Hello girls, sorry I haven't written in awhile I have tried several times to post but I kept hitting a wall. First of all is everyone excited for super bowl tomorrow? My hubby is and he is pulling for the Ravens I hope they win so he wins some money from his office football pool. One of my co-workers is having a party which is perfect because she lives three houses down from us. I am going to try a  recipe I saw on Ree Drummond's Pioneer Woman during the holiday season. You take a club cracker top it with a spoon full of parmesan, and then wrap it with half a slice of bacon and bake it on a low temp for about two hours. I know it's not very bfc friendly but it looks like a great dish to take to a party.

During last years super bowl hubby and I put in an offer on our house. The house was in short sale so it felt like it took forever but now that we are here it was worth the wait. Our first house is in a better neighborhood than we thought for our price range, we are super blessed. Hubby is still in school and working part time. I am so thankful that I have a husband who is such a hard worker, I have to remind myself of that when I am feeling sorry for myself for having to do pretty much all the house chores by myself.

This February marks the second year of doing the bfc and having this blog. In the past two years hubby and I have gone through phases of being really good and not very good with the bfc. I can honestly tell you that we both feel and look much better when we are being really good. The bfc has changed how I look and think about carbs and sugar and fake sugar. Starting Monday hubby and I are going to be a little more strict with our diet we are going to do the fast track awhile. We have found that after the holidays we like to shake things up and for us after the super bowl is just the best time to cut back. I personally have found it helpful to be realistic about when is a good time to shake things up.

About a week and a half ago I celebrated my 30th birthday, it was a great day my Mom and I got pedicures together, I had a massage and the family came over to my folks house for some Mexican food. Hubby made a huge bowl of guacamole and I pretty ate as much of it as I could shove in my mouth. We also had margaritas made with refine margarita mix that I got at world market for $8.99. I remember Amber had a post awhile back about the refine mojito mix. The refine mixes are made with stevia instead of sugar, everyone thought it was good and I think it would be worth buying again. Last week my weight was up due to the combination of too many chips and margaritas, but I'm not worried. We got back on the wagon of being good and hubby took the rest of the chips to work.



I guess that is pretty much all for now I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend :)

Happy New Year

Hello girls, Happy New Year! I love the fresh start feeling of the new year this weekend I finally took down all my Christmas decorations now the house looks a little naked, thankfully I have several cute valentines day decorations that I bought on sale last year. I don't know how the time got away from me, it feels like forever since I posted last. I don't know about everyone else but the longer I go in between posting the harder it is and I find myself feeling like I don't have anything to say...and I even consider stopping all together. But then something hits me and I miss blogging and staying connected with all my blog buddies.

Christmas was nice we had all the family over on Christmas day for dinner and presents. I made a lotion I saw on pinterest made with baby lotion, vitamin e oil, and vaseline, I put it into cute jars from hobby lobby and paired it with snuggle socks for the girls, that was a big hit. My nephew also received a present that was inspired from pinterest, we took fifty one dollar bills and taped them together end to end and stuffed them into a kleenex box, so when he opened it he pulled out a big long string of money similar to pulling scarfs out of a hat. That was super fun to gift to give.


Hubby and I didn't do too badly this holiday season, I only ate several of my very favorite cookies my godmother makes and just left the rest alone. We have a tradition of getting together the week before Christmas and making and exchanging cookies, I like the tradition of getting together but I could really do without all the cookies. This year my Mom was trying to talk to my godmother about scaling back the amount and variety of cookies but there didn't seem to be any interest in that...basically the attitude of everyone else involved is 'this is what we have always done, and we will keep doing it this way. I didn't really want any cookies to take home with me because the two of us don't need to be eating any cookies, but my Mom sent me home with some anyway so I shuffled them off to hubby's work.

Any way, hubby and I started off the new year by getting back to eating more salads and veggie stir fry's. We ate a lot of cheese between Christmas and New Years. Christmas Eve we had quiche, with Christmas day dinner we had cheese potatoes, and last week before New Years my Mom invited us over for fondue for one last indulgence before the getting back to healthy eating in the new year. After a week of eating lots of green veggies I feel better, the amount of cheese and salt we consumed was a little overwhelming.

I hope everyone has a good start to the week. Hubby and I woke up to six inches of fresh snow simply beautiful! We had a joint task force and we shoveled our driveway, our patio on top of the garage and our front. The joys of being a new homeowner :)

Happy December

Hello everyone and Happy December! I am so happy to share that I am feeling much better, last Tuesday I bought a neti pot to help flush our my sinuses, wow I wish I had bought one when I first felt like crap. I was skeptical and unsure of how it would feel, and it just feels strange. The key is using a saline solution or else it will burn like it did when you were a kid and got water up your nose. I am so grateful that I didn't have to call the Dr. for a course of antibiotics like many of my co-workers, all I could think was I didn't want to destroy my good gut bacteria. I like to think that my sinus cold wasn't as severe and didn't hang on as long because I have been good about low sugar, who knows if I'm right but it's something that makes me feel good. In case you missed it last time this is what I did to help with my cold symptoms: I made a ginger lemon tea by placing peeled and sliced ginger and sliced lemons and water in my crock pot on low all day, I highly recommend that. Advil cold and sinus allowed me to function during the day and get good rest at night. I also made low salt turkey and chicken soup and tried to rest as much as possible.

