Trials of a Long Haired Girl

 Halo Top has been recommended by multiple Weight Watcher friends, so I finally decided to give it a try.  Here's my review: Since I have been trying steer clear of most processed foods of late, but my sweet tooth has been getting the best of me.  I finally decided to give it a try.  I bought 3 flavors, but decided to try the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough first.  Things I noted about it vs. Baskin Robbins or any other cookie dough ice cream I have had is that the pieces were much smaller.  It also tasted very sweet to me.  This particular flavor is 3 SmartPoints per serving.  I have included the picture of the 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 this again, but it had a very sweet flavor to me.  Perhaps it tasted so sweet to me because I have been steering clear of processed foods a little more in the last mon

Some of you know that I have recently been undergoing allergy shots.  I can't remember a time when I didn't suffer with allergies.  I was recently reminded that my allergies were so bad for me at one time that the "eye gunk" would be spread across my eye sort of like a spider web across one of my eyes or the other and sometimes both.  I can remember crying out because I couldn't open my eyes.  Mom was always patient with me when this would happen.  She would grab a rag soaked in warm water and would lay it on my eyes for a few minutes to help wet my eyes so that the "eye gunk" would loosen a little easier.  It was never a pleasant experience, but she never made me feel like it was a bother for her to help me remove it.  She was always as gentle as she could be while still helping me remove it.  Suffice it to say, I think I have always been allergic to grasses and trees.  I was not allergic to cats until after I gave birth and, honestly, never realized

Finally made it to my meeting last night.  It felt good to take time out for myself again.  I didn't go last Thursday because my sweet husband was working on our oldest's vehicle and wasn't done in time for me to go and my car was driven by our oldest to work too far away.  My goals this past week was to hit 10,000 steps or more each weekday and to track whatever I ate.  There were days that this was very difficult for me and I don't fully understand it.  I had to repeatedly remind myself that no one else would see my tracker unless I showed it to them.  I am proud to say that I tracked EVERYTHING that went in my mouth last week.  While all of my days were not perfect and many were over my Daily Smart Points, I tracked it.  I was rewarded on the scale last night with a 3.2 pound loss.  I can't say that it will happen each week, but I'm proud of my efforts last week and that the scale showed it.  Going into next week, I am hoping to make the time to incorpor

Sometimes lessons for children truly comes into play in our own lives.  I have experienced that for myself this week.  In our growing church, a group of ladies take turns teaching the Sunday School.  My lesson last Sunday was out of Exodus 15:22-27 and was talking about the Israelites grumbling and complaining after Moses lead them out of slavery in Egypt.   Let's be honest, we all can relate to this story at some point in our lives.  We have all been tired and grumpy and have complained and whined about whatever was going on in our life.   Our memory verse was Philippians 2:14: Do everything without complaining or arguing. My lesson and the memory verse from this past Sunday has echoed in my head all week.  Every time I have found myself feeling the need to complain, that lesson and memory verse has popped into my head.  This has really made me focus on not complaining.  I have done what I needed to do without complaining.   Last year I started reading, and really need t

Today's edition of Try It Tuesday is about my first experience with try to do the Monthly Meal Planning/Preparation.  Let me start by saying that I am aware that I probably should have started smaller.  Doubling up my weekly meal plan for instance, but be that as it may, this is my experience...failures and all.  After a trip to Costco to purchase 2 Fryer Chickens and 4.5 pounds of grass fed beef and a trip to Walmart to buy disposable pans.  I should have known when I couldn't find the Glad Ovenware that I wanted that things were not going to go the way I wanted.  Honestly, I wanted this to work so much, but it didn't go as planned.  What happened?  I was unprepared and life happened.  On a positive note, I got to go with my future daughter-in-law to pick up her wedding dress.  *insert "EEEK!" here*   Am I giving up?  That would be a big old NO!  I am determined to finish cooking what I need to to get us through for the next several weeks.  What will I change

As I am fairly new to the bulk meal prepping bandwagon, I can definitely understand why the books I read said to write down your plan.  I was reminded this weekend of my Mom's meal plans.  She was amazing when I was younger about fixing something for us that while it may have been the same base to it.  For example, I recall her making pinto beans and cornbread.  Then the pinto beans may be had as leftovers or she would make chili beans.  We would use the chili beans to make Frito Pie or put the chili on baked potatoes.  I wish I had the ability to think of things that way.  Honestly, I could have beans and cornbread (especially Mom's special cornbread) for days and not get bored.  But my family is not entirely in agreement there.  I recall my Mom's special cornbread was posted in a PTA cookbook when I was in 2nd grade.  I know things like that seem to have gone by the wayside since the internet and Pinterest have made it so easy to search for recipes.  Although, admitte

I'm back!  For this "Try It Tuesday", I have two things to share.  I have heard so much about using garbanzo beans in smoothies, so I finally decided to try it.  I discovered that it does help me stay fuller longer.  As I'm doing WW, I have only been using 1/4 cup (65 grams), which is 3 SmartPoints.  For me, I am finding that it is worth it.  It sustains me until lunch, if I need it to.  I am still using the Honeyville Organic Powdered Peanut Butter as well.   Something else new I tried this week, was homemade macaroni and cheese.  I am trying to make sure that I find a recipe that works for me and my family that I can also freeze for a future meal.  I am not a fan of having crunchy stuff on my macaroni and the recipe that my friend shared with me did not have any crunchy stuff on it, it was topped with more cheese.  My family enjoyed it and I suspect that I will need to tweak it a little bit for my crew.   As some of you know, I went in for my allergy shots yes

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 when they take things out, they put some things i