A Great Day and a New Proud Owner

It felt good to wake up this morning after having a healthy day yesterday. My body thanks me for it every time. Eating good, nutritious foods, drinking water, and getting a little activity in is just what my body wants. I should listen to it more often instead of listening to the little unhealthy me on my shoulder who wants to derail my progress and sabotage my efforts. I like the healthy me a lot better! And I think others do too…I’m a happier version of myself!

For breakfast this morning, I made a turkey sausage and egg scramble along with PB/Banana toast and a glass of skim milk for 7 points.

Hubby doesn’t do the banana on his toast thing, but he even said, “Yum” when he was eating his breakfast (minus the banana and with a side of strawberries). He isn’t much for eggs in the morning, but I know adding the sausage makes it a winning combination. Yay!

I had the day off and I was going to enjoy it. I wanted to get a lot done and also spend some time relaxing and doing the things that I like to do. It’s finally starting to sink in that I am officially done with school! And I have more time on my hands! Hallelujah!

I did a few things around the house, hopefully I can KEEP the house clean for once!

I am starting to think of ways to keep more organized. I have projects in my head of rearrangement and redesign for rooms in the house. For now, I’m just surfing Pinterest for great ideas—but I’ve started a plan for my office! Here’s my board for the home office. Not much on there yet! I just know I want a small wall of shelves behind my desk. I’ve always wanted a wall of shelves for my books, etc. Something like this (but with a little less cluttered look):

So I will keep you all updated on that project…but I don’t really want to start it until spring so I can paint with the windows open.

Have a cheerful color scheme idea? I’m looking for something that is calming, cheerful and will get my creative energies going. If you have any ideas, send it to me!

So after doing house work, I headed back up to the warm bed to read a book. For some reason, I often find myself surfing the web instead of reading books or doing other things I love to do. I want to try to spend more time doing other things and just unplug a bit.

I read for a while but then fell asleep. Ahhhh. Gotta love a day off!

I was awoken by a text that Clinque has a special 7 Pc. Gift promotion right now. If not for that, I probably would have slept all day! Gotta love those marketing texts…!

I am just a rambling today, aren’t I?

When I got the mail in, I was certain that this was a letter telling me they reviewed my records and in fact, I hadn’t ACTUALLY graduated:

It’s my greatest fear right now. I just KNOW something is going to go wrong. lol. But it was just telling me that they want me to take a survey. Whew!

And then I leisurely sat down with a cup of Joe with creamer for 1 point.

And then it was taking care of business with the blog. Sigh…how can I make blogging my career? I love it so…! Anyone want to hire me?

I am trying to find a family doctor and the process is brutal. I go online to my insurance provider website to find a doctor in my plan, call them, and they tell me they’re in some different city. And then I call another doctor and they tell me that I should be able to see anyone at a certain health system under my insurance—I guess I’ll find out when I get the bill! The process took entirely too long—but I have my appointments set and now I need to start tracking my BP again…and as of this morning, it definitely hasn’t gone down by switching to a different BC pill. But the point is, I need to get to the bottom of it one way or another. So I will face the music.

For lunch, I made a salad with greens, carrots, green onions, tomato, a boiled egg, FF turkey, and FF Ranch/French for 4 points.

I can’t believe that salad was only 4 points! I could have added some nuts or something.

I finished it up with a cup of strawberries for 0 points.

I love that these are finally affordable again. I will spend anything less than $3 on a lb. of strawberries. All of the berries have been 2/$5 lately. Yay!

When the temperature reached 52 degrees on this January 31st, I headed out the door for yet ANOTHER winter run! I love these sunshiney days. I can’t get enough of them.

I ran 2 miles straight and walked for a total of 2.85 miles in 41:57. I burned 442 calories. I LOVE the way that running outside makes me feel. I love how it brightens my mood and makes everything a little brighter.

I had this song in my head when I finished.

I Can See Clearly Now

Yep, totally explains it!

And then I opened the windows to let some fresh air in. I think it’s super important to do that throughout the winter months, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

For a snack, I ate an apple with PB for 3 points.

And then I sipped on some Chocolate Tea for 0 points.

Yum, that stuff is so good!

For supper, I made homemade Baked Coconut Shrimp along with Zucchini for 9 points.