I have been doing great on the bfc my jeans are fitting much better and I am sooo happy! I have been staying away from work food and also doing great on drinking less. Basically I've been doing the things that I know I need to be doing. I am confident that I can make it though the rest of the holiday season successfully and it feels realistic to be at 135 by the time my birthday rolls around at the end of January.

Have a wonderful week, I will try to post more so I can stay connected and I will work on getting some cute pics of our house posted :)

Thankful Thanksgiving is Over

Hello everyone, I am having a hard time getting this post out this is my third time sitting down to write :) Wow it's been a busy one since I last posted. Monday I got the crud that has been going around. I  put some peeled and sliced ginger and lemons in water and left it on low all night. The result was a very gingery lemon tea which helped me feel a ton better at work on along with advil cold and sinus. From what I can gather any kind of cold or cough syrup contains an absurd amount of sugar but cold/flu tablets may only contain a small amount of sugar if they have a coating around them. I also made chicken and turkey soup.

I am so thankful that Thanksgiving is over! Even though it went smoothly it was a lot of work since I didn't feel 100% and hubby was busy with school and work. Our folks helped us out a ton getting ready, my Mom came over and helped me clean and last minute decorate, my FIL came over and helped finish painting our upstairs bathroom and installing a vanity. Long story short everything turned out nicely and with all our help I was able to stay out of the kitchen with my cold.

We had a pretty traditional meal: turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn casserole, rolls and gravy. I think I did pretty good I filled up half my plate with turkey, and only had a dollop of mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry and green beans. It was just the right amount of all the carby side dishes I had several good bites of each thing without going overboard. I completely stayed away from the sweet potatoes since the bfc all that added sugar just tastes gross, and I've never liked gravy.

All in all I'm sure I had more carbs than I needed for the whole day, but I feel good about it. I didn't go crazy with appetizers before dinner like I have in the past, I didn't drink too much wine I only had two glasses after everyone left and we watched a Christmas movie and looked at the black Friday ads. Another thing I did which has helped us not to pig out in the days after Thanksgiving was to send our guests home with generous plates of leftovers...all these things paid off because my weight was 139.5 on my Sunday morning weigh in :) Have a wonderful week everyone :)

Good things

Hello everyone, I must be doing something right because the scale was down to 140.5 this morning!!! I feel good and super encouraged to keep it up and stay on track. Yesterday I went to the mall and I found a cute sweater and fleece at Old Navy which surprised me because I haven't found anything there in forever. Even better news is that I didn't hate the way I looked in the dressing room mirror. :)

It's amazing what can happen when I just stick to what I know works. For me that includes drinking very little, this weekend I had one beer on Saturday, last weekend I had 1 glass of wine with dinner and the  weekend before that I didn't drink at all. And for the past month hubby and I have been good about not drinking during the week. I have managed to stay away from the work sweets, and if I ate any snacky carbs I counted them out....55 goldfish crackers is a satisfying amount of crackers. I have been getting whole grain carbs in with the ezekiel bread and lots of veggies. I have also been drinking lots of the celestial seasoning holiday teas with whipped cream.

Next on our agenda is hosting Thanksgiving. I feel good about that because I think it will be easier to sneak belly friendly options in along with the usual sugary carby fare. Have a great night :)

Portion Controll

Hello everyone, it's a rainy weekend up here in my neck of the woods perfect for house projects, meal planning and cooking. Our first Halloween in our house was fun for me hubby missed it because he was at school studying. He is such a good man and a hard worker. He works full time and goes to school full time, which is hard for me sometimes because I hardly ever see him.  On Halloween I took a page out of Rosalie's play book and handed out bags of chips instead of candy. I wanted to hand out bags of pirate booty but I couldn't find any at costco or the grocery store, next year if I think of it in enough time I'm sure I could order them off amazon. The parents of a super cute little chick gave me the thumbs up on bags of chips instead of candy :)

Yesterday I started reading the original bfc again, and wow there was a ton of stuff that I had forgot, or that I have been pushing the line on. I think that is part of the problem too often we eye ball it or think that what we are doing is the right thing when it comes to weight loss and maintenance.

Another really simple and common sense thing I have been overlooking is lately is portion size of what we take to work everyday. When I make food and put it away in the fridge hubby takes whatever container it is in so if I put something away in a larger container he will take that container and eat it. I find that I have been taking a larger container with the thought that I will eat some at lunch and some at break, but I often eat too much at a time. Yesterday I talked to hubby about this and he agreed that sometimes we are just eating too much food even though it's not sugary or carby.

