Alabama Adventures

Hello, hello! Instead of a Shopping Shenanigans post this Saturday, I decided to post about my trip so far.
This evening is my cousin Kyle's wedding, but to pass the time today, we went around Montgomery and saw the sights. We ate at a really good Mexican restaurant called Jalepeños and then walked around town. We also went to a car show this morning in the parking lot across from our hotel. It's starting to feel like summer!
Before any of the day's adventures started, I went with my uncle, my cousin, and his girlfriend to a CrossFit gym near the hotel. My cousin owns a CrossFit gym in Atlanta, Georgia, so he's an expert. My uncle walked me through a warm-up and a quick workout. Oh. My. God. It was the hardest I think I've ever worked out before in my life. I felt like I was going to puke afterwards. But, it was so worth it! I know I worked off any extra point I may have eaten and then some!
Anyway, happy Saturday! Wedding tonight and pictures to come!

4 days until Weigh-In Wednesday!

Exercise Escapades

Well, against all odds, I worked out every day this week! Yay!! I'm quite happy that I packed my workout clothes for my cousin's wedding here in Montgomery, Alabama, because our hotel has a gym. We left Cape Girardeau at 4:00 this morning and got here in plenty of time for me to workout, shower, and get ready for the rehearsal dinner. I'm so happy that I didn't have to skip today! Plus, we went out for BBQ for lunch and are going to have southern cooking for dinner (crab cakes, shrimp and grits, steak, etc.), so I'm glad I earned some extra activity points for the night. Hopefully I can still stay within my normal points range, though, since I never use my extra activity points.
It's been so good to see my family! They all live in different states or too far away in St. Louis for me to get to see them very often, so this has been a wonderful trip so far. Wedding pictures to come! Here's this week's workout schedule:

Monday: 1.74 Mile Walk/Jog around Concordia (30 min.)

Tuesday: Focus T25 Cardio (Alpha)

Wednesday: 1.77 Mile Walk/Jog around Concordia (30 min.)

Thursday: Focus T25 Speed 1.0 (Alpha)
Friday: Bike (Hotel Gym - 30 min.)

Monday's Jog/Walk

Wednesday's Jog/Walk - Oklahoma?

Hotel Gym!

5 days until Weigh-In Wednesday!

Recipe Report

Hello from Cape Girardeau! We have begun our trek to Montgomery, Alabama, to attend my cousin's wedding. The car ride and eating on the go actually went really well! I brought tons of healthy snacks (mostly fruit and popcorn) and when my parents stopped at McDonald's for dinner, I went across the street to Subway instead. Yay, me! Tomorrow is going to be the tough part of our trip, though. It'll be an all-day drive and then a rehearsal dinner. Fingers crossed that I can manage!
Anyway, onto today's Recipe Report. This week, I decided to make a (light) Strawberry Jell O Pie that my grandma usually makes, and it's always delicious! I used a reduced fat pre-made pie crust, sugar-free Jell O, and Truvia instead of sugar. It actually doesn't taste any different from the full-sugar version! Another plus is that it was super easy to make and is ready in only an hour or so! It ended up being 4 Points Plus for a slice (1/8 of the pie). I'll definitely make this again!!

6 days until Weigh-In Wednesday!

Weigh-In Wednesday

Today's Weight:

291.8

Happy Weigh-In Wednesday, everyone!! I lost 2.2 pounds this week!! I'm so close to my 10% goal of 289.8. It's only two more pounds and hopefully I'll get there by next Wednesday. I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to my cousin's wedding in Alabama, so the road trip plus the wedding goodies will be hard on my diet. My mom and I bought healthy snacks for the car (yes, we're driving there) and I plan on not overeating at the reception dinner. I won't get a chance to workout Friday, which is kind of bumming me out, but I'll pack my workout clothes just in case I can find something active to do. I guess I could bring a T25 video and do it in the hotel room. We'll see what happens!
Anyway, I'm super excited that I have officially lost over 30 pounds! That's such a huge accomplishment. The pieces in my "Pounds Lost" jar are starting to stack up!! Even though it has taken since January 1 to get here, the pounds are still coming off and I'm still motivated. If I just take it one day at a time and make smart choices, I know I can get to my goal of weighing roughly 180 pounds by the end of the next school-year.

Total Weight Loss: 30.2 pounds

Only 111.8 to go!

