Trials of a Long Haired Girl

Happy Tuesday, friends!  First day back to work today.  Routines are good for me so I think it will be a positive thing for sure.  I feel set up for the week after spending some time meal prepping.  So, let't take a moment and talk a little about setting yourself up for success.  Since I decided to go with Barrett Pastor 's plan of 23 Freestyle SmartPoints, but staying with 33 net carbs beginning September 1st.  I didn't really hit the grocery store or was prepared when I got up on Sunday morning.  I winged it, but it was hard.  My breakfast started out with Alpine Valley Sprouted bread and 2 eggs.  It started my carbs off really high.  I decided after church to make sure that I was prepared for the week.  I spent time on Sunday afternoon after church shopping and preparing some of the food.  Yesterday, I did take some time to relax and catch up on some YouTube videos.  Then I got up, I fixed meatloaf muffins and chick...

Happy Monday friends!  For my friends in the U.S., Happy Labor Day!  So, on my day off, I'm not really making an effort to "rest", but to use this opportunity to meal prep!  Here's the funny thing, I knew this challenge was coming and I had ideas, but I did not plan beforehand.  I'll be honest, my first day (yesterday), was not great because I felt so out of sorts and it was stressing me out!  So, Sunday, after church, we got ran to the library and I headed off to Marshall's, HomeGoods, Sprouts and Kroger.  I think I went a smidge crazy at Marshall's and HomeGoods, but I got some new placemats and some napkins.  I also went a little crazy with the food finds.  I am excited because AGAIN at HomeGoods, I found some extremely low carb lasagna noodles, which is a little funny because I was just asking what I could use besides zucchini on my FB page.   I actually came home last night, browned a pound of bison, a pound of sausage for my br...

Happy Friday friends!  Yes!  We finally got made it to Friday!  Is anyone else feeling like this year is just flying by?  No?  Just me?  I am feeling a little frustrated that I haven't made more progress, but I can't change the past, only the future.  Of late, I really have felt like I'm floundering and, honestly, I'm looking forward to the new changes WW is coming out with for the new year.  In the meantime, I've decided that I'm going to really focus on what my cardiologist suggested and I'm going to continue with WW with a low carb emphasis.  I know there are going to be times, like the meal I made on Wednesday and Thursday nights, both meals had rice.  Here are my goals for the month of September: 1. Water intake of at least 90 oz. per day. 2. Track, track, track!   3. Cardio, at least 3 days per week, and strength training, even if it's body weight, at least 2 days per week. 4. Take care of myself.  By this, I ...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve!  I hope everyone has had a great week so far!  Something was mentioned awhile back on one of my FB groups about not knowing what weight loss route to take.  To be honest, I can completely understand that.  You can go to any bookstore and pull any book off the shelf in that section and will likely read something slightly different in each one.  There's a slightly different spin, even if there are some similarities.   I know there are some people that wonder why I stick with WW and part of the reason is that I know it works.  It may not be perfect, but it has worked for me in the past and I can always find ways to tweak it to make it work for me.  Here's my two cents, not that anyone really asked.  There isn't one diet that seems to work across the board for each person.  The fact is that no matter what weight loss route you take, you will have to figure out what works for you.  Sometimes, you h...

Happy hump day!  You know that moment when your dinner preparations go EXACTLY as planned?  That did not happen with this recipe.  In all seriousness, I started out with a pretty basic Ravioli Lasagna Bake  recipe and then I realized that I needed to add some more protein in it since I have one that doesn't want to eat meat and I just happen to have some Ricotta cheese.  Then I found the Million Dollar Ravioli Lasagna recipe.  Ultimately, I did a variation of these recipes.   Unfortunately, I ran out of Mozzarella cheese and had to wait on my husband to get home from Trader Joe's with more mozzarella.  I thought we had some stashed in the freezer, but we did not. I used the Zero Point Marinara recipe, Kirkland Parm and some Mozzarella along with the ricotta and some organic ricotta and spinach ravioli.  I followed the cooking directions from the Ravioli Bake.  Overall, it turned out pretty well.  Well enough that my fami...

Happy Tuesday friends!  If you read my blog yesterday, not that there was much to it, but quite honestly, I was exhausted when I was trying to type it.  It was the first day I'd really been up and out of the house for any length of time.  I came home from work early on Wednesday and didn't leave again until Friday morning to go to the doctor.  She put me on medications, one of which she said can cause some people to get drowsy.  Apparently I am "some people" because it knocked me out!  So we're going to talk a little about recovery...after illness or after surgery...for me, I know I often have the desire to start moving immediately again.  I know that if I do that, I'll wind up doing myself more harm than good.   Something I've learned is that I need to listen to my body.  The beginning of this week, I'll probably focus on taking it a little slower and easier than I normally would simply because I do not want to get hit with this aga...

Happy Monday friends!  Hope you had a good weekend!  I was pretty much didn't eat anything after breakfast on Wednesday.  I'm not sure what exactly was going on, but the physician assistant said stomach bug.  Suffice it to say, I didn't really eat much nor did I stick to the meal plan.  I even missed my women's conference that I was so excited about!  😥  Better to have missed than to make others sick.  This week we are still playing it by ear.  So, meals this week are really dependent on how I am feeling.  So far, burgers and a side, fish and sides, likely a veggie plate night and fettuccine alfredo.   Hoping for a good week and that I am feeling much better.  Have a great one!