Sunday, October 23, 2011

Sunday Soup Recipes

Hey Hey!!

I dont know where you're from, but here in St. Louis fall has arrived in full force.  (except for today, which is 75 degrees)  LOL...   anyway - I love soup all year round, but now that it's getting cooler, I eat it more often.   The downfalls of soup... sodium!!!!!   Ohh man, the sodium is killer in canned and processed soups.  So - I've started making my own.

I made this soup last week for my work lunches and it's excellent!!

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

I made a few changes. 
  • Left out the celery.  yuk.  I hate celery.
  • used 6 cups low sodium College Inn chicken broth instead of 4 cups.
  • used 2 cups of half and half, instead of 3 cups heavy cream
  • used 1/2 cup I Cant Believe It's Not Butter Light, instead of regular butter
  • used 1/2 cup flour instead of 3/4.  
This recipe made 12 cups, and each cup came out to be 207 calories.  It's excellent!!   If you like Panera's low fat chicken and wild rice, you have to try this recipe.  It was super easy!!

My friend Carolyn sent me this recipe, and I cant wait to try it.

Buffalo Chicken Chili

Chili and buffalo chicken, mixed together!!???  Yep!! Count me in.  The plan is to make this next weekend, for lunches.

I'm also dying to try this one!! Butternut squash has become my new obsession!!

Butternut Squash Soup


If you have any good soup recipes, or other fall/wintery soups or stews,  I'd love to try them, so please share!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Product Review Tuesday

Hey Hey Hey!!!    How is everyone out there in Bloggerville??  

me??  Oh I'm fantastic!!!   I had a great weekend full of working out, took yesterday off and was back to it again today.  I'm digging My Fitness Pal, and actually enjoying logging my food again.  I got to a point where I was just over it.  I stayed in control today, didn't attack the fun size candy bars at work, or stop for a McDonald's shake or cone on the way home.  All in all pretty good for me. LOL

My total cals today were 1528, burned 770 at the gym, and that leaves me with a NET intake of 758.  These are the perfect days in my book!

I went to the grocery store last week and bought a few new things that I wanted to share with you guys.

First, my dinner.


These awesome things, made by "Bon Appetit" are located in the freezer section. I got these at Dierberg's, and they're on sale this week for $6.99.  Anyway - in the bag is a meal for 2.  They're individually wrapped in parchment paper so you dont have to make both which I love!   You bake the meal in the parchment, then open after 35 minutes.  YUM!!!   I had the Roasted Garlic Chicken for dinner tonight.  It comes with broccoli florets and four cheese ravioli.  One parchment pouch is 390 calories.   The one on the left is a Beef in Red Wine Sauce, and it comes with carrots and roasted red potatoes.  I have yet to try that one.   They had a few other flavors too, but instead of buying them all without knowing if they were good or not, I opted for just 2.  However, I will be going back!

Also in the picture is a NEW Philadelphia Cooking Creme Flavor, Tomato Basil!! YUM!!  I havent tried this yet, but Im thinking of adding it to a can of Campbell's tomato soup to make it creamier.  I love anything tomato basil, so this should be good.  I also LOVE the cooking cremes, they're so versatile!   These are also on sale 2/$4 at Dierberg's this week.

All the way to the left is the new Campbell's Soups...  here's a better pic.


They're a new line from Cambell's called "Kettle Style".  I haven't tried either one, so I can't comment, but if any of you have, let me know! LOL  There are a few other flavors of these too but I only got 2, because I had a coupon.  They're on sale at Dierberg's, 2/$5.

That's it for today!  Have a good one!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Confessions are good for the soul... right?

Well after writing this I should feel MUCH better!   Let's hope.

I want to apologize to my followers.   I've fallen off, and have fallen HARD.   Whatever funk I'm in, I can't seem to pull myself out of.  I have 2 good days, then 3 bad, and so on.   I'm looking for a way to fix that.   I'm searching for my motivation to eat better.   The gym isnt the issue, I work out all the time.  It's the food.   And the "not stepping on the scale for a month".... Yeah, that was NOT a good idea.  For the past 16 days, I think I've been to the gym 5 times.   I've also eaten well over 1200 calories for those 16 days.   On November 1, I'm not expecting a loss at all.   SO that means, yet another month.  Wasted. 

Bottom line...

I am addicted to food.

Yes. I am.   That is a true statement, and I've known this for a long time.  But what do you do about it?  You can't quit eating, like I did smoking.  (which by the way I quit smoking last Sunday)  Anyway...

You need food to live, so quitting cold turkey obviously won't work.

Sugar and Carbohydrate detox??   Yeah...  that might work.  But honestly, anything with the word "detox" to me seems so "fad-ish".

2 Protein shakes, 2 snacks and dinner??   Um... no.   Not realistic.

So I've realized that the only way to tackle these last 50 lbs I have to lose, is to treat them like they were the  first 100 I've lost.

Back to basics for me.  No more than 1 cup of  food at a meal, protein first, and no drinking during.  Along with this, comes the most obvious lesson I've learned during all of this...

DUH!! right??  I mean, this makes the most sense of course.   My willpower SUCKS.  I"ll be the first to admit.  I just cannot say no to junk food.  If it's front of me, I eat it.  I HAVE to eat it.   The worst part, I can't stop at one bite.  I have to continue eating until it's gone.

Which brings me to my next confession...