Artistic Antics

Today was our final "build" day for pottery. Starting next week, we'll begin glazing everything we've made so far. Our teacher, again, complained that we were making too big of pieces and that she would only be able to fire them once (so, no glaze). She's fabulous. So, instead of building something new in fear of being scolded, I put the finishing touches on my owl spoon holder and called it a night. In spite of all of her condescension and rudeness, we had a good time hanging out together. I'm actually excited to start painting my pieces. Hopefully they all turn out well!
After class, we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. I ordered the grilled tilapia instead of the cheese-covered chicken I normally get. Weigh-In Wednesday is tomorrow, and I'm so close to meeting my 10% goal. Hopefully I'll get there tomorrow! Weight Watchers is still going slowly, but I guess it's still going, so that's good. Slow loss usually means you'll keep it off much better than fad diets that drops pounds too quickly. Here's to hoping for a good result from the scale in the morning!

Tomorrow is Weigh-In Wednesday!

Phenomenal Foods

Today's Phenomenal Food is:

Kale!

Kale is delicious! I love it in salads, in smoothies, and just cooked by itself. I've been making my breakfast smoothies for a little over a week now, and kale is by far my favorite greens to make them with. Spinach is good, but kale is sweeter and doesn't have stringy bits that don't get completely blended. My favorite combination so far is: 1/2 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder, 1 cup of Trop 50 orange juice, 2 cups of kale (blend first 3 ingredients until smooth first before adding the frozen fruit), 1/2 cup of frozen strawberries, and 1/2 cup of frozen mangos (with some chia seeds added in for that extra omega-3). It's really sweet and really filling!

According to an article called Kale: Natural Weight-Loss Food from health.howstuffworks.com, "For a green, kale is unusually high in fiber. This helps create the bulk you need to fill you up and to keep you full for a good amount of time. Kale is also an excellent source of nutrients, especially vitamin A and calcium. With a combination of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, kale is a dieter's dream food."

It also says, "Not only is it one of your best sources of beta-carotene, one of theantioxidants believed by many nutrition experts to be a major player in the battle against cancer, heart disease, and certain age-related chronic diseases, it also provides other important nutrients.

In addition to beta-carotene, kale posses other important carotenoids: lutein and zeaxathin. These carotenoids help keep UV rays from damaging the eyes and causing cataracts.

According to recent research results, kale is an incredible source of well-absorbed calcium, which is one of the many factors that may help prevent osteoporosis. It also provides decent amounts of vitamin C, folic acid, vitamin B6, manganese, and potassium.

The manganese in kale helps your body's own antioxidant defense system, superoxide dismutase, protecting you from damaging free radicals. Its folate and B6 team up to keep homocysteine levels down, which may help prevent heart disease, dementia, and osteoporosis bone fractures."

Kale seems to be a bit of a superfood! I never realized all the great health benefits this tasty green has! I'll definitely keep putting it in my smoothies and salads!

Click the photo for a recipe for kale chips!

2 days until Weigh-In Wednesday!

Weekend Warrior

Yay, successful weekend! I did quite well both days staying within my points range even with going out to eat and having a birthday dinner for Austin. Hopefully Weigh-In Wednesday will show the restraint I used this weekend!
In other news, my mom and I went back to Sam's Club today because we needed healthy snacks for our upcoming trip to Alabama for my cousin's wedding. We also officially bought the Ninja blender that I saw yesterday and researched and started looking at patio furniture and deep freezers for our new house.

In other news, our boxer Cleo sliced her foot open pretty badly somehow while she was outside and bled everywhere. So, Austin and I doctored up her foot; we cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide, put Neosporin on it, and put gauze and a bandage on it. She wasn't a huge fan of the bandage at first, but she got used to if after a while. We still had to clean blood stains out of the carpet and bed sheets where she was lying.

3 days until Weigh-In Wednesday!

Shopping Shenanigans

Well, I forgot to post yesterday. Oops! Anyway, here's a recap of what we did: my mom, my grandma, and I went to Walmart and Sam's Club, we celebrated my brother Austin's birthday with a family dinner, and then we went and saw the new Captain America movie (which was fantastic).

Also, Austin and I are moving into a house next year and have a spare room in the basement that we've decided to make into a movie theatre room! I'm super excited! We're hopefully going to buy some nice recliners on a garage sale this summer, my grandpa gave us his old big-screen TV, and I bought an air-pop popcorn maker at Sam's yesterday. Yay, healthy popcorn! Then, I decided to buy a Ninja blender system to make all sorts of goodies! Austin also has my old mini fridge from college, so we'll have drinks, too! Plus, he's setting up a sound system and an entertainment center. We get to start moving in June 1, and I can't wait! A month and a half is going to seem like forever! Especially since my neighbors still have their dog that barks outside all the time and my upstairs neighbors recently bought Satan's cats. Seriously, it's demonic. It fights and screams all night with another cat or something. I don't understand. Let the countdown to moving begin! (55 days!)

3 days until Weigh-In Wednesday!