I can’t believe how easy it is to make that coconut shrimp! I want to perfect my recipe and then I will share!

And then I came up with this parfait off of the top of my head when I saw the glasses in the cupboard. It contains Cool Whip Free, SF Jello, blackberries and banana for 2 points.

And it was really good! I am going to experiment with these parfaits and invest in some longer spoons…didn’t work so well! haha

After supper, hubby and I went for a walk. We stopped at the grocery store to stock up on some more fruit, veggies, and hubby wanted some healthy snacks. Our total walk time was 40 minutes and I burned 265 calories. We did a 1/4 mile sprint in there too, but my knees were really feeling it from the run today!

I’m very happy with my workouts today! Gotta pat myself on the back for that one.

I have 8 points left for the day. I will have a healthy snack. I hate to admit this, but for once I am actually hungry for a snack and not just eating one out of habit.

And yes, that is 9 emoticons today. 10…

In case you missed it, I posted the Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos Recipe today!

And by the way, I am now the proud owner of AJourneyToThin.com!!! My first domain…Bittersweet.

So what should happen is that eventually, you will be automatically redirected there when you visit ajourneytothin.blogspot.com. I am crossing my fingers that all goes well! There’s nothing there right now in case you looked.

***UPDATE*** If all went well, it should read ajourneytothin.com on your address bar!! easier than I thought! Please let me know if you have any problems!

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos- 3 Points Plus

I followed this recipe (from ourbestbites.com) and modified it to my own liking and tried to make it as low calorie as I could. Basically, I’m just sharing a really good recipe—this isn’t my original creation!

Ingredients:

• 3 oz. FF Cream Cheese
• 1/4 cup salsa
• 1 Tbs. Lime juice
• 1/2 tsp. Cumin
• 1 tsp. Chili Powder
• 1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
• 1/8 cup chopped green onions
• 2 Cups of cooked and shredded chicken breast
• 1 Cup shredded Pepperjack Cheese
• 15 small corn tortillas

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray it with cooking spray.
2. Heat the cream cheese in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir in the salsa until mixed well and then add all other ingredients except the corn tortillas, of course. Mix until well combined.
3. I let my corn tortillas sit out until they were at room temperature and then I microwaved them for about 20 seconds right before use.
4. Fill each tortilla with about 2 Tbs. of the chicken mixture towards one side of the tortilla. Roll the tortillas up tightly and place them on the cookie sheet.
5. Bake for about 15 minutes until the edges are crispy.

I ate mine dipped in 0% plain Greek yogurt and salsa. They are DELICIOUS! They are 3 points each or 3 for 10 points when entered into the Recipe Builder. It makes 15 servings.

I’ve had some requests for nutritional information on previous recipes. This is just a general idea…when I enter this information into the Points calculator it only comes out as 2 Points Plus, so take it or leave it. You really have to figure out the nutritional data on the EXACT brands you are using—but this will give you an idea!

Nutrition Facts
Calories
75.4
Total Fat
1.5 g
Cholesterol
18.7 mg
Sodium
93.0 mg
Potassium
108.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate
7.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.2 g
Protein
9.2 g

More Upbeat and Day 1 w/ Hubby

Whew. What a weekend. You can read about my new start and the challenge hubby and I have set here. And then come back and read this post!

Ok, all up to date? Good!

So my task this morning was to plan a healthy day of eating for hubby—and myself! But it definitely helped me to really focus on the basics when I was doing it for someone else as opposed to just for myself. When it comes down to the fact that I want hubby to be healthy and eat right, it’s a different story! I want him to be at his healthiest so that I can have him around with me for a long, long time. Why don’t I feel that way when I make choices for myself sometimes? It’s a good point to think about! It’s much easier to take care of others and see the importance for OTHERS to be healthy when I should be concentrating on health myself too!

For breakfast this morning, I ate an egg along with 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup strawberries and FF milk for 6 points.

I feel like my breakfasts have really improved since I took on trying to add more protein at breakfast. That’s a big change from a bowl or two of Cocoa Puffs that I used to eat in the mornings prior to starting this journey. Small changes over a long period of time.

I struggled with working out this morning. I know I have plans to run a 10K this year, and that WILL happen. But for now I am starting small and will just try to get in any activity that I can talk myself in to doing right now—so that I truly enjoy it and get moving and rekindle my love for exercise. Once I start exercising, I start to love how I feel and running isn’t such a big deal. It’s amazing what a couple weeks of more or less inactivity will do. I felt so motivated to work out a couple weeks ago!

