In with a new year and out with the old
Happy New Year for starters :)
I am not a big fan of New Year's Resolutions. I think they are silly. I don't think I have ever met a person who has kept one. I think if you want to make changes then you should make resolutions to yourself to make changes. It doesn't matter if it's January 1st, Tuesday, November, or early in the morning. If you want to make changes just set your mind to it and do it. That being said, I'm not real good at making changes either.
When I was in my mid twenties I decided I wanted to make some changes. I got divorced, focused more on school, and focused more on being the kind of mother I thought my kiddos needed. Those were some good changes and I think I did well with them. When I turned 29 I decided I wanted to lose some weight. I did really good for about ten months and then I started sliding. I lost nearly 60 pounds! I put about thirty of it back on :( When I turned 31 I started thinking that maybe I needed to work on getting back on the healthy band wagon...and trying to stay there this time. Actually I think it started a little before that. I had asked for a gym membership and got one in August (about three months before my 31st). I was ready to workout but I was not ready to change my eating habits. Around my birthday I started thinking more about changing those too.
I'm not a nutritionist or a personal trainer. I have no formal education on how to get fit and healthy. I just started researching things on the internet, trying to weed out the crap from the facts. I had to weed through a lot of fad diets, supplements, cleanses, and wraps to get to the truth. The truth is this: you CANNOT be healthy by working out alone. You MUST eat healthy or you are wasting your time at the gym. Wasting time that many of us don't have to waste. I know I certainly don't!
So then I started researching ways to eat healthier. I had done this before so I knew some tricks but I felt that part of the problem was that I was so limited by what I could eat. I'm a southern girl raised on burgers and pizza and fried chicken. You can't expect me to eat fish and hummus and pita chips every day. It just isn't going to happen. I need variety and flavor.
Then I realized this time around that part of my problem is the way I view food in general. First, I need to view it as fuel and not as comfort. Second I need to stop thinking that I have to give up everything I love, because that is never going to happen.
So based on my research and my own experiences I have decided that I am going to work on these things. I am not calling them a resolution because I have been working on getting prepared, both mentally and with the facts, since at least November, if not earlier. I have also decided that I want to share my journey with my friends, hence the blog post about it.
I will admit that I am sharing this, at least partly, for selfish reasons. I want you all to be able to keep me accountable and to share in my little successes. I am also doing it so I can share the things I learn along the way. I think that everyone can benefit from someone else's experiences. I also thought I could add a few recipes along the way so you can try them out if you want something different.
Yesterday was the first day of the new approach. First, I did not go all out cold turkey quitting every bad habit I have. That's setting myself up to fail. Also, I haven't been feeling well and don't quite have the energy to hit the gym yet. I decided that it is better for me in the long run to rest up and get back to 100% before trying to hit the gym. No excuses, just the truth.
I ate Belvita breakfast cookies for breakfast. I think these things are amazing. I eat them when I am in a hurry and don't want to skip breakfast. They are tasty and they are good for you. I like the cinnamon ones but they come in different flavors. The rest of the day I just tried to stay healthy and I think I did pretty good. For dinner (and the point of this whole paragraph) I tried something new. I wasn't sure how the kids would take to it but they all ate it. And it's super easy to make. It's called Salsa Chicken.
You put chicken breasts, salsa, diced tomatoes, and a dash of hot sauce into the crockpot. Leave for 4-6 hours on slow or about 3 hours on high. You can serve it with just about anything. We had green beans and pasta (which I went light on). I think tortillas and beans would be yummy too.
The chicken was flavorful and tender and wasn't dried out at all (like some crockpot recipes are).
Today I did something I did the last time I was trying to be healthier. For lunch I made flat bread pizza. I got low cal flat bread, the lowest calorie and sugar pizza sauce, low fat cheese, turkey pepperoni, and bell peppers and made a pizza. It was around 250 calories and it was totally yummy. And there are so many ways you can make this. Imagine a veggie pizza or a supreme. Tonight for dinner we are doing tilapia. Foil packet, fish, fresh cut lemons, lemon juice, fish seasoning, and asparagus mixed in and baked at 350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. I put each fish in it's own packet so they cook better and so the flavor is better absorbed.