I guess that's all for now, I hope everyone is having a great weekend :)

Bfc friendly chocolate peanut butter pudding cake

Hello everyone, today was a beautiful fall day  I had coffee with a friend and we took a walk around a beautiful park. It was a cold damp rainy day but fortunately we didn't get rained on. It wasn't as cold as it was during the rest of the week so it was a great day to get out and enjoy the fall leaves. We might get an early snow this year (yikes) I always hope that it doesn't snow until the end of November or the first part of December.

Something that has been on my mind this week is how easy it is for me to think of the work week and the weekend as being separate.  It's so easy to think that after we have been good during the work week we can relax on the weekend. This way of thinking has really slowed my progress and I'm ready to acknowledge that when I am trying to lose weight I need to be extra good on the weekend as well as the week.

I am loving my crock pot so much and I really want to build my collection of recipes apart from stew, soup and chili. Last year for Christmas I asked for "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufman. I made my first recipe this week, which seems crazy since I wanted it so bad and then never made anything until now....go figure. The recipe I tried is "chocolate peanut butter pudding cake" although I altered it to be bfc friendly.

Here is the original recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake:
1c flour
2T unsweetened coco powder
1/2c sugar
1, 1/2t baking powder
1/2c whole milk or chocolate milk
2T peanut oil, canola or walnut
1 T vanilla
1/2c peanut butter
1/2c semisweet chocolate chips

Topping:
3T unsweetened coco powder
3/4c sugar
1,1/2c boiling water

BFC Friendly Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake:
1c  almond flour
2T unsweetened coco powder
several packets of stevia (I think I used 5 or so)
1,1/2t baking powder
1/2c half-n-half
2T walnut oil
1T vanilla
1/2c peanut butter
1/2 dark chocolate bark cut up

Topping:
3T unsweetned coco powder
several packets stevia
1.1/2c boiling water


Cover the bottom of your slow cooker with butter, oil or spray and spread out the cake batter. Add the topping and cook on HIGH for 2-2.5 hrs. After it has finished cooking let it sit for at least a half an hour. I found that it was 10x's better after sitting overnight.

Hello everyone, slowly we are getting our bfc groove back. I tried a delicious new recipe from pinterest in my crock pot.This morning I also started re-reading the original bfc and bfc ft...very helpful. I was surprised that there were a lot of things that I had forgot. I'm really committed to doing this thing and getting back on track. This week at work I have been very disciplined and I haven't gotten into the crackers and other carby things that get me off track...it was especially hard to stay out of the goldfish crackers today. I have learned that being good in these things that seem small is what counts for me. Have a wonderful rest of your week :)

Thai-Style Pork Stew 
www.myrecipes.com/recipe/thai-style-pork-stew-10000000354826/

• 2 pounds boned pork loin, cut into 4 pieces
• 2 cups (1 x 1/4-inch) julienne-cut red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce    
• 2 tablespoons rice or white wine vinegar 
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter 
• 6 cups hot cooked basmati rice
• 1/2 cup diagonally cut green onions
• 2 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted peanuts

How I adapted it...I was inspired by Jorge's "Sumptuous Pork Stir-Fry" in the original BFC pg. 229. For a sweet and sour sauce I used one part balsamic vinegar, one part low sodium soy sauce, two packets of stevia, and one tsp. ginger instead of teriyaki sauce. And instead of rice I used quinoa, and added broccoli. 

Still trying to find my bfc groove

Hello everyone, what a week. First of all we found out that someone had gotten hold of my husband's credit card number and probably had a new credit card made with out number. We were alerted by the credit card company when they had used the wrong zip code while getting gas. Crazy huh, when I told my folks about it they said the same thing happened to them last month.

Food wise I did great this week, I did not cheat at work even though there was a ton of bad stuff to eat there. My work place loves to have potlucks for any occasion, we have had two in a row. It is so easy for me to mindlessly eat while at work. It is especially hard for me to stay away from chips and salsa. I had learned during my time doing the bfc that chips are my downfall. Once I start I can just eat and eat and eat. I have counted them out before and just ate one serving, but that is really hard one serving is usually 14-17 chips.

I also did not have any candy from the candy drawer. It is so easy to tell myself that the bite size candy bars are so low in sugar or calories that I can have several and it won't hurt me...I just googled bite size butterfinger and they have 3.67g sugar and 33 calories. Which is not super bad, but not helpful if you are trying to lose weight. Plus it's hard for me to have just one, once I start I want at least a couple more. Another thing that I did great in this week was not drinking more than two glasses of wine at a time, which is big progress for me because I LOVE red wine.