Here's the funny part...    These Ice Cream Sandwiches were in the same freezer case as the Edy's Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream.  I sat there, and thought "I'll get the sandwiches instead, because I can control those portions better".   I was being semi-honest with myself.  I knew if I would've bought the gallon of Edy's, it wouldve been gone by the end of the night.   So - that night after dinner, which was a salad, I had 1 of these fantastic little ice cream sandwiches.   2 hours later, another.   And about 30 minutes after that, yet another.  I had 3 ice cream sandwiches, to the tune  of 600 calories in one evening.    I would've been better off with a blizzard.

That was Thursday.  Friday for lunch I had Taco Bell, then that night we had a Girls Night In at my bestie's house.   I had 2 slices of pepperoni pizza, a bottle of wine, a mudslide, some chili cheese dip and a brownie.

Saturday I woke up feeling like shit.   Food hangover??  Yep, more than likely.   My body just isnt used to being treated that way with food, and I felt horrible.   That feeling, however (and my tight pants) sparked something that gave me the motivation to get my ass up and get to the gym.  Plus - I was meeting a friend there, that just joined and she wanted me to show her my routine.  I was at the gym for 80 minutes, and whether she knows it or not, SHE motivated me to keep going yesterday.   846 calories later (YES!! my HR monitor came back to life!!!!!!)

I also decided to change the way I log my food.  I've used Livestrong.com for 6 years now, but the app for my phone sucks, so I can only log my food on an actual computer.  A few of my friends are using MyFitnessPal.com  and apparently the app for android was a good one, so I signed up.  And YES, the app is totally user friendly and I've officially switched.  Seeya Livestrong.   If you want to friend me, it's "JacCherg".  So after working out and keeping my food in check yesterday, I ended my day at 1109 NET.  I haven't been under 1200 NET in a LONG time.

Anyway - onto today... 

I'm heading to the gym in about an hour.  I'm meeting Aubrey again. Today is a cardio/legs day.  I'll throw some push ups and crunches in for good measure.  Mostly because I like they way I feel after doing them.   After the gym, I'll come home and have some lunch, 4 oz roasted butternut squash and 4 oz sauteed skirt steak.    Dinner will be some form of protein, and a veggie.  I HAVE to start eating more veggies.  They're filling and low in calories.  WIN WIN.. DUH Jaclyn.

Lunches this week will be a small salad and soup, or small salad paired with 4oz of some protein.  Not sure about snacks this week.  I need to change that up too, so if anyone has any ideas, I'll take em.  The turkey sticks/string cheese combo, while tasty, just isnt working anymore.

Since I've "talked" your ear off this morning, I'll leave you with this...

So yes friends...  it WILL be worth is.  These 100 lbs I've lost, has been worth it, so the next 50 will be worth it too!

As always, thanks for reading and following, I promise to be a better blogger friend!   Have a great Sunday!!
             


Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Weekly Check In

Thank's Beckey for the picture!
This is what I've come to realize about my life, my journey, and my body.   I'm never going to be "perfect", but goddammit I'm going to be healthy.  And THAT my friend's is progress, from where I came from.  My friend Lis is always telling me to stop focusing on how far I have to go, blah blah blah...  well the bitch is right.

As I wrote in my last blog here, I promised my friend Cyndi I wouldnt step on the scale until November 1.  I have 20 more days.  EEEK.  I'm already beginning to think it's a bad thing.  I think I need that scale everyday.  I think I need it for my own sanity.  But - I'm gonna stick to it and give this a go.

My last blog was 10 days ago.  I think that's the last time I worked out too.   Then Lis came to visit from Las Vegas on Thursday, and we did nothing but eat and drink and go out for 4 days. Then I caught some sort of craptastic bug, and stayed home from work yesterday.

Yeah...  Today would be the day that I wanted to step on the scale.  I wanted to see the damage I've done over the weekend, but instead of that, I went for a run in the park.  I'm still feeling a bit "blah", but I managed to complete a little over 2 miles in 35 minutes.   I'll take it.

The goal this week...4 more work outs by Sunday, and I have to stay away from my daughter's snacks for school.  The little snack sized bags are so damn cute... next week, she's getting carrot sticks. LOL

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Weigh In Saturday

No.. I'm not confused.   I know I usually weigh in on Mondays, but today is October 1 and after a few months of struggling and being in a food induced coma most days, a dear friend of mine told me that I should stop beating myself up and to "look at how far I've come".   Actually,  many of my friends have said this to me.  However, as we all know,  anyone who has lost a good amount of weight, it gets harder, even more difficult when you're that much closer to your goal. 

After losing 100+ lbs, my body is stuck.   And when I get stuck, I get frustrated and say to hell with it all.  That is when the setback begins.

So - after talking to my friend Cyndi, and hearing her very wise advice, "PUT THE DAMN SCALE AWAY"...  I'm doing just that.   

Today I weighed in...


220 lbs.   Down 3 lbs this week which means I made my goal (2 days early) that I set for myself last Monday.

So - I'm up 9 lbs from my lowest of 211.   I PROMISE YOU I will be at 211 (or lower) on November 1 when I weigh in again.

I'll do a weekly check in this month, instead of a weekly weigh in. 

I hope Cyndi knows what she's talking about. LOL

Have a great weekend ladies!!!


sidenote:  No polished toes today Carolyn...  only lime green socks!!!  :)