So I biked 7 miles in 30 minutes and burned 149 calories. I never regret a workout. I need to keep that in mind. Even if it was an easy one, it counts for something. It got my heart pumping and I even broke a sweat. More importantly, it changed my mood.

While working, I sipped on coffee with SF Peppermint Mocha creamer for 1 point.

On my first break, I ate 1 cup of baby carrots for 0 points.

I admit, I have to force myself to eat baby carrots. Not my first pick. But I have to train my palate, right?

For lunch, I made my favorite salad that reminds me of summertime for 7 points.

I am always reading some book, and that’s the one I’ve been working on lately. I love Fitzgerald’s writing style.

I’ve started buying my lettuce in these containers instead of the bags. It is much more fresh and delicious.

And they usually contain more greens and last longer!

After eating the salad, I brushed my teeth because I felt I didn’t really need anything else to eat, habit or not.

I was hungry on my last break, so I ate a piece of light toast with PB and a sliced banana for 2 points.

I have missed my PB because we’ve been out of it!

It is towards the end of the work day that I just start to lose motivation. I’m tired, hungry and stressed out and all I want to do is sit down with a giant bowl of peanut butter M&Ms. But obviously, that is not the answer!

So instead, I put my iPod on the speaker dock and listened to the Jillian Michaels Podcast as I cooked supper. That kept my mind off of wanting to snack and I learned more info from the wonderful Jillian!

For supper, I made Baked Chicken Taquitos—I will be sharing my version of this recipe because these turned out fantastic! I ate those with 0% Greek yogurt and salsa and I also made steamed broccoli for a total of 10 points.

Delicious!

And for dessert, I used my new Kitchen Aid blender for the first time to whip up some Orange Banana Smoothies for 2 points.

I am SUPER impressed with this blender! It works so much better than my old one! I see many smoothies in my future!

Hubby did wonderfully today. Who would have known that he got SO many more points than me?! So I planned his morning out like he had to eat like me and he had 26 points left for the evening (not including supper)! So he gets to have a few snacks tonight, and planned out, he is ending his day on 2 points. Way to go hubby!! And I will pack more in his lunch tomorrow…!

I am ending the day with 6 points left, so I will probably eat some Healthy Pop popcorn and also end with 2 points left over. I don’t know when the last time that happened—but I am very satisfied today and I feel a million times better today.

Feels SO good to be back on track…and I will keep this up!! Thanks to hubby to committing to being healthy with me, it really kept me motivated today!

This song expresses my mood today.

Good Life

A New Start…Again! And a Challenge for Hubby and Me

I am REALLY struggling. I had another terrible eating weekend and did not attempt to control myself whatsoever. So I was not surprised to step on the scale this morning and see that I weigh even more than when I got back from the cruise.

Today is not my official weigh in day and I WILL lose SOMETHING this week by Wednesday.

And I know I keep saying this and saying this—but today is a new start.

Hubby wants to get some weight off and today is our day 1 of working together to get healthy and get the weight off. He has a lot less than I have to lose, but he wants to feel great again.

Helping him will motivate me. It was inspiring to see him measure out 1 Tbs. of coffee creamer this morning. Back to the basics.

Now I know that I probably don’t stand much of a chance to a man made of muscle in the weight loss department, but we did set up a little challenge!

The weigh in day for our contest will be on Mondays—whoever loses the most weight this week gets to pick a movie to watch and the other has to watch it with no complaints. He has already picked out his action packed man movie and I am still contemplating which chick flick I’d like to introduce him to.

I know we can do this. And doing it together will make it much easier!

To a new start!

Zipfizz Giveaway Winners

Congratulations to the two winners of the Zipfizz giveaway!

Brenda

June L.

Please email me you address and I will send it over to Zipfizz to get your prize pack out!

How do you motivate yourself?

What do you do to motivate yourself to live healthy, eat right, and exercise?

Finally Friday!

Finally Friday!! Actually, this week went very quickly for me—probably because I didn’t have to work until Wednesday.

For breakfast, I ate an egg with oatmeal and strawberries along with a glass of milk for 8 points.