I feel like I am still trying to find my groove in several areas especially getting back into the bfc groove. I had been in denial so long about how I was doing that it is taking a lot of effort to get my mind back in the game. I guess it will come with hard work and time. I guess that's all for now have a great weekend everyone.

Random things

I remembered what I wanted to say before, I love fall foods especially squash here is my tip: don't throw away the seeds. I know it is a hassle but just toss them in the strainer and separate them from the stringy squash, add a splash of olive oil or grapeseed salt and pepper. Put them in the oven on 400, make sure to stir them often to prevent burning and cook until they are a nice golden brown.

Roasted veggies are my favorite thing to make right now, I've truly been making them a ton but hubby hasn't complained yet :) Roasted veggies also make wonderful fall soups. I love to make soup, but lately I've decided that I don't like using pre-made chicken or veggie stalks because they are usually full of salt. I would rather be in control of how much salt I put in my soups.

Have a wonderful Monday :)

Hello everyone, thanks for the great comments. Thank you Amy your comment made me feel really special and good, so thank you for brightening my day :) Last Saturday was a great day my Mom and I found some items for my mantle from Pier 1 and Hobby Lobby slowly very slowly I feel like this house is ours.

Hubby is back in school which is great but it's an adjustment on both of us to get used to him being busy all the time. Last week I spent a lot of time at the gym which I feel really good about because I want a strong, fit body. I wore jeans this weekend that I haven't worn in three weeks and they fit better! I love that feeling when your jeans fit better, they still don't fit the way I want but I know it will take more time and hard work to get there. Today the scale was up a pound but I'm not worried because my jeans fitting better shows progress that the scale doesn't show.

I know I had more on my mind to share but I can't seem to think of it at the moment....so I guess it will come to me at some random time :)

Checkin in

Hello everyone, I've been playing around on pinterest and catching up on the blogs...Ashley Mae have you decided not to blog any longer? If so I wish you the best on your weight loss journey.

I'm sure hubby and I look pretty amusing we are in the basement in our beach chairs with a rubbermaid as our end table watching football, I mean hubby is watching football and I've been on pinterest. I love love love pinterest.

I have been a very good girl lately, I've been eating right and working out hard this week I am down .5 lb my tummy looks smaller to me and I have tightened my belt buckle...I feel so encouraged. I can do this!

I don't have a ton left to say not much has been happening, we are still getting settled in putting things and doing lots of yard work. Things are coming along nicely, today my Mom and I went and started getting fall decorations for my mantle.

Would you like to know what I have been eating this week? Roasted veggies and baked meatballs, tri-tip roast with butternut squash, breakfast burritos with low carb tortillas, turkey breakfast sausage, eggs and cheese. Snacks: 1/4c Thai curry cashews, and avocados.

3rd day in a row blogging, go figure

Hello everyone, I don't even remember the last time I blogged three days in a row. Thanks for all the great comments yesterday. Welcome Debbie what is your blog address? I googled Debbie's Journey and several blogs came up but it didn't seem that any were yours.

Yesterday was weigh in day and whooo hooo down 1 lb to 142. It's progress and it shows that I was good with food and exercise last week. I feel encouraged that I can exercise and eat good and get back into good shape. 

The roasted veggie soup I made Saturday turned out great and it was so simple. I roasted zucchini summer squash, butternut squash and a medium slice of onion in grapseed oil salt and pepper for an hour on 400. I then sauteed a bunch of kale and celery and then added the  roasted veggies, water parsley and a little more salt and pepper. It was delicious and I didn't even have to add any more chicken or veggie stalk for flavor. I LOVE LOVE fall soups.

Have a wonderful day :)

It's a new day and I don't feel so discouraged like I did yesterday a good workout really helped to clear my head. It didn't take much to get me off course or to think that I was doing better than I was. I spent some time thinking about what has worked for me before. When I was in High School my family was doing the Zone or South Beach and I started running cross-country I felt amazing. After my freshman year of college I gained weight I lost it by exercising and portion control. I used my measuring cups a ton and wrote down what I ate. Two years ago when I broke my knee cap I purposed not to snack because I couldn't get up and move around very well and I didn't drink at all. When I first lost weight with the bfc I kept track of everything I ate and blogged every day.

Why is it so easy to stray off course and put the weight we lost back on? It's easy because there are so many delicious bad things to eat out there and it's easy for me to feel like I am missing out if I don't eat them even though I know it's not true.

I put an article about goal setting in my food/inspiration journal I don't know who the author is which makes me feel bad passing on this information...anyway here it is in a nutshell. It's easy to blame our failures in the weight loss area on our lack of willpower. The actual problem is relying on willpower to begin with. The real key to success is taking baby steps "the path from dream to reality is laden with digestible  and specific monthly, weekly and daily challenges." Remember baby steps from the movie What about Bob? I have lost sight of my daily goals and too often brushed them off thinking it didn't matter.

