Trials of a Long Haired Girl

Happy Monday friends!  I hope everyone had a GREAT weekend!  It's time again for Meal Planning Monday!  Yay!  Okay, so, I'm going to be real here for a minute...don't be shocked!  I didn't get everything made this week that I intended to.  The waffle sticks and the egg bakes didn't get made.  I started getting a migraine again.  I'm really getting annoyed because they are rearing their ugly head again.   The rolled tacos didn't happen, the beans and special cornbread didn't happen, but we still managed to eat this week and not starve to death!  Dinners that were planned this week, not all of those happened either!  What I planned: - Bean Burritos; - Lima Beans and Cornbread; - Lentil Soup; - Spaghetti, salad and garlic bread; - burgers and fries;  - fish and riced cauliflower risotto.   What we had: Monday: Lima Beans, cornbread and ham steak. Tuesday: Trader Ming's Kung Pao Tempura Cauliflower ...

Happy Monday friends!  My family and I took a nice break to spend time together and enjoy some time away...just in time for our 10 year anniversary.  Yes, my sweet husband and I have been married for 10 years.  Today is definitely back to life, back to reality. 😪 Unfortunately, there are still bills that have to be paid so it's necessary to go back to work.  Thankfully, I enjoy my position and my co-workers so it won't be too much of a hardship.  This week, we're (the royal "we") trying to add in some more fish.  I am not a big fish person.  In past, I have really only eaten fried fish and I am truly not a fan of salmon, unless you are talking about salmon patties that my Mom used to make.   To that end, I have a couple of recipes that I want to try: 20 Minute Lemon, Garlic, and Herb Baked Cod and Garlic Parmesan Flounder.  Likely these will be served with at least one veggie, perhaps broccoli or roasted green beans or may...

Happy Monday friends.  Sorry this is late being posted, but it was a crazy weekend.  I don't want to go into details, but if you pray, please keep my family in prayer.  Sadly, however, my crazy weekend means I didn't get to prepare any of the things I planned yet for the week.  This does not mean that I'm giving up on my goals for the week, it just means I have to make adjustments and get some things prepared at a different pace than I normally would.   I did weigh on Saturday before the craziness began.  I gained 1.2 pounds this week.  Am I upset about this gain?  Honestly, no, while I did get a Blue Dot everyday since Sunday, I did have more processed foods than I normally do, which included a can of Cream of Potato on two different nights.  I guess I should try to plan for that not to happen that way again or have them not on consecutive nights.  I am proud of my Non-Scale Victories last week.  I'm striving to make thi...

I know it's been a minute since I've been here and I really need to get myself back into a better routine.  I've been dealing with some personal health issues.  I will say this, I am not a fan of doctors that do not listen.  I will be calling another doctor to see if I can find one who does listen.  I will say that the last few weeks have been a struggle to move because the medication made me feel horrible.  I did join a challenge last Monday, which I did pretty well at until Friday when I got sick.  I am trying to string more good days together where I hit my "challenge" goals.  While it may not seem like a huge deal, it's a start to move in the right direction.  Currently I'm working towards getting a blue dot (this may only mean something to those of you on WW), hitting 5,000 steps per day and getting in at least 64 oz. of water everyday for 6 weeks.  I normally do at least two out of three of these during the week, no problem, but th...

I have to tell you that August just flew by for us.  Prepping for vacation, going on vacation, getting back and having so much to catch up on once we got back.  Good things have happened this month!  What happened, you ask?  Well, the thing I have been waiting on for 8 years...I MADE IT UP THE MOUNTAIN BY MYSELF!  Yes, I am proud of this!  I did have to make several stops on the way up and on the way down, but I MADE IT!  For most of the days of our vacation, I hit 10,000 or more steps.  There were times we were in the car so long on the drive that it was impractical to think I would hit 10,000 steps, but I felt good about my efforts on vacation.   There are several places that I wish we'd had a little more time to spend there, but DH and I are already trying to plan another trip to try to ride more trains and see more train museums.  I do hope to see more of Colorado for sure.  When we left the Y of the Rockies, we headed towar...

It was a busy day, not crazy busy like yesterday but still busy.  It is my younger son's birthday today.  He wanted a burger so after church we headed to Kenny's Burger Joint to get him a Black and Blue Burger.  I do love Kenny's!  Point-wise it was not bad early on in the day, but this evening has probably gone by the wayside after a portion of cheese fries (with bacon and green onions on top of all that delicious...err...horrible cheese.  Seriously, they were delicious and I enjoyed them.  Thankfully, however, I won't really feel the need to have them again for a good while.  I did have a bacon cheeseburger.  I'm trying to listen to my body and give up before I get too full.  Picking one battle at a time.  My walking was not too great either.  Thankfully tomorrow is a new day.  Have a great night everyone!

