I can't stop smiling :)

I am on top of the world right now!! I feel like I am making all the right choices when it comes to my life. There are so many moments throughout my day where I catch myself just smiling and I catch a glimpse in the mirror and the girl looking back at me is saying, "yes, yes..you are doing this and your doing so good!" I feel so confident. I'm not afraid anymore. Yesterday at the gym I was terrified! I might have been shaking actually. And today, I walked right in feeling like I'd been there a million times before. I even ventured off to do weight training and in front of people no less. I could have NEVER done that a few months ago. The fact is that I'm not afraid to try. Because I know in the long run it's only going to make me stronger and healthier. Look at how afraid I was to go to Weight Watchers in the first place, now I walk in there and interact and enjoy the people there. Even though I know I have a long road to go, I feel like I have already come so far and no one can take that away from me. I push myself harder and harder and I know I can do that. Cause I can handle it. I am so proud of myself and I just can't stop smiling!!

Great, great day!!!

I joined a gym!!! This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time now. I used the treadmill today and felt really awesome! It was a little intimidating at first but everyone that's there just wants to work out. I opted for joining at the YMCA cause it's more family oriented. I was on the treadmill for 30 min and walked a mile and a half. I might have kept going but I wasn't prepared for an hour. I had no water and my pants kept falling down (yep their too big!). I will bring my kindle next time, a full bottle of water and make sure to wear the right clothes and I will push a little further. I just love the feeling of knowing I am making my body healthier! I will not make excuses not to go to the gym. I can do it, I am strong!!

Southwestern Style Chicken Tortilla Soup

This recipe is so delicious!! My friend Amber made this amazing soup over the weekend, completely by scratch and with no recipe and it was amazing!!! It's very low calorie, low points and you would never know it! She brought me a couple of Tupperware bowls of it and my family loved it too!!! It's very filling and so versatile!
Ingredients:
1 pound of pre-boiled or grilled skinless, chicken (17pts)

1 cup of Kidney Beans (5pts)
1 cup frozen corn (4pts)
2 cups chicken stalk (2pts)
8 cups of water
6 oz can of Contadina Roasted Garlic tomato paste (0pts)
14.5 oz can Del Monte Basil, Garlic and Oregano Diced tomato's (0)
1 whole zucchini cut into 1/2 inch circles, then cut again (0pts)
1 whole carrot, cut into 1/2 inch circles (0)
1/2 cup of uncooked onion petals (0)
1 tsp chili powder (0)
1 pkg of taco seasoning (2pts)
1 tsp of garlic salt (0)
1 tsp of ground pepper (0)
2 Tbsp Corner Bakery Brand tortilla strips (0)

Combine all ingredients except corn and tortilla strips in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, then set to simmer, cover and set to low for 4-5 hours, stirring every hour.  About an hour before the soup is done, take out the chicken and shred it.  Replace the chicken and add corn for the last hour.  Add tortilla strips right before serving.  Some alternate suggestions to add are; squeeze lime at the end before serving, rice to the pot or cheese on top,  This amazing soup is only 3 points for a 1 1/2 cup serving and the ingredients make about 10 servings!!!  Thanks Amber!!!

Spotlight...

I really want to put the spotlight on my husband, Andrew. He really has been so supportive. I have put him on and off the "Let's get healthy" bandwagon so many times throughout our marriage that he must feel skeptical when I bring up a new way to do it. But he hasn't shown it. He is so proud of me! He makes me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. Especially lately. He compliments me on how great I'm looking all the time. I'll be just standing in the living room and I'll hear, "dang babe, you are looking so good!" I really do need to hear that stuff. It makes me know all my hard work is visibly paying off. The other night I was reading in bed and he was watching tv and he put his hand on my knee and said, "honey, what is this hard knot on your knee?" I said, "Awww, sweety thats my bone!" LOL, thats still so funny to me! And yes I do love that he could feel it ;) So, thank you baby, I love you so much and I'm looking forward to becoming your hot new wife soon :)

Interesting day for me..

Well today was odd. We had a football get together and it was the first time in a long time I seriously did not crave any of the fattening foods we had for our guests. I usually want to partake in the chicken wings and pizza but I really just wanted a healthy salad. It's really nice to know that my body craves good food now rather that just me trying to trick it. Something about that just really makes me feel so empowered! I'm sure I'll have a day when I want the food thats bad for me but my determination and willpower will not be deterred. I will acheive my goals! I feel very strong!

Feeling so empowered on this beautiful Friday morning!

I had my meeting last night and I lost 3.2 pounds!!! What an amazing feeling!! I really feel as though I can do anything!! I set my mind on a goal and I'm only 22 pounds away from my 85 goal by April 20th for Disneyland!!! I love it! I was able to eat out 3 times. I always shy away from restaurant's because I feel like it weakens my resolve, but I was really able to enjoy life this week and be a part of my family's festivities. I just made really smart choices, like ordering lettuce to replace my turkey burger bun at TGIFridays and choosing salad instead of fries at Nathan's birthday party. I even ate steak and sweat potatoes fries at our football get together. All I can say is, it works and I'm going to get where I want to be!!!