Katie's Baby Steps:
Starting 143: Goal 130-135
Daily goals: keep track of all food that goes in my mouth
Portion control: using the my food scale or measuring cups and spoons rather than eyeballing it.

Weekly: exercise more cardio and group classes.
Blogging: keeping my head in the game and staying honest

Monthly: to see a change in the way my clothes fit, and to look good when we go to Seattle for a wedding October 20th.

 That is my first plan, I will stick with it and I won't make excuses...I know I can do this!!! :)

First of all I just want to say Rosalie I am so sorry for your loss.

Hello everyone, it's a quiet Saturday around here hubby is doing yard work and I just finished making a roasted veggie soup with zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, onion, celery, kale and pork chops. I'm feeling a little discouraged with myself because I realized that I am back to where I started in Jan 2011. I guess it's not a big surprise after hubby and I put an offer on our house in Feb we our eating habits changed a bit. So, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I know works for me and so far I've come up with: no drinking, exercise, measuring things out and staying away from work food. So far I've not been drinking for 3 weeks and trying to get back to the gym and not mindless eating.

A part of me hates sharing that I am back to my starting point, I wish I could say I've kept it off even during times of stress. I am committed to being mindful about all the food I put into my mouth and doing what I need to do.

Last week was my Mom's birthday I got her some chocolate and a cooking class for the both of us. The chocolate was a big disappointment. ChocoPerfection bars claim they are the best tasting low carb chocolate bars, but in my opinion they lack great taste and texture, and at $ 4.75 a bar I don't plan of buying them again.

Have a wonderful Saturday, I plan on blogging much more because it keeps my head in the game.

Getting Settled In

Hello everyone, the move is done and we are finally getting settled in our new house. Some days I feel really excited about getting settled and putting everything away, others I just feel tired and overwhelmed with getting organized. I've had a big sweet tooth this week so I made more coconut pumpkin muffins and chocolate almond cookies I like using the nustevia I find I use less of it than I did truvia. I've also been a little bad and I've been eating sugar-free instant pudding and oreos, I feel bad like I am poising myself with sucralose. I feel once in a while in small amounts is ok but I've really been eating a lot of pudding. And you know what, the sugar free pudding isn't even that good it has that gross fake taste to it.

I changed my settings on my comment form to make things easier so please let me know if it isn't any different. Have a great weekend everyone :)

Ahhh finally a chance to sit down and blog

Hello everyone, the move is DONE, the apt is cleaned and now we need to unpack and settle in. We won't have interent until Tuesday right now we are at the folks watching the BYU WSU game...college football is here, bring on the madness.

Today I ate my last low carb tortilla for breakfast, I put 1/2 of the black bean chipotle burger, scrambled eggs and pepper jack cheese for a yummy breakfast burrito. It was delicious and kept be full until lunch time.

I have been craving something sweet and finding it hard to stay away from the bite size candy bars in the candy drawer at work. I decided that I would make some chocolate almond cookies but this morning I couldn't find the almond flour so I made coconut pumpkin muffins instead, wouldn't you know when I was cleaning up after the pumpkin muffins I found the almond flour. I've put most of the kitchen away now I just need to remember where I put things.

I bought some new stevia yesterday since I discovered that truvia is not a very good source of stevia, has anyone else used this brand? Any thoughts? My pumpkin muffins turned out great and I know I will be making lots of them now that fall is right around the corner. Well I guess that's all for now I hope everyone is doing great. I will blog more once we have internet at the house.

Good News :)

Hello everyone, another busy day at least roto rooter came and the sink is back to normal, no more washing dishes in the bathroom sink :) More good news WE ARE MOVING INTO OUR FIRST HOUSE TOMORROW!!!! It's been a loooong road we put an offer in Super Bowl Sunday and the reason it took so freakin long is because the house was in short sale. I have been trying to take a play out of Rosalie's play book and I've been trying hard not to eat bad because I've been stressed with all that had to be done. That's probably why we have been eating a lot of smart and delicious low carb wraps the past several weeks. I have made some delicious breakfast burritos and wraps for lunch and dinner.

This afternoon while packing I was craving something sweet big time cookies, cake or ice cream I went to the store and got sugar free mini peanut butter cups instead I felt much better and a sugar crisis was averted. The sugar free peanut butter cups are not something I would consume frequently because they contain sucralose but I think once in a blue moon is ok.

So in a nutshell that's what is going on over here. One last bit of good news I have been taking a body conditioning group class at the YMCA for a couple of months now the Monday Wednesday instructor is super into arms, all the emphasis on arms is paying off while packing I noticed I have a set of guns now :) I feel encouraged to keep working at the other areas that are hard for me such as abs and not cheating at work or enjoying too much wine and telling myself it's ok. I have to remind myself that I have to be consistent and diligent in doing the work to see the results. Have a wonderful weekend everyone :)

Hello everyone, things are good and a little crazy over here. Our kitchen sink has a major clog somewhere in the main pipe. Our sink went from being slow to drain, to being clogged with water even after washing only a few dishes, someone from roto rooter comes tomorrow. We have been eating a lot of low carb tortillas as wraps and breakfast burritos as an simple solution to avoid too many dishes.