You know when you have one of those days where you have the best of intentions, but things just don't seem to go your way?  Yep, today was that for me.  I am finally sitting down to draft my blog and to get my food logged.  To be honest, I had two sandwiches today so I suspect it was not my best Point day.  It was super busy at work as a co-worker had a family emergency and was unexpectedly out of the office.   Did anyone else take advantage of the $1.00 sandwich for Jimmy John's customer appreciation day?  There was a line, but they managed to get us in quicker than anticipated. 10,000 steps was not happening today with my co-worker being out and I barely had time to run across the hall.  Tomorrow is another day!  I hope everyone had a fantastic night and has a great Wednesday!  Until we meet again...

I know it has been some time since I have posted.  I am determined to do better with that.  May is going to be a better month for me.  I went to weigh in this evening.  I currently weigh 198.6.  I know I have been here before, but I do have an NSV to share.  I know there are those of you that have been in the same boat, for years I wasn't able to cross my legs.  I was able to do that yesterday and kept my legs crossed for quite awhile before I even realized it.  I am determined to track my food try to move more this month.  It seems to be easy to let those bad habits slip back in.   I was so excited last week to be in attendance at the Joy Conference for the UPCI North Texas Division.  It was such a great time!  I was able to hear some speakers that I had never heard before.  It is interesting to think that about all the changes that some of our elders have seen in their years.  I am hoping that I can share some o...

To recap what I said last week, Halo Top has been recommended by multiple Weight Watcher friends.  This is my review of their Sea Salt Caramel: Honestly, this was not as creamy as what I would get from Baskin Robbins or even Blue Bell.  It was very sweet and it definitely helped curb my sweet tooth.   While it isn't what I would have every day, it is nice for a change of pace when my sweet tooth hits!  Again, this flavor is 3 SmartPoints per serving, based on putting the information in the Weight Watchers calculator.  I have included the picture of the container and Nutrition Facts from their webpage.   If you want to check out their other flavors and the specifics for each one, you can find it  here .  I have heard good things about most flavors.  I would definitely have them as well.   INGREDIENTS: Milk and cream, eggs, erythritol, prebiotic fiber, milk protein concentrate, sugar, buttermilk, butter, honey, vegetable glycerin...

Weigh in went pretty well yesterday.  I mean I didn't lose 20 lbs or anything, but I did lose 0.8 lbs this past week when I wasn't planning so well.  I know this is a process and I'm not just focusing on the weight loss, but it is definitely a tool.  I am currently at 199.4 lbs.  I am determined to make some significant changes for myself.  Monday, I will be doing allergy shots.  It won't be my most pleasant experience, but I am hoping that it will help keep me healthy this year.  I am on my way to clearing a 5 day streak of 10,000 steps per day.

I apologize for not posting for awhile, but the holidays were a little difficult for me after losing Mom so close to the holidays and all.   I read this quote this morning and it's very true.  I have let myself down far too often.  There was a time that I was very thin.  Sometimes, however, life gets in the way and things change.  I have come to realize things about myself including that I have allowed myself to be comforted by food instead of confronting what scared me or made me uncomfortable.  There are still times that I have comforted myself with food.  It is time to take care of me so that I can take care of my family.  In order to do that, I am truly recommitting myself to Weight Watchers.  I am still not going to use fake foods.  I will continue to use butter, coconut oil, and the like.  After doing additional research on my own after some prompting from some vloggers that I watch, I realize that in order to keep the taste...

I completely realize that I have been hit and miss for quite some time.  With everything going on with my Mom, which is still ongoing, and family stuff, taking time to blog hasn't been top priority.  I have to admit that I am excited about the changing seasons.  I am looking forward to some soups and, honestly, getting back on plan.  After surgery last year and then all of this happening with my Mom, I have realized that I truly need to figure out how to meal plan and meal prep in a way that works for me and my family.  I am feeling a little better about this now than even just a few weeks ago.  I realized that I am excited (did I just type that?) about meal planning and trying new recipes with my family.  This is truly an opportunity to focus what I am eating.  My crock-pots definitely get a workout during this time of the year as well.  So many tasty recipes on Pinterest to try and ways to help me get organiz...

First off, let me apologize that it has been so long.  Secondly, I just want to see if anyone else has experienced this as well.  For some time, I have been feeling an urging to be a better me.  I have been reminded of hobbies that I used to enjoy and things my Nanny did (sewing, canning and such) and just the way she was when I was younger.  I know she was raised in a different time than I, but even when she and my grandfather weren't in agreement, she still respected him as the head of the household.  To that end, I have been working on ways that I can be a better me. I have recently been reading Darlene Faye Schacht's The Good Wife's Guide: Embracing Your Role as a Help Meet.  If you are interested, she also has a blog called  Time-Warp Wife .  I will be honest, while there are many things that I will not be implementing as I am not a stay at home mom, I have found several things that I am going to try to implement slowly.  One of whic...

