One Year Ago Today!

I started this blog one year ago today. My plan all along has been to reach my weight loss goals, become a WW Leader, then be able to send WW members to my blog for support, meal ideas, motivation, patience and most of all, a little humor along their own weight loss journey. I want those that lose the weight slowly to understand the most important thing is that they are losing the weight, and becoming healthier. Of course we all benefit from looking better when we lose weight, but the important thing to remember, is that losing the weight has tons of health benefits, and THAT is the most important thing.

Simply figuring out HOW to blog has been a much larger obstacle than I knew. When I received my fabulous IPad from Mike for Christmas, I never again opened the vintage laptop, which is where the blogging first started. I take all my pictures and write all of my blogs from the IPad. The problem? There are several functions I either can not do, or have not yet learned how to do. I would love to have pages at the top with RECIPES and EXERCISE IDEAS. So the blog is still a work in progress. I recently met up with a fellow WW blogger and runner, who was impressed I did all my blogging from my IPad! See? I'm just dumb enough to know that wasn't something most bloggers do. Check out her blog if you're interested!

Running With Racheal

The last year has been full of trying different foods, and certainly finding favorites. You will see a lot of repeat meals, but we all have our favorites and I still do try to change things up a bit.

Blogging everyday doesn't seem to fit into my schedule real well, but here are a few eats and events over the last few days......

One of my favorites.....breakfast burrito with egg whites (power food) and Laughing Cow Cheese....And an orange (power food).

A Power Food is a WW term that basically includes fruits and veggies, lean meats, whole grains and nonfat dairy. These foods help you feel full longer and have the best health benefits! If you focus on these throughout the week, you will have success at the scale!




A favorite snack........WW smoothie. I added frozen Strawberries to this for extra flavor.....and strawberries are a Power Food!



Lunch was leftover tilapia (power food).....measured on the scale, of course!



This particular day was Cinco De Mayo, and we had a party to go to. My friend Linda, and her husband,



host this party every year and this girl can cook up a Mexican Feast! Everything was soooooo delicious! I tried to take something PPV friendly.
POWER FOODS!






Mike and I had a great time! The weather was perfect, the food was amazing, and it was great to see all the neighborhood gang and some of their kiddos too!



The next morning I chilled out on the couch with Tucker.....


While I ate my Oatmeal Banana Pancake.......which includes egg whites and a banana in the mix. Both are POWER FOODS!




For dinner, I used the rest of the Stir Fry Sauce from this week and repeated that whole meal! Look at all those Power Foods!










Oh! Here's a favorite, and it is sooooo EASY!

Crockpot Chicken Taco's.....Frozen Chicken, 1 jar salsa and 1 package taco season. Cook on low all day.






Remove the chicken.......


Shred it.......



Toss it back in the crockpot!



You can do so much with this. We served it over shredded lettuce and added all the favorite taco salad toppings! Taste great in a tortilla too!

I made a great breakfast burrito with it the next morning. I just heated a little up and added it to my scrambled egg whites! I spread a little Laughing Cow Queso wedge on my tortilla! I can't get Cinco De Mayo off the brain!









After all that spicy, I needed something sweet that afternoon! Dr Oz had these on his show and highly recommends them! So do I! I buy mine at HyVee.



They come in several different flavors, but this is my favorite!




I like it best topped with a little Better N Peanut Butter.....



So good and creamy.......



I put it in the micro for about 10 seconds.....



I am digging the chicken salad lately, made with one rotisserie Chciken, lots of grapes (power food), and lots of celery (power food) a little light mayo and some salt and pepper!

I like the bagel thins, but I was craving the real deal, so I settled for half and made an awesome sandwich! I might have had a few extra bites of chicken salad right out of the bow! Taste like summer!




Yesterday was our 13th Wedding anniversary! We celebrated by heading to BB's Lawnside for some BBQ (we both had a turkey sandwich. I ordered green beans on the side. They were way too delicious to be healthy, but hey, at least I passed on the fries and the beef sandwich!) and incredible music by Trampled Under Foot. This a sister and two brother trio we fell in love with a few years back. Listening to them live is one of our favorite things to do! My pictures suck!

Check it out!

TUF



The walls are covered with so many signs like this, you cant even FIND the walls......again, my camera phone pictures suck!



Most importantly, we had a great time!

If you're reading my blog for the first time, I hope you'll read some older post. I'm losing slowly, and have 20 to go, but I'm having a good time blogging and simply enjoying the journey along the way.



"love the life you live, live the life you love"