I had to go out clothes shopping today....

I was getting dressed today and I was having a hard time finding a shirt that fit me and I came across a shirt I bought the weekend before I started ww and I had shoved it in the back of my closet cause it was too small and now it's too big!! That's awesome!!! So it prompted me to go out shopping for smaller, yes SMALLER clothes!!! This is a big deal for me because part of the reason I started ww is that trying on clothes was a nightmare for me and often left me with zero purchases but plenty of tears. This experience however, was a lot better!! Everything I tried on fit and at 2 & 3 sizes smaller!!! I never thought in a million years I would ever love clothes again but I do and it's only going to get better!!! Yippy!!!

I am turning in my journal tracker and going to eTools

When I initially signed up for Weight Watchers I paid for the 10 weeks in advance and bought a 3 month journal type tracker.  I loved it.  I wrote every single thing I ate and every bit of activity I did for 120 days.  But for the past couple of months I've been paying week to week hesitant to sign up for the monthly pass.  The monthly pass is $49 per month and gives you access to both meetings and online eTools.  I have been so scared to make the switch because I really love my tracker.  But I guess out with the old in with the new is sort of a theme in my life lately so, I started it yesterday and census is...I love it!!  It's so user friendly!!  It has amazing features, points values for restaurants, recipe builders, online community, lots and support and so much more!! Yes, I still look at my journal tracker with fondness but this is really as amazing and they say that people that use eTools with meetings lose 50% more weight than the average person, heck, I'll go with those statistics any day!

What an amazing week!!!

I feel so great right now! I had lost 1.8 pounds last week which was still a loss but I knew I could do better than that. So I set my weekly goal to eat healthier points, add more activity and cut out restaurant food completely and I lost 4 pounds this week!!!! The weeks when I lose that much seriously send a rush through me! It feels so good to see my hard work pay off! I use my pedometer to track my steps and my goal was to walk 5,000 to 6,000 steps per day which is about 2 - 2.8 miles. It wasn't easy because I sit at a desk 8 hours a day for work. But I took every opportunity to boost those steps up. I walked my kids to school, I walked around my office building, I parked as far away as I could at the store and even walked in place at the fax machine. Setting weekly goals is so important in this journey for me cause they are less intimidating and definitely easier to achieve!  My goal is to lose 85 total pounds by April 20th.  That's my family's big Disneyland trip!  So far I've lost 60 pounds and my goal is becoming more and more possible!    

Spotlight...

It's hard to say who gives me the most cheers on Thursday nights (weigh in) cause I have so many cheerleaders...but I have one friend who really knows how to make me feel like a million bucks...my friend Heather. I just adore her! She always calls me a rock star even when I don't have a great week. She always tells me how great I'm looking, which really boosts my confidence to keep on going! Thank you Heather, so much!! I look forward to Friday and our walk around the office!

Healthy Enchilada's...yum!

I have been dreaming of Mexican food for a while now. I love it so much, but with all the cheese it does not like my body. So I made enchilada's that fit into my pointsplus plan!! A meager 6 points for 2 of them!!! Oh yeah, they were so good!!!! Here is the recipe:

3 pieces of grilled or boiled chicken breast
12 small corn tortillas (Kroger brand are best..2 for 1 point)
1 med. can of red enchilada sauce
1.5 cups of reduced fat shredded cheese (I used Kroger brand Mexican blend)
3 Tbs. olive oil or spray (I have a pump I bought at w.w. that sprays out exactly 1 point)

Make an assembly line of the ingredients: First prepare and shred your pre-cooked chicken, set aside. Then pre-cook your tortillas in a pan with oil. It work's best to use a spray olive oil, put aside. Grab a plate and make 6 separate 1/4 cup piles of cheese. Put sauce in a bowl.

Now that everything is ready, pour a thin layer of sauce in a glass baking dish. Put aside. Take a tortilla and drop it in the bowl of sauce covering it completely. Put about 1 ounce of chicken in the tortilla, add 1/3 of 1 of one of your cheese piles (so basically 1/3 of a 1/4 cup) over chicken. Add a bit of sauce if desired. Roll it up, leaving it open at each end. Put in baking dish, seam side down. After you've made 2 enchiladas, pour a Tbsp of sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle the remaining 1/3 of your pile of cheese over the top of the 2 tortillas. Repeat this step until all are in the pan!

Point break down:
1 point for 2 tortillas
0 point for sauce
2 points for 1/4 cup cheese
2 points for 2 ounces of chicken
1 point for oil

That makes 6 points for 2, yummy, delicious, incredible enchiladas!! Enjoy!

Spotlight...

