A Cleanse and Some Tacos

Nate and I made it through our seven day cleanse!  You are supposedly guaranteed to lose 10-17 lbs, but we only lost 6 lbs each.  I am totally happy with that though, because during my weight watcher days I only lost 1-2 lbs/week.  It was a great jump start to our new healthy eating plan…. and I really did feel cleansed.

We did the GM Diet March 5-11.

The GM Diet was originally created by GM and only for the employees and families. Somehow GM (biggest company in the world at the time) got a grant from the FDA and the Department of Agriculture to create this. Johns Hopkins was involved and the diet was approved and launched in 1985.

The GM Diet is designed to flush your system of impurities and give you a feeling of well being.

Here is the plan… (For a longer, more in depth version click HERE)

Day One All fruits except bananas. Your first day will consist of all the fruits you want.

Day Two All vegetables. You are encouraged to eat until you are stuffed with all the raw or cooked vegetables of your choice. There is no limit on the amount or type.

Day Three A mixture of fruits and vegetables of your choice. Any amount, any quantity.

Day Four Bananas and milk.

Day Five Today is feast day. You will eat beef and tomatoes.

Day Six Beef and vegetables. Today you may eat an unlimited amount of beef and vegetables. Eat to your hearts content.

Day Seven Today your food intake will consist of brown rice, fruit juices and all the vegetables you care to consume.

It was pretty hard to get through the first three days, but we made it.  I taught myself to like veggies and fruits that I thought I hated, and I even tried a banana (maybe for the first time in my life).  When day five got here, we had never been so excited to see some meat on our plate.

I learned that I like to cover my food in sauces and eat crunchy things.  It is something that needs to change, but it is also something that I missed terribly during the cleanse week.  It doesn’t matter what I’m eating I like a nice condiment for dipping.  Whether it’s ketchup, ranch, gravy, or chick-fil-a sauce, I am the dipping queen.  And who knew that apples aren’t crunchy enough for my weird mouth.

Anyway, we were super proud of ourselves for making it through the whole week.  We even had to go to a restaurant and order “the veggie platter” on the last day.

To celebrate our conquering food week, I made a taco feast!  It was so delish… making tacos even more my favorite food (or at least at the top tied with pizza).

No Sweets? No Sweat.

Hello.  My name is Whitney and I am a sweet-a-holic.  That is probably not a word, but you get what I’m saying.  I didn’t used to be so bad… or maybe it never affected my body as much.  I did always enjoy the candy bars at my mom and dad’s station.  To this day, when I go in there I feel like I have to get something sweet to eat.  Then when Nate and I got married, I just ate when he ate.  And Nate likes a little bite of something sweet after every meal.  Then when we moved and I went through a year of depression and ate everything in sight… that wasn’t too good either.

My weight has been up and down and this year I am ready to make a major change and stick with it.  I don’t need to be super skinny, but I need to fill good about myself.  So… I have taken a few steps, and have a few more in mind to get to my goal.

Step One:  Since our house in Rogers is finally out of our hands, we can really focus on living here and being here.  It is like my mind has been in two different places for 2 1/2 years, so having it gone will completely change my life here.  And the number on my bathroom scale :)

Step Two:  My friend is going through a book called “The Fasting of the Sevens” by Jen Hatmaker.  Every month there is something to focus on and fast from… showing us how much we live in excess.  Last month Hollie decided to go without sweets.  I took the challenge with her.  We did it for completely different reasons, but were there to keep each other accountable.  Man, is it sooo much easier to do any kind of diet with someone doing it with you. 

It was definitely hard for me.  Especially when Nate would leave an open pack of gummy worms out on the counter, or when we got two boxes of Russell Stover’s chocolates for Valentine’s Day… but I did it!  And I didn’t die!  This was a great accomplishment for me and I proved to myself that it is possible to live without a bite of chocolate everyday.

Of course when March 1 got here I went crazy at Sam’s and bought a double-layered cookie cake (I dreamed about it, okay).  And Hollie and I met up at Freddy’s for some much deserved custard to celebrate… Notice mine is the chocolatiest one I could get (I know another made up word).

Step Three: Do a seven day cleanse.  I have tried some “Jillian Michael” cleansing pills before and nothing happened to me.  So this time, I am going to start my healthy eating life with the seven day GM diet.  It is pretty extreme, but it will be a great jump start to shred some lb’s.  I am currently on day two and it’s looking good.  Nate is doing it with me, so that is a huge support.  Yesterday we ate nothing but fruit.  Today we are eating nothing but veggies.  I’ll keep you updated on how the rest of the week goes.  Nate will probably lose like 20 lbs. and I’ll lose 5, but that’s ok.  I’m keeping my eyes on the end prize… which may not be here until November (or later).

Step Four:  Run a 5K.  I am signed up… even paid good money to go run this race.  The date is April 21 so after we get back from Nicaragua, I will be a training machine.  This is another thing that I never in a million years thought I would be doing… So I can just imagine how it’s going to feel when I really do it next month.

Step Five:  Go back to weight watchers and exercise regularly until I get to my goal weight.

