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The Year Of Taking Care of Myself

I suppose that I should be more ashamed of myself about not taking care of my body, mind etc. I am actually but this is all a part of my journey to fitness as much as eating well and exercising.

I had my Woman stuff appointment yesterday and then a mammogram today. This weekend ( if it doesn't snow me out) I have a dental appointment.

I have made up my mind that starting this year that I am going to take care of myself.  I want to hang around to drive my kids and grandkids crazy! Who could do a better job than me?

My Enemy The Scale

When I was young I worked outside with my Dad all of the time. We ate tons of food

In the evening after all of the chores were done. I never gave my weight or the scale

A single thought. In fact I don’t even remember weighing myself unless it was at the Dr.

Office. I married at 16 and had my second child a few months after my 19^th birthday.

Then the scale and I became enemies of the highest degree. I stopped weighing myself

I did lose the weight eventually but it was hard and I had to watch myself all of the time,

After two more children I just gave up I think, for a long while. I stayed away from the scale now from fear.

I didn’t want to know what I weighed.

I lost 50 pounds in 1999 the scale and I were once again buddies! I loved seeing those numbers.

Now here we are again the deepest of enemies. I was fearful when I weighed in this morning.

And I was right, because I weighed on a different scale so with my starting weight from my scale at home I have

Only lost a pound.

However, I know from the way my clothing is fitting already and the way my ring tries to fall off of my finger sometimes

That I have lost inches. I will continue to weigh but am going to measure myself this evening. I should have done that to begin with.

I know this doesn’t sound very uplifting, but for me the fact that I have not let myself get down and eat badly as a punishment

Is uplifting! We are all going to come to times when the scale is not our friend, along our journey of weight loss but if you

Can remember the tiny things that make you know you are losing, or even the fact that you feel healthy when these times come

Facing your fear, but doing it anyway? That is Courage!

Trader Joe's

 I love love love this place! I haven't been for awhile so tonight I went.
I got a pretty good selection of things for less than forty dollars.
Crushed Garlic $1.79
Cashews $3.49
Slivered Almonds 2.49
Tahini Sauce which I have never tried before 2.49
Organic Chicken broth 1.99
My favorite Black Mango Tea 1.99
Spinach Fontina Chicken Sausages 3.99
White Balsamic Vinegar 2.29
Grilled Chicken Breast Strips  4.99
( I keep these on hand for days when I just can't face making my lunch salad at home.
Red Wine Vinegar 1.79
Fennel (2 lg. bulbs) 2.49
Snow Peas 2.69
Organic Sweet Onions 2.49
All for less than 40 dollars. Some of these things cost way more even at Wally world.

I didn't count the bag of Teeny Tiny Potatoes and triple Ginger snaps that Mr. SBL snuck into the cart when I wasn't looking.

Portion Control

So far the week has gone well. Others on our Living Healthy team at work are interested in doing South Beach as well so we had a lunch meeting yesterday and discussed the diet. I found original SB diet books at Goodwill for about two bucks so I gave one to everyone plus I was able to score a cookbook as well.

South Beach is not really about weighing or measuring food but there are somethings that have limits. For instance cottage cheese should be a half cup. I went out last night and bought some small Rubbermaid containers that hold around a half cup. I don't have to measure in the morning when I am fixing my lunch or worry that I put to much in a bigger container.

I also bought some little tiny plastic cups at Dollar Tree that are basically disposable. I got about twelve of them for a buck so I don't feel so bad about that they hold about 2 tablespoons so I use them for salad dressings.

Once again just pour and be less worried about how much you are actually eating. After you do this a few times you also kind of get an idea about how much a serving actually is.

Now I have gone and done it

A unique opportunity came my way today. We got an email in our mail about 100 days of Healthy Living. We could form a team of at least two people who wanted to participate in a weight loss/fitness team. Since our employer had worked out a deal that we could do this for half the price or 10 bucks.
I emailed someone at work and asked her if she thought anyone was going to join. Wouldn't you just know it? That email ended with me becoming the captain for a  team of 9 persons who are going to participate.
I am slightly scared about putting myself out there like this, on the other hand I feel that it will help me to keep on track by being a good example for everyone on the team.
We each all have our own little website where we can go to  log our fitness time and weight. We have to weigh in and report fitness time every week.