I can't promise that I will update this blog daily but I will try to do it as often as I can, especially when I have a yummy new recipe. Thanks for coming along on this journey with me :)
I am not a big fan of New Year's Resolutions. I think they are silly. I don't think I have ever met a person who has kept one. I think if you want to make changes then you should make resolutions to yourself to make changes. It doesn't matter if it's January 1st, Tuesday, November, or early in the morning. If you want to make changes just set your mind to it and do it. That being said, I'm not real good at making changes either.
When I was in my mid twenties I decided I wanted to make some changes. I got divorced, focused more on school, and focused more on being the kind of mother I thought my kiddos needed. Those were some good changes and I think I did well with them. When I turned 29 I decided I wanted to lose some weight. I did really good for about ten months and then I started sliding. I lost nearly 60 pounds! I put about thirty of it back on :( When I turned 31 I started thinking that maybe I needed to work on getting back on the healthy band wagon...and trying to stay there this time. Actually I think it started a little before that. I had asked for a gym membership and got one in August (about three months before my 31st). I was ready to workout but I was not ready to change my eating habits. Around my birthday I started thinking more about changing those too.
I'm not a nutritionist or a personal trainer. I have no formal education on how to get fit and healthy. I just started researching things on the internet, trying to weed out the crap from the facts. I had to weed through a lot of fad diets, supplements, cleanses, and wraps to get to the truth. The truth is this: you CANNOT be healthy by working out alone. You MUST eat healthy or you are wasting your time at the gym. Wasting time that many of us don't have to waste. I know I certainly don't!
So then I started researching ways to eat healthier. I had done this before so I knew some tricks but I felt that part of the problem was that I was so limited by what I could eat. I'm a southern girl raised on burgers and pizza and fried chicken. You can't expect me to eat fish and hummus and pita chips every day. It just isn't going to happen. I need variety and flavor.
Then I realized this time around that part of my problem is the way I view food in general. First, I need to view it as fuel and not as comfort. Second I need to stop thinking that I have to give up everything I love, because that is never going to happen.
So based on my research and my own experiences I have decided that I am going to work on these things. I am not calling them a resolution because I have been working on getting prepared, both mentally and with the facts, since at least November, if not earlier. I have also decided that I want to share my journey with my friends, hence the blog post about it.
I will admit that I am sharing this, at least partly, for selfish reasons. I want you all to be able to keep me accountable and to share in my little successes. I am also doing it so I can share the things I learn along the way. I think that everyone can benefit from someone else's experiences. I also thought I could add a few recipes along the way so you can try them out if you want something different.
Yesterday was the first day of the new approach. First, I did not go all out cold turkey quitting every bad habit I have. That's setting myself up to fail. Also, I haven't been feeling well and don't quite have the energy to hit the gym yet. I decided that it is better for me in the long run to rest up and get back to 100% before trying to hit the gym. No excuses, just the truth.
I ate Belvita breakfast cookies for breakfast. I think these things are amazing. I eat them when I am in a hurry and don't want to skip breakfast. They are tasty and they are good for you. I like the cinnamon ones but they come in different flavors. The rest of the day I just tried to stay healthy and I think I did pretty good. For dinner (and the point of this whole paragraph) I tried something new. I wasn't sure how the kids would take to it but they all ate it. And it's super easy to make. It's called Salsa Chicken.
You put chicken breasts, salsa, diced tomatoes, and a dash of hot sauce into the crockpot. Leave for 4-6 hours on slow or about 3 hours on high. You can serve it with just about anything. We had green beans and pasta (which I went light on). I think tortillas and beans would be yummy too.
The chicken was flavorful and tender and wasn't dried out at all (like some crockpot recipes are).
Today I did something I did the last time I was trying to be healthier. For lunch I made flat bread pizza. I got low cal flat bread, the lowest calorie and sugar pizza sauce, low fat cheese, turkey pepperoni, and bell peppers and made a pizza. It was around 250 calories and it was totally yummy. And there are so many ways you can make this. Imagine a veggie pizza or a supreme. Tonight for dinner we are doing tilapia. Foil packet, fish, fresh cut lemons, lemon juice, fish seasoning, and asparagus mixed in and baked at 350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. I put each fish in it's own packet so they cook better and so the flavor is better absorbed.
I can't promise that I will update this blog daily but I will try to do it as often as I can, especially when I have a yummy new recipe. Thanks for coming along on this journey with me :)