Yeah…I fell prey to the Twilight Zone…two nights in a row, lol. Upon my proclamation of only needing to lose .4 lbs more to reach my Spring Break goal, when the past two evenings rolled around, I just kind of gave in. On rather healthy stuff albeit, but overindulging nevertheless. I’m not going to beat myself up for it because I have a feeling that TOM (thanks to Kim for clarifying - kind of had a “duh” moment there, lol) had a BIG something to do with it, actually, I know it did. But I have to just accept it and move on and not let it happen again.

I really think I will be OK. The deal with the past two nights was that I was alone…I don’t like being alone in the evenings when TOM is visiting, it just intensifies things. I’m sure y’all all know what I’m talking about. But I’m going to be with quite a few people from tonight through the end of next weekend so I know it won’t be a problem again - whew!

Besides, it’s a fresh week for me and it’s not like I used all my flex points or something, I still have a little more than half left. The only thing I have to be careful of now is that I’m going to the rodeo tonight to see John Legend (I am SOO excited!) and I am going to try my best to eat healthy before we go so I won’t be too hungry while I am there. However we are going to be there from like 6 until midnight or something, so I’m going to have to eat there sometime. I just hope I can find some healthy options. It’s been FOREVER since I’ve gone to the rodeo and even longer since I ate anything while I was in attendance. Tonight will be interesting. But I think I can do it - rather, I KNOW I can do it!

Well I hope everyone is doing well and isn’t falling prey to the twilight zone like you know who, haha. I’m bringing my lap top with me so I will be posting while on my little “spring break” this will keep me even more accountable - I love it when I make sneaky plans for myself, lol. Good luck to everyone and HAPPY FRIDAY!!

YAY! Down another 1.4 lbs! AND I reached my first 5 lb marker! (5.6 lbs to be exact!) So I think I am pretty on schedule. My goal was to have lost 6lbs by Spring Break which I am calculating as starting next Monday the 10th. I’m pretty sure I can lose .4 lbs by then! But let’s knock on some wood because I don’t want to jinx myself! haha *knocks on some wood*

I’m actually really excited for Spring Break - well definitely for the obvious reasons of being able to relax and be with friends in the sun at the beach - but also because I really think I am going to be successful next week. I don’t think I will do anything to jeopardize my success thus far. AND our TV in Galveston also has the Exercise on Demand channel so I can continue with my workouts while I am there, lol. Also, another thing that will make this trip easy is one of my friends is a vegetarian/vegan so I want to cook meals that all three of us can eat (i.e. Roni’s Spaghetti Squash and Zucchini Lasagna, among others) so that will just help me stay on track! I’m also going to go grocery shopping before I go down and bring everything I could possibly need. I know I’ll be ok with Adri, my vegetarian friend but I am worried about Bonnie, my snack food crazy friend (otherwise known as I can eat anything I want to and still be stick thin and model - which she does, lol) and I love her nonetheless, but I won’t let any of her foods tempt me, hence going shopping and bringing down EVERYTHING I could possibly need to have a successful OP week!

But today is a good day! The week has been a good week so far and I hope everyone else is feeling the same way! I’m off to eat a peach - I think I forgot to add that to the list of all the fruits I bought, so many I couldn’t remember them all! haha

Haha…seriously though! I went to the grocery store today and basically ONLY bought fruit! Glorious, sweet, delicious, healthy fruit!! Let’s see…I bought strawberries (they are FINALLY ripe and beautiful looking!), blackberries, bananas, tangelos, kiwis (massive ones!), a starfruit (they were giving away samples in the store, it’s quite yummy, subtle but delish!), a strawberry papaya (I’d never even heard of such a thing but I decided to try it anyway!), some ripe perfect mangoes, and a red anjou pear (they didn’t have my green d’anjou pears I love LOVE those pears!) Anyways, I am just SO excited! It’s going to take everything in me to not eat it all up tonight! haha…

Oh I also bought another spaghetti squash - I think this thing is genius! I can’t get enough of it. Some spinach and some more zucchini.

So needless to say, I will have no excuse for not getting in all my fruits and veggies this week! hehe. I’ll be sure to let y’all know how all the new exotic fruits are (in my opinion anyways).

Oh also…has anyone ever had a persimmons? I remember my Gran used to blend them up in yogurt when I was a little girl but can’t remember much else. Hmmm…there was ALL sorts of other exotic fruits too but I had to limit myself :p

Finally, I jogged AGAIN today! 3 days in a row! I’m taking it easy, well not easy, but I’m definitely not doing anything to jeopardize my back. It feels SO good to work out again. Y’all just don’t understand, before I hurt my back I worked out EVERY day and did all sorts of step, kickboxing, hip hop, cardio combo, aerobic classes all the time - I LOVE them. That’s what spurred my interest and desire in getting certified so I could teach my own classes. I want to do a kind of dance incorporated step class. Oh I can’t wait to get back to that level. But slowly is the best way and it just feels AWESOME!!

Thanks to the support and advice from those about exercising, it’s so nice to know I have a great community of friends behind me!

Keep up the good work guys!

Granted, it was to one of the “in home” FREE exercise on demand work outs, but STILL I jogged!! I was SO proud of myself! And what’s more,  I was so excited that it didn’t upset my back! Now, I’m not going to get over zealous and push myself too hard to the point that I might hurt myself again, BUT at least I know I can do a little something more than walking! I was SO excited yesterday (and incidentally pretty tired in the afternoon, haha) but it’s a start of something wonderful and new!