That’s it… I am on step three.  We will see what happens from here.  Wish me luck!

"Hey Slim!"

Before........Now

To date I have lost 27 lbs. I have 13 more to go before I hit my goal of losing 40 lbs. I am feeling better everyday and enjoying my new healthy eating lifestyle. People at church have started telling me how good I look, and it really makes me feel good. I don't really like attention, but I'll take someone calling me "slim" any day. ha.

I can fit into everything in my closet now, but after these last 13 lbs are gone I'll be able to fit more comfortably :) I can't wait to put on anything I want and not worry about the bulge. When I get to my goal I will be at my wedding day weight.... I haven't been there since 2005.

My theory these last four months has been, "It's just food." There are a lot more important things to worry about. I don't really miss much, because I feel so much better about myself.... and there is always a low fat option out there. Hearing Nate tell me that he's proud and give me compliments is all I need to keep me going :)

"You realize, don't you, that you are the temple of God, and God Himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God's temple, you can be sure of that. God's temple is sacred - and you, remember, are the temple." -1Corinthians 3:16

Chicken Tacos

Chicken Tacos

Something crazy happened last night. I made dinner.

Thought I'd share one of our favorite meals. (and it's so easy)

Ingredients:

3 or 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast

16 oz. jar of Salsa

1 can of Corn, drained

1 can of Black Beans, drained and rinsed

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Put it all in a crock pot on high for 4 hours.

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And this is what it will look like

Mmmm.

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Serve with:

taco shells or tortillas

sour cream

shredded lettuce

shredded cheese

chopped tomato

...and whatever else you like on your tacos.

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3 points for 1/2 cup on weight watchers.

20 lb. Massage!

So, to reward myself for losing weight, I thought I should do something great every 10lbs.

(a little incentive never hurt anybody)

Hollie and I had a great little purple toes pedicure for losing 10 lbs. I couldn't get Nate to do that with us, but he did want to do what I had planned for losing 20 lbs. In fact... He was counting down the lbs. We went for a massage.

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It was very relaxing and just what we needed.

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Ahhh.... we both wish massages weren't so expensive. I guess we will just have to stick to our one time every two years plan.

DIY Back Splash & 20 lbs Gone...

This weekend the inner carpenter in us came out in full force. We tiled our hearts out. It was a lot of work, but the end result is totally worth it. We re-did our kitchen back splash. It was plain white and now it definitely has some character.

It looks expensive.... even though it wasn't ;) and it makes me want to cook!

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Enjoy some pictures!

Nate is so handy. I bet he could build a whole house by himself.

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We have lots of renovation memories together.

It was great for us to be home together for a whole weekend.

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Grouting

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Before and after shot. This turned out a little small, but when we are completely through with the counter tops and all I will post better ones.

................................................................................................................................................ And, for the weight watchers update:

I have lost 20 lbs!

I sit here (at work) wearing some black pants that I haven't been able to wear in at least 2 years. Woo Hoo! I don't know how I let myself get so big, but I am really enjoying losing the weight. Every Monday when I weigh and see that number go down it is like a little happy party going on in my mind. ha.

I can't wait to get to my goal! I'm half way there! When these next 20 lbs get gone, I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself!

Taco Soup

Taco Soup

Great for these cold days. Mmmm...

• 1 lb. lean hamburger meat
• chopped onion
• 2 cans ranch style beans
• 1 can corn
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 1 12 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 can water
• 1 pkg. taco seasoning

Cook hamburger meat with onion and drain. In a large pot mix together all ingredients. Do not drain vegetables. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

Easy and so delicious.

3 points for a cup on weight watchers.

10 lb. Pedi!

Weight Watcher update!

Last weekend Hollie and I went to the mall for a celebratory pedicure. That is what we said we were going to do when we lost 10 lbs. Ah! Losing weight has never felt better.

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We went a little crazy and got matching purple toes!

My sweet, awesome, great friend Hollie.

Don't know what I would do without her listening ear sometimes.

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Now we are so looking forward to our 20 lb massages! Oh yes. Just 5 more lbs to go.

The Weight Watcher

I couldn't fit into any of my clothes? Does that mean something?

I think so...

This last year, I gained more weight than I thought. If you read my blog you know what kind of a year we had. All the stress, sadness, and eating out really took a toll on me.

So, at the beginning of this year I knew I had to face the scale... (if for nothing else, than being able to wear more than one pair of jeans in my closet)

*Those aren't my feet, just in case you were wondering*

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So, on January 4th me and three of my friends started Weight Watchers!

It has been fairly easy. There are so many great things you can eat out there that are fat free. Any diet where I can eat 20 chips for 1 point is great!

+ I have my friends doing it too, a great couple of friends that have lost lots of weight cooking for me every now and then, and a wonderful husband that keeps telling me he's proud.

If I am tempted to eat something bad, I just think about that number on the scale and I don't want it anymore. ha

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So, in the last three weeks I have lost 12 lbs. Yeah! I get to go have my 10 lb reward pedicure later this week!

Stay tuned for some more weight loss posts... I weigh every Monday.