While working, I sipped on coffee with FF creamer for 1 point.

There was a beautiful sunrise out my window this morning!

On my first break, I ate a banana for 0 points.

Are there any paid writers out there? Since I recently graduated and life is starting to slow down around here, I’m starting to look for jobs. I’d love to be a freelance writer, but any job to get experience would be great. Any tips? I cannot wait to find a job that I will love!

For lunch, I had FF Beef broth with a sandwich (sandwich thin, FF turkey, FF cheese, a little light Miracle whip and mustard, and a tomato slice), and carrot sticks for 6 points.

I like eating beef broth or chicken broth as soup. It’s actually really tasty and this was only 1 point for 2 cups! But the problem is that it’s full of sodium—I’ll watch for the low sodium kind next time!

For dessert, I had a No Pudge! brownie for 2 points.

On my last break I ate a clementine and 1/2 serving of honey roasted peanuts for 2 points.

I also made a cup of Vanilla Chai tea with 1 Tbs. skim milk for 0 points.

For supper, I had whole wheat spaghetti topped with a homemade spaghetti mixture with lean beef, along with garlic toast made with light margarine, and green beans for 13 points.

I finished it up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for 4 points.

I used 2 weekly points today.

Have a great weekend!

I Didn’t Raid the Cupboards

Today was one of those days I could have slept until noon. Which for me, hardly ever happens. I think it was the weather. Another gray, foggy and cold day in Iowa. I did get to sleep in a couple of hours though. Today was my day off but I offered to work for one of my friends today who works a later shift.

My plan was to workout in the morning but I was just dragging. I’ve been hoping that the snow would all melt and we’d go back to the unusual 60 degree days we had a couple of weeks ago! No such luck. And wouldn’t you know I didn’t feel like working out in the evening either… I really need to make it a priority to work out first thing in the morning.

I wanted to eat a good, filling breakfast this morning since my lunch would be much later. I made myself an omelet with 2 eggs, 3 egg whites, FF cheese, turkey sausage crumbles, tomato and onion along with a banana and a glass of skim milk for 7 points.

It was delicious! I love breakfast. I could eat breakfast foods for breakfast, lunch and supper!

While working, I sipped on a new coffee I picked up at Trader Joe’s with FF creamer for 1 point.

I was impressed with this coffee—delicious!

So last night I ended up using 17 weekly points. How? You ask. Well, supper was healthy and within my points. But then FIL called and said he was craving a Pepsi. So we stopped at the gas station to pick that up for him and these delicious chocolate donuts enticed us. And I ate two. And I NEVER eat donuts. No matter how good they were…they were NOT worth the 20 points that I calculated off of the nutrition information AFTER I ate them! WOW, a 10 point donut. I really need to get back to the basics and check points BEFORE eating something. But I tracked it. Told myself the rest of my day was very good, and I am moving on.

On my first break, I ate a wrap on a high fiber tortilla with FF cheese and turkey along with a clementine for 4 points.

For lunch, I had the same salad as yesterday for 7 points.

I was really craving something sweet, but didn’t know what to have. I decided on a serving of Lucky Charms for 3 points.

I stopped eating the more “sugary” cereals for breakfast a LONG time ago. But I do enjoy them as a snack (or dessert in this case!) once in a while!

I was WAY excited when the Fed Ex man arrived and delivered my new Kitchen Aid blender than My Blog Spark sent me!!! What a nice surprise!!

On my last break, I really had to practice the self control because I was super hungry. I ate an apple for 0 points.

Today was a VERY slow day at work. It was kind of nice for a change! As always, I was happy to be done!

For supper, I made a beef stir fry over lentils for 7 points.

And I finished it up with a piece of Coconut Mixed Berry Crumble with 1/2 serving of vanilla ice cream for 8 points. I was going to eat a much smaller serving but ended up eating a regular sized portion so it cost me more points. But this recipe is basically just fruit and then the crumble on top. So really not the worst thing I could eat.

I made half of the recipe and it’s SO good!

And hubby brought home some strawberry crème heart Peeps—so I had one of those for 1 point. Tasty!

I used 4 weekly points today. I had some struggles today with wanting to raid the cupboards, so overall, I think I did really well by tracking what I was eating and NOT raiding the cupboards.

Who’s excited that tomorrow is Friday? I am!!