planning on carrots and a little thing of cheese from baybell.  Dinner I'm having chicken and asapragus...haven't quite decided how I"m going to cook either but I"ll let ya know!  I'll come back and write down what I did for it!! 
So that's it for this morning, I just thought I would update everyone on my progress of the new me!!  Have a good day and I'll write later!

Michele

*Insert good title here*

Ok so I didn't have a good title for today's post....oh well.  I'm so ready for the weekend and then school starts back Tuesday!! Yes I'm excited about it because I need something to do haha.  I don't have anything to do tonight...I vacuumed the whole place and cleaned up everything.  But that only took like 20 minutes total...So now I find my self sitting here watching house and playing around on facebook haha.  I'm excited because Saturday night I get to go to the Mammoth game!! Woho!  I love going to those games.
Well tomorrow is weigh in day, think I lost anything?  I guess we will find out!  I feel pretty good though cause I've kept active and have watched what I've been eating.  Speaking of eating, I'm looking forward to breakfast because I'm making breakfast burritos!  I said burritoS because I'm making a few and wrapping up the ones I don't eat and keeping them in my fridge for next week!  YUMMY! 
When I went to get the stuff for them at the store I found pork chorrizo!  I figured this was a fantastic choice, less calories!  Made me even more excited! 
So I"m applying for an apprenticeship position that the Denver zoo has open!  I so hope I can get it, it would be great!  I don't want to go back to my job so bad, I want some real experience, not just cleaning out dog poo and cleaning rat cages.  Anyone can do that!!  I want to put my degree to use!  Cross your fingers that I can get it!!
Anyways I"m out today, so I will write later!

Michele

Mountains

Well good evening all, I hope you had a good day!!  I certainly did.  Got up this morning and had some coffee with sugar free creamer, that was my break fast and I loaded up Max in the car and drove up to the mountains.  I decided to go up there to enjoy the nice weather that we have been having here in colorado and just to get out and do something!! 
So I drove up there and it was beautiful!  Blue skies with the snow on the mountains, so gorgeous!! I came back down into town and looked around at stores for some rubber boots because I'm going to start working in the barn tomorrow!  I finally found some at target!  I also got some new heads for my sonic care, and got home and they are the wrong ones :-(  So now I need to return them and get the right ones haha.  I went to subway for lunch and had a subway club with lite mayo, spinach, banana peppers, olives, pickles and salt and pepper.  It was so good! Just hit the spot!
I came home and unpacked some more, almost done!! one box left to go, and some decorations to hang up!  You know what the greatest thing in the world for decorating is?  Command velcro!! They are awesome!
For dinner I had a simple chicken and cheese potato dish.  All you do is cook up some chicken in small pieces, be sure to season nicely.  Have a baked potato, I did mine in the microwave.  And then I make a simple cheese sauce using a beshemel sauce and cheese.  Take and open up the potato and mix the cheese and chicken together and put it on top of the potato.  Very yummy and fast!!  And not bad for you either!!  A lot of people seem to be scared of potatos when trying to loose weight and I'm not sure why...They are full of vitamins!! Very good for you!!
Anyways I"ll leave you with a picture from the mountains and I hope you have a good evening and a good day tomorrow!!

Michele

 

Home

So I'm all moved into my new home!!  Just a few boxes left to unpack.  Oh man I love it here!  I thought at first that I would be really lonely living on my own, but it's really not that bad :-)  Today I started on my weight loss!  I had special K for breakfast, a grilled cheese for lunch, and then an awesome dinner!  Oven baked coconut chicken and rice.  I'll leave the recipe at the end of this!  I also took max on a good 30 minute walk around the new neighborhood.
Last night when I let max out, I stopped and noticed the stars.  Out here in the country they really are something else.  It was so beautiful!  After noticing that I came inside and had a fire in the fire place which was so nice and cozy.  I was extremely relaxed last night it wasn't even funny haha.  would have been even more nice if I would have some one to cuddle up with on the couch...but oh well.  Someday right?
I got my aquarium all set up today :-) I can't wait to get some fish for it but it needs to sit for a little to get the PH in balance.  I also got my movies unpacked and my dvd player working.  Let me tell you that's not an easy task because the connections on my tv are broke so you have to bend them just right to get it to work haha.  Well I guess I'm rambling on here.  I'll leave the recipe for ya!

Boneless, skinless Chicken (thighs or breast) strips
coconut
bread crumbs
egg white
milk
flour

Preheat oven to 400. 

Take egg white and whip up with some milk, about 1/2 T for one egg white.  Mix one part coconut and one part bread crumbs on a plate.  Take the chicken and dredge it in flour.  Then dip it in the egg mixture followed by the coconut mixture.  Put on a rack on a cookie sheet.  Bake the chicken for about 25 minutes or until done. 

I also made a dip for it that was interesting, but good haha.  I'll put it as well and you can attempt it

3 T of mayo (lowfat)
1 T of orange juice
1 t of pinaple juice
2 splashes of hot sauce
Whisk all together and enjoy haha :-)

(ok so doesn't look the best but trust me it tastes aweosme!!)

Take care everyone!