I have heard some good things lately, first of all our cells retain water when they are dehydrated which is even more inspiration to stay well hydrated. Another is to say "I don't eat ___" instead of
I can't eat___". When you say you don't it helps you to stick to your guns and not to cheat. This makes perfect sense to me and is something I will be trying out at parties and gatherings in the future.

Well, I guess that's all for now it has been a long week at work and I am ready for bed, I just wanted to check in and say HI :)

Stressed? Try Easy Now tea

Good Morning everyone!!! It is a beautiful Sunday, the weather has been hot and wonderful. When people complain about the heat I always say don't wish it away it will be gone soon enough. A co-worker from Connecticut said that the weather up here is very similar to New England except the summers are shorter over here.

Anyway,  yesterday we had make-your-own sandwiches for lunch at the in-laws, there was white bread and whole wheat to chose from. The whole wheat had 4g of sugar per slice which is pretty typical of many breads, so I made my sandwich with one slice of bread. We have also been eating a lot of the low carb tortillas as wraps for lunch or breakfast burritos.

Another thing that I have been wanting to share
I have been drinking a lot of traditional medicinals easy now tea, and I find it very helpful. One of the ingredients is lavender which makes a very calming and relaxing tea. Two years ago when we were in the process of moving back home after hubby got out of the military I felt stressed and wound up all the time. In the process of saying good-bye to beautiful San Diego we stopped at a coffee tea and wine house that was on the list of places to try. They had all sorts of beautiful teas on display in beautiful glass jars. When they asked what I wanted I told them I was moving and feeling very stressed, and they recommended lavender tea.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week :)

Hello everyone, we had a wonderful time camping!!! It felt so wonderful to be able to hang out with the family and relax. I guess I will start with run down of the bfc friendly food I brought.


My parents dog Sadie on the river

The river in the morning

• Everyone loved the chocolate almond protein bites, no one thought they were "weird, or too healthy tasting" my only complaint is that if they were left out of the cooler too long they made a mess. I will defiantly be making these again.

• The crust less mini quiches were perfect for snacks and breakfast. In mine I put frozen spinach, sauteed asparagus, turkey breakfast sausage and cheddar cheese. In my opinion they are good  served cold or hot.

• The lemon coconut bread was a perfect snack for us, when it was our turn to cook breakfast for the clan I served it along with rudi's English muffins, eggs, sausage and bacon...I didn't get much feedback so I don't think it was a big hit with the others, but no big deal it was worth bringing it because I think it helped me to stay away from other high sugar treats.

Sugar Free Marshmallows

• I also made two batches of marshmallows one sugar free and one regular. In my opinion it's not hard to make them, just time consuming. Regular marshmallows are basically sugar and corn syrup heated on the stove and then added to unflavored gelatin and beatten until white and fluffy (15 mins). I found a recipe for sugar free marshmallows on Lauren's Healthy Indulgences blog when I first started the bfc and I have been waiting for a  good occasion to try them out. Making sugar free marshmallows involved boiling xylitol and honey (I used natures hollow honey) and then adding the hot mixture to unflavored gelatin and beating until white and fluffy.

• I first tried making marshmallows two years ago for Christmas from a recipe from a book I was given for my wedding Autumn by Susan Branch. She says "roast 'em at a hayride, bonfire or melt them in hot chocolate" They are delicious in hot chocolate but I wanted to see if they roast up nicely over a fire....I was VERY disappointed that both my sugar free and regular marshmallows do not roast up nicely at all, in fact many fell into the fire and only several made it for smores.

I guess that's all for now. Have a wonderful day everyone :)

Goin Campin :)

Good morning everyone!!! Today we leave to go camping...yeehawww!!!! Yesterday I spent all day in the kitchen making belly friendly goodies to take, last year I came home 4 lbs heavier, so I really put some thought into how this year can be better. I made: lemon coconut bread, almond protein bites, mini crust less quiches, and sugar free marshmallows that I have been wanting to try for a long time. I also made a batch of regular marshmallows for everyone else.

On Saturday we went to a bbq with our out of town friends and some other friends in town we don't see very often, I was a good girl no beer for me :) And surprisingly I felt great and I didn't feel left out at all. We had cheese burgers and kaboobs so there was plenty of things to eat, it was a good get together.

I love how I feel when I am good and I just have the discipline to stay away from belly bad foods. My jeans still don't fit the way I want :( but I know they will if I keep having more good food days, keep up going to my exercise classes and get in more cardio. Sometimes it's frustrating that I'm not just there now, but I know that some of my small cheats this summer, are the reason I'm not there.