I was going through my blogs on Bloglovin' and ran across a blog post from Coffee Cake and Cardio entitled  Focused on the Wrong Thing .  I have to say that I was a little blown away and it felt like she was in my head.  Although I have not been working with a behavioral nutritionist, I can definitely relate to what she is saying for sure.   I have been doing Weight Watchers for a number of years and, honestly, I should have hit goal a number of years ago.  I managed to successfully lose over 40 lbs on Weight Watchers when I first joined, but with the stress of job changes and planning a wedding, I re-gained my weight.  I know that when I was a small child (and I do mean small since I was wearing toddler size clothing when I started school) my focus was not on food for comfort.  Unfortunately, between my second grade and third grade year, everything changed.  I am not overly fond of change but my school district decided to close my school...

So much has happened since I have posted last that I hardly know where to begin, but I celebrated my 45th birthday on Tuesday, the 29th and on Wednesday, the 30th, my mom was taken by ambulance to the emergency room for breathing difficulty and swelling in her legs.  She was diagnosed that Wednesday with congestive heart failure, which add to her previous diagnoses of C.O.P.D. and Diabetes.  To an extent, I walked this road before with my grandmother. We moved forward with her admission to the hospital.  On Thursday, we were told that she couldn't eat because she was having a procedure.  Hours later, we became aware that her procedure was being pushed to later in the day, so she was able to have liquids.  A few more hours passed and we were told that it was being moved to the following day, so she was finally able to eat late in the day.  On Friday, she was pulled down for her procedure.  When it was over, there were no stents placed but it was deter...

I have had a lot of stress going on of late and my food and workouts have been suffering, to say the least.  I had lost 2.2 lbs last week, but gained 3.4 lbs this week.  There is much going on, but I have to figure out how to handle this and move forward.  I do not want to go into 46 (45 is approaching too quickly for me to finish losing the weight before it arrives) being overweight and not happy in my own skin.   This is about me finding what works for me with my life now.  I figured out what worked for me 7+ years ago, but it is not the same now.  I was a single mother with family support and had workout buddies, etc.  Now, I have a husband and children and my mother to take care of and it isn’t always easy to make the schedule work.  I need to figure out how to juggle the schedule.  I am blessed to have a supportive and helpful husband and children, so I am not handling everything completely by myself.   I have made some big change...

I will apologize in advance for this lengthy post. Dear Weight: We’ve had our ups and down, literally.  I did not realize how bad things were for the longest time.  Or maybe I did and I just didn’t want to admit it.  You were my protection, my comfort and the bane of my existence.  However, I am ready to break up with you.  We've been together a long time, but I don't want to be "besties" anymore.  For my health and for my family, I need to move forward with removing you from my body.  You are doing bad things to me.  You increase my risk of heart disease, just to name one.  I want to be healthy and live to enjoy many, many years with my wonderful husband and my amazing family.  Here’s my backstory:  I started out as a chubby baby, but turned into a very thin child.  Until third grade when my school was closing and I had to change schools.  Then I gained weight, a lot of weight in a very short period bec...

I took yesterday to reflect over my weekend.  I was determined to do better with my tracking over the weekend.  While I didn’t track over the weekend, I went back in on Monday and tracked everything I could remember that I ate (note to self: the paper tracker doesn’t do you any good if you don’t use it).  I went blew through my Weekly Smart Points and every FitPoint that I had earned.  Finding that out yesterday, I had to change the way I was thinking about it.  I am really focusing on the fact that it is truly my choice.  I made each and every choice for each thing that I ate over the weekend.  I am proud of the fact that I tracked it.  I am also proud of the fact that I have had a Dr Pepper sitting on my desk for 2 weeks now and I haven’t been tempted to crack it open.  You are probably wondering why it’s on my desk and not in the fridge or put out of my sight…it seems to disappear when I put it in the fridge and it has been a test for m...

Happy Friday all!  I hope everyone has had a great week!  I am a little late getting this written and posted, but I wanted to check in and let you know how weigh in went.  I lost the 0.8 that I had gained so I am, again, at 199.  I am glad about that.  However, I know that I know that there is more that I can do and need to do.  I am feeling positive about what I have done to this point.  Today, however, I decided to focus on what I can do.  I did a search on YouTube for 10 minute shadow boxing workouts.  I picked one and did it, modifying where necessary since I can’t really do much jumping around right now.  I also did a couple of 10 minute walks that I found on YouTube as well.  I am hoping to add that or some upper body workout in at least twice a week.  I also picked up some paper trackers because while I generally track online, I don’t get online much on the weekend and wind up not tracking.  This needs to chang...