I have so many amazing people in my life who are encouraging me every single day. So I thought I'd pay some special attention to someone new every so often so I can share how important people are in this journey. My amazing friend Amber. She has been such a huge part of this for me. She truley makes me brave. She encourages me to try new things. She always has some sort of recipe pulled up on her computer with the points value and anytime I come over to her house she always has some new food for me to try that's low calories and point friendly. I tried tori at her house for Bachelor night... We work together in the same office it's nice to know I have someone here helping me 8 hours a day 5 days a week. Thanks Ambah!

My journey begins....

So, I think about this term a lot when people ask me what I am doing to get healthy.  I've narrowed it down to the 4 W's (dubs); Working out, Will Power and Weight Watchers.  I have lost 56 pounds to date.  I began my journey on September 15, 2011.  I will never forget that date because it was the first day of the rest of my life.  The day I started Weight Watchers.  I have tried 100 different styles of weight loss and none of them worked (as you can see in earlier posts). 

It all started when I went to Walmart to try on a pair of pants for work and the size I normally fit in easily did not even go past my hips.  I pretty much vowed to never try on clothes again at that point, but since I have to wear clothes, I decided to call my best friend, Nadina, who lost weight on Weight Watchers and ask her how the points worked.  She gave me the formula but really encouraged me to go to the meetings.  I remember thinking, "yeah right!  I will be so embarrassed and I don't want to have some crazy, Richard Simmons wannabe telling me I can do it, like sweatin' to the oldies"  So I yeah, yeahed her and tried to do the points on my own.  She didn't let me yeah, yeah her.  Instead, she looked up the meeting and called me to inform me of where and when to go and what times she knew I'd be able to.  It was a Thursday night and right up to a half hour before, I was making every excuse in the world not to go.  I was pulling into my drive way on Thursday night at 5:40 and guess who calls me to see if I was going to a meeting?  Yes, Nadina.  All I could think of was, Seriously?  She is not going to let me blow this off, is she?  So I told her I was going and I actually went.

The meeting started at 6:00.  I got there and I was so embarrassed.  I told them I just want to check it out, but I was NOT signing up yet.  So, I stayed for the meeting and I really liked the leader, Maria.  She was engaging, funny, so kind and she was extremely motivating.  Before the meeting ended, I joined.  I paid for 10 weeks in advance.  I got weighed...oh the weigh in was bad.  I was way heavier than I even thought was possible.  I cried.  In fact, I cried all the way home.  Of coarse I called Nadi right away and she was so supportive.  She encouraged me and told me I can do this.  I needed to hear that.  I needed her nudge.  Ok, it was a full on push...but I thank God for that push every single day.

When I got inside the house, I was still crying.  I went to Andrew, my husband, and told him this is a matter of life and death and I told him how much I need his support and his help.  He agreed and has been very helpful and extremely supportive.  I have so many amazing people in my life.  I feel like one of the lucky ones.  I lost 11.4 pounds in my first week and I was sold!  After that meeting, I was crying..again, but these were tears of pure joy and a little bit of disbelief.  I remember calling Nadina and my sister Chrissie and just bawling my eyes out.

The next week was not quite as successful.  I lost less than a pound.  But it wasn't discouraging.  It just made me re-evaluate the points I was eating.  I realized eating grilled chicken, red potatoes and veggies are way better and more satisfying than eating 3 taco's even though it's the same in points.  Once I changed my points to healthier points, I started losing a minimum of 2 pounds per week. 

Then I started adding activity.  I started out doing very little.  Parking farther at the store, walking a bit faster at the mall, etc.  I remember when I first started working out with an aerobics video, I could only do 10 minutes without getting tired.  Once the weight started coming off, I increased it little by little until I was easily doing 45 min to an hour.  I walk a lot!  I started walking my kids to school, which is huge for me cause I used to get tired walking down my drive way (that is not an exaggeration).  The day I walked my first mile, made me so happy.  Me, a mile?  That's just crazy talk.  Not anymore...I walked 2 miles yesterday and it felt amazing!  It's funny really.  I used to think of ways to get out of walking anywhere.  Now I look for opportunities to exercise.  If I am waiting for a friend to pick me up, I say, just pick me up down the street, I'll be walking. 

I no longer view myself as a lazy person and I like the person I'm becoming.  The "improving" me is excited to go play with her kids at the park, go places, do things.  I don't sweat anymore (unless I'm supposed to) which is a big deal for me, cause I would sweat just sitting in a chair.  I also stopped taking blood pressure pills when I hit 50 pounds...Yeah!

It took me 100 days to lose 50 pounds!  I still can't believe it.  That's where the willpower came in...for sure.  I choose not to eat cheesecake and I choose not to eat french fries.  The best part is, I know I can if I want to.  That's what I love about Weight Watchers.  You do not deprive yourself.  I am the biggest advocate for them.  Remember how much of a skeptic I was at the beginning of this story?  Well now Thursdays and my meeting are my favorite day of the week!  I have been consistently losing 2-3 pounds or more per week and I haven't gained an ounce.  I will keep on going.  I love how I feel.  I love looking at my improving body in the mirror.  I love all new energy I have.  But most of all I love that I am going to be able to watch my kids grow up and be an active part of their lives for a long, long time.