I can’t wait to do it again this evening when I get home from work!

Hope everyone is having a happy Monday! (and that you are having better weather, it’s cold and rainy here - wah wah).

 *BREAK*

WOO HOO! Just did it again - TWICE! I know I know, I need to be CAREFUL! But I didn’t push myself too far, I only did what was in my comfort range. Hopefully I won’t be paying for it tomorrow but as of right now, I feel pretty dang good!

mmmmMMMMmmmm!! I did it! Just like I said I might yesterday, I made Roni’s 100% Whole Grain Pancakesand they were absolutely fabulous!! I did mine with a side of one turkey sausage patty and some strawberries. It was just perfect! Now, I forgot to take a picture until after all was said and done and I was storing away my extra pancakes, but nonetheless - here they are!! I think they look great, even in a plastic container, haha.

This absolutely hit the spot, especially after last night. I wasn’t bad and I think I did pretty well, but I don’t know if there truly is a “lite” way to do Mexican food, lol. My parents dropped by for a quick visit on their way back to Houston and we went to Vivo’s Mexican food restaurant. They have the BEST margaritas, hands down! I like to think of myself as a margarita connoisseur, and especially my mom, and these are just phenomenal!! So yes, I did have a margarita, but only one and I ordered the beef fajitas and only ate one and really only added lettuce and a little bit of rice and beans to it. So that along with a handful of chips. I think I was pretty well behaved! But yeah, I don’t know that there will ever be a “lite” way to do Mexican, but I’m ok with it. But as I was saying, after a “heavy” night like last night, this was the perfect breakfast meal!

Now I’m going to change into my work out clothes, go for a brisk walk around the neighborhood and then come back and do my FREE Exercise on Demand In Home walking work out, haha. I feel like such a goober saying that but what do I care? I’m getting the exercise and that’s all that matters!

Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday!

A fresh new month! Well I am happy to announce I am in a MUCH better mood than yesterday. Thanks to the positive words yesterday and helping to keep me focused on the great things that the week HAD brought!

So a few posts ago, I mentioned that I had a few things I wanted to write about - well, I am just now getting to that, lol. Better late than never though.

First of all, I wanted to mention that I made Roni’s Simple Savory Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. This is the 4th meal or recipe I have cooked from her and again, it was delicious!! I snapped a picture with my camera phone that I sent to my mom, and then I realized yesterday that I could ago ahead and use it here too. It’s not nearly as pretty as Roni’s but I bet it was every bit as delicious! lol

So if you have yet to make anything of Roni’s GreenLiteBites website then you are SERIOUSLY missing out!! Get on that ASAP! I’m seriously contemplating making her 100% Whole Grain Pancakes tomorrow morning. If I do, I’ll be sure to share that experience with you as well!

Secondly, last week - my last weigh in and meeting we talked about Dealing with Antomatic Negative Thoughts - ANTs. Well this past Wednesday at the meeting, we discussed the last 5 in the series of 10 steps and I wanted to go ahead and share those with everyone.

• Visualize and affirm your goals and objectives
• Take action
• Respond to feedback
• Persevere
• Celebrate your success

So here is what I took out of those last 5 steps…

• Visualizing and affirming your goals and objectives is JUST like WW’s Tool for Living of Mental Rehearsing. Visualizing difficult situations and what we will do in them to succeed. Seeing ourself at that goal weight. Imagining how good it will feel. 
• Taking action - I did this when I packed healthy snacks to take with me to the emergency room so I wouldn’t be tempted to go to the vending machine. Or as one lady in my meeting said, she was going on vacation and she had brought all kinds of healthy snacks for the plan ride and already located the nearest grocery store to where she was staying so she could go shopping and stay on plan. Or if you are going out to eat at a restaurant, looking at their menu online before hand to have an idea of what to order, the nutritional information, etc.
• Responding to feedback - the scale serves as feedback and really it’s ALL positive feedback, it’s just how we choose to interpret that feedback. Yes, no one likes to see a gain on the scale (especially when it’s not related to gaining muscle), but the scale is letting us know that we aren’t doing something right so we need to re-evaluate what we are doing (respond). Of course there are several other types of feedback as well. What are some other examples of feedback you can think of?
• Persevering - going THROUGH the ANT’s and not letting them bring us down or stunt our success. If it’s raining, well grab an umbrella and still going for that walk. If we want some cookies, planning for those cookies and ONLY eating the amount we planned on - all examples of persevering!
• Finally celebrating our success - this is SO important! We need to appreciate our ROLE in and RESPONSIBILITY for our success. Once we acknowledge ourself in the equation, we value ourselves more. And once we celebrate those successes and APPRECIATE them, we will think much harder about UNdoing those successes.

I love WW meetings! I mean they really just help to put everything in perspective and put you in a good mood and help you to find the strengths in yourself and provide an outline for how to go about this journey. So I know I proposed the same idea last time and I’m not sure if anyone did, but I’m going to challenge everyone to write out their own list, of 10 things now, and how these steps apply to them. You don’t need to share them with me if you don’t want to but I promise it will help YOU in YOUR journey, just having this outline. Good luck!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and stays OP, gets their activity in and don’t let any ANTs get in your way!