Well, I guess that's all for now have a wonderful week everyone :)

Hello friends, Happy August!!! First of all things are moving forward with our house (for anyone who doesn't know we are in the process of buying a house that is in short sale) nothing official to share just yet but it's looking like it could be soon.

Yesterday hubby commented that my shorts are much loser than they were when I first put them on this summer...I said yes when they didn't fit it was a small crisis...he then said that when my clothes don't fit I don't treat it like a small crisis...LOL. SO TRUE. That reminded me that I have made some progress and I need to keep it up, because it's easy to make some progress then slack for a bit because I think I can. This weekend we have friends coming into town and we are hoping they will come over for dinner Friday if their schedules allow. Whenever we hang out with these friends we usually drink, I have been not drinking at all lately because my slim down goals are important to me and at this stage in the game I feel like alcohol throws me off my game. I have been giving myself pep talks all week about how I can totally hang out and have a good time and not have anything to drink.

Instead of having a cold beer I will have lots of water or iced tea. I am not just trying to lose a couple of pounds I am trying to work on my self-discipline which is a large part of the bigger picture. It's easy to think "I need to be skinny" but I am more concerned with being healthy. Eating right and getting enough exercise is sooo important, I hope that by taking good care of myself I can avoid some  health problems later on in life. :) Big hugs to everyone :)

Good news for the end of July

Good morning everyone, it's early here but right now it's the most realistic part of my day to share. Good news!!!! I have meet my goal for July and I am down from 145 to 140!!! Whoo Hoo!! My next goal is to get to 135. I've been working hard hitting the gym, I love group exercise classes, I find that I work harder in them than I do on my own. We have basically been doing the fast track for the past several weeks so we can eat some of the yummy summer fruit, but starting next week we will go back to the regular bfc. We are going camping with our family and hubby told me last night he wants to be able to eat some sandwiches while we are camping.

I have been sitting on an article from a free weekly paper the Pinch that has some helpful tips about weight loss in the summer. "5 Surprising Summer Habits that Pack on the Pounds"

1. Load Up on Sugar (duh lol) most processed foods are full of sugar, but added sugar can also be found in processed meats.
2. Skimp on Protein and Fat: people who eat protein and fat in every meal are less likely to overeat.
3. Eat more Breakfast Cereal, which won't keep you full very long.
4. Fill up on Fruit and Fruit Juice...sugar sugar sugar. A good way to balance out fruit and vegetable intake is to eat 3-4 servings non-starchy veggies with each serving of fruit.
5. Reward Yourself after every Workout: it doesn't take much to offset what you burn in a workout.

Number 5 Don't reward yourself after every workout is the tip that works best for me it is so easy for me to think "I worked out this morning and a little of ___ won't hurt" I have been good lately not giving in to that thought, I have been staying away from all the sugary carby goodness at work.

I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the wonderful summer weather while we have it!!!!

Hello friends, I know I have been absent for awhile but don't worry I haven't fallen off the wagon I've just been enjoying summer. Today hubby and I went to an Oil and Vinegar store and bought some yummy olive oil and balsamic vinegar to make our own dressing...I am so excited to try it on my hearty salad for lunch tomorrow.

I just started reading a book called "Cooking with Coconut Flour" by Bruce Fife N.D. that my Mom gave me to borrow. In the first several pages he says some interesting things that I did not know:

• Most gluten-free products are high in carb, few gluten-free alternatives are gluten free and low in carb
• Coconut flour is low in digestible carbs and full of fiber
• Coconut flour is considered hypoallergenic because few are allergic to it

I found that info very interesting because I often find myself, like many others thinking that gluten-free is somehow healthier, just as we used to think that anything low in fat, or fat-free was healthier. I also have a paleo cookbook and an almond flour cookbook to look at from my Mom. When I am finished I will share my thoughts. I know many of you are getting away from the coconut and almond flour goodies because you feel they are too fattening. At this point I'm not sure what I think.

That's pretty much all for now, I want to get some more reading in before bedtime. I hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow. Big hugs :)

Hello everyone, this afternoon I listened to "The Truth About Sweeteners" by Dr. David Getoff...WOW. I agree with what Rosalie said the other day about never buying truvia again, I honestly had no idea that not all stevia products are not created equal. I am trying to wrap my mind around all that he said.

I am proud to say that I have been staying away from the wheat thins and cheez-its at work!!!! Whooo Hooo! I have been drinking a ton of water, I read that if we are not well hydrated our metabolism goes down 3%. My discipline is paying off I am down 2.5 lbs :) yeah!!! I feel super motivated to keep being good, my goal is to be 140 by the end of July.

That's about all I have to say for now I just finished making lunches for tomorrow and after I jump on pinterest it's time for bed.