There are recipes, lot of other stuff and plus we all get a Tshirt and a free magazine subscription. I picked Eating Well for my mag.

First day of eating went well. I have made enough food up that I don't have to worry about what I am going to eat.
We had Chicken and Snow peas stir fry for supper tonight.
Live Healthy America

Living a Healthy Life!

The Live Healthy 100 Day Wellness Challenge is a team centric weight loss and physical activity program that will assist you and your teammates in making positive changes that lead to a healthier lifestyle.  By competing in Live Healthy you will begin to form healthy habits through physical activity and improved nutrition.
Friends, families and coworkers form teams that track weight loss and/or minutes of activity.
•Step 1:  Start a Team! Form a team of 2-10 people. Gather your team's email addresses and t-shirt sizes.
•Step 2:  Choose a Team Name and Team Captain! Team captain must have an e-mail address.
•Step 3:  Register!

Getting Ready For The Week

This morning I made several things to have for lunches for work next week.

Including this Greek Lemon Chicken
It was really quite simple and I got the chicken breasts on sale yesterday at Bakers for 99 cents a pound.

Greek Lemon Chicken
Chicken Breasts I left the skin on mine for cooking
Penzey's Greek Seasoning
Lemons

This is a kind of general recipe because you can add as many pieces of chicken as you want.
I washed the chicken well and patted dry.
Sprinkled them with
1/2 Teaspoon of Greek seasoning per breast
Cut Two lemons and put a couple of slices on top of each
breast. Roasted in the oven for about three hours on
300 degrees.

I can use this chicken through the week for salad or in a casserole or just eat as it is.

I also make some Stock in my crockpot with a recipe I got from the food blog A Year Of Slow Cooking which I love to read. Her recipes are quick and easy. Some of them are beachy or you can adapt.

I also made up some Lemon Chicken Soup that I got on the Whole Foods website. I didn't add the rice or thickener but added some extra veggies sliced in my food processor.

I love to cook and Sunday's is usually my cooking day. This works well, I am still going to boil some eggs and will take things from there.
I do have to maek a calender so I can make off each day of the Phase 1. I am planning on doing at least three weeks before adding anything back just because I need to lose a lot of weight.

Losing Weight On a Budget

I am beginning my weight loss journey on Monday. I will be following the South Beach Diet.  I have been reading Dr. Agatston’s newest take on the diet called:

 The South Beach Wake-UpCall: Why America Is Still Getting Fatter and Sicker, Plus 7 Simple Strategies for Reversing Our Toxic Lifestyle

I will be purchasing most of my food at Aldis Grocery Store. For those of you who don’t know what Aldis is here is some information for you. Aldis is owned by the same company that brings us Trader Joes. They are a very simple store with their own brands for the most part. You have to bring a quarter to use their grocery cart and bring your own bags. I have been buying a lot of groceries there in the last year. Most everything we have got there has been good. There are a few things that Mr. SBL doesn’t like but it’s stuff I wouldn’t eat anyways.

To give you an idea about money savings I bought a gallon of milk there today for $2.49,as opposed to $3.49 at most other grocers in town. I was trying to mainly only buy things that I will be eating starting Monday for the Phase 1 of South Beach. 

Here is a list of what I bought:

Muenster Cheese slices $2.19

Swiss Cheese slices $2.19

Provolone Cheese slices $2.19

All cheese slices were 1 pound packages and with 6gm of fat per slice

Baby Spinach 99 cents ----- same size as the Dole Bags of salad.

Wild Caught Salmon frozen $4.49 for 1 lb.

Broccoli 16 ounces of Crowns fresh $1.69

Green Beans 16 oz. Fresh $1.69

 And their imatation of a certain very tasty low fat speadable cheese in a round package for $1.49!

Here are some other things I picked up at other stores

Bakers:

Grape Tomatoes 2 for $5.00

Large Eggs 79 cents

Bag N Save

Low Fat Sour Cream $ 1.69

Low Fat Cottage Cheese $1.79

Skim Milk Ricotta Cheese $1.69

Anyway you get the picture I spent less than seventy bucks and brought home a ton of food. Lots of things were staples that I am going to need that will last more than a week.

After I left Bag N Save I went across the street to Goodwill and laid down 5 bucks for a Snuggli and a new flannel shirt since I am freezing my ass off today. Nebraska weather don’t you know.