Things are good

Hello everyone, I have had a hard time thinking about what to blog lately. I haven't fallen off the wagon actually hubby and I are doing great food and exercise wise. I looked back at my journal for June and I was surprised to see that I did better than I thought I did. I drank less and exercised more, although I didn't write down every time I cheated at work, but this is a new month and I am being more disciplined. I am not letting the cheez-it's and wheat thins have any power over me :)

We have been eating a lot of grilled food and salads lately and I can tell a difference in both of us. Instead of throwing away my old sugar I have been making sugar scrubs I got the idea from pinterest. This morning I made one with brown and white sugar, grape seed oil, coconut oil, vitamin E oil and jojoba oil. My skin feels soft and amazing, I would really rather go to the lake than work this morning :) Well, I guess that's all for now I need to finish getting ready for work. Have a wonderful day everyone :)

Good morning everyone!!! First of all have you guys noticed that it seems tons of words are underlined and now have links to them???? What's up with that??? And does anyone know how to disable it? ???It annoys me that the things I say have links to them that I did not put there.

What a week it felt like it draged on and on, mostly because work was slow but I had several late days because although it was slow things did not end early. Monday we looked at the house that we are in the process of buying :) The renters recently moved out so we were able to see it empty for the first time, which was very helpful to get a better picture of what shape the house is in. Things have been moving VERY SLOWLY because the house is in short sale. Our parents came with us on Monday and they had a lot of good ideas and suggestions, even though hubby and I are entering our 30's it still feels good to get our parents opinions on things :)

Foodwise it was  a good week for me I did really good staying away from all the sweets and carby things at work, and I stayed strong in my decision to not have any alcohol for awhile. The quote I posted from Dr. Atkins about alcohol postponing weight loss really hit home with me. This will be a challenge for me because I really enjoy a nice glass of wine after a long day, or a cold beer on a hot summer day.....but I am ready to stop making excuses and just to make some sacrifices to get to where I want to be. I feel like I talk about alcohol a lot and if any of you are wondering if I have a problem I want to assure you I don't. It is just a struggle for me because it's something I enjoy.

So that's what I've been up to lately, just pluggin along trying to be good, waiting for news on our house. I hope everyone has a nice weekend :)

Hello everyone, I am so happy to share that the past several days have been very successful for me!!! I have stayed strong and I haven't eaten any snacky junky food at work. Even though there has been plenty of opportunity do so. Sometimes I feel like I work in Sugar City in the State of Carbohydrates, there is always something sweet and very belly unfriendly. I keep telling myself that I just need to stay away, no cheating allowed. I have realized that it is just easier to stay away all together than to have just a bite or a taste of anything, doing that just makes me want to eat more.

7g of sugar in these mini sugar cookies

Last week when I was cheating at work I ate one mini lofthouse sugar cookie, I thought it's just a mini cookie and when is the last time I had a sugar cookie. I totally justified it to myself. Anyway, that one stinkin mini sugar cookie had 7g of sugar. Eating that much sugar in one little cookie is not what I need to be doing to get where I want to be. I want to be healthy, fit, toned, firm, happy and at a good pre-pregnancy weight for the time that hubby and I start trying to have babies. All of this requires putting in work, setting goals and sticking to them. Tomorrow we are having another pot-luck at work I'm sure there will be tons of tempting goodies, but I am in a better place than I was during last week's pot-luck, and I know I won't be cheating with those mini sugar cookies.

Much better today

Hello everyone, thanks for the great supportive comments!!! I am feeling much much better about things. Yesterday I went to the gym and had a good workout, I then spent a good portion of the evening journaling. I am in the process of making an action plan for myself in 6 months I turn 30, I want to be in a good place to start a new decade. I am setting goals and making a step by step plan of how to reach them. I feel that I am finally setting myself up for SUCCESS!!!

As far as food goes I have decided to make some delicious filling veggie soups or salads to fill me up at work, and practice some discipline when it comes to wheat thins and cheezits...I like how Trina put it that like an alcoholic she can't have just one of anything she shouldn't. I think that is a good way to look at things and it will help me to stay away from the junk. I also agree with Kay, I have had my best success when I give up alcohol for awhile. Alcohol gives us calories with no other nutrition, and it loosens my resolve to lose weight. I saw a quote yesterday from Dr. Atkins that makes a ton of sense to me:

"Here's the problem with all alcoholic beverages, and the reason I recommend refraining from alcohol consumption on the diet. Alcohol, whenever taken in, is the first fuel to burn. While that's going on, your body will not burn fat. This does not stop the weight loss, it simply postpones it." Dr. Atkins

With that said I have picked myself up from my cheating ways, and I have decided that NO cheating is ok. My goal is to be fit, slim, healthy, toned and cheating simply won't help me get there. I am gonna work very hard to get back into the zone and get away from emotional eating. I hope everyone had a nice weekend, I will talk to you guys later :)