Post-Easter greetings

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. Mine was great! Lots of good food, and I don't think I overate. I did allow myself to eat some of everything, including a wonderful chocolate cake that one of our guests made. But, even with eating that, I didn't feel miserable, like I have at some other holidays.

I had some delicious steamed veges. I don't think anyone else was thrilled with them, but I was! They are Pictsweet Steamables, Oriental Seasoned Asian Vegetables with Sugar Snap Peas. One cup is just 35 calories. Try it, you'll like it! The leftovers went with me for lunch today. I may stop by the grocery store again this week and pick up more bags on sale.

A little spluge

I splurged a little tonight, and I probably shouldn't have. DH was in the mood for Chinese food, and I wasn't in the mood to cook, so I gave in and picked some up on the way home. Then we had some ready-to-bake cookies, so I stuck those in the oven to finish off the meal. It was all really delicious, but now I am super thirsty! Chinese food always does that to me.

I'm determined to make this just a little blip in the radar though. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow (finally! it's been rainy for 2 days), so I'm planning to get up in the morning and go for my walk first thing. First, that will get it out of the way so I don't get too busy and run out of time, and second, that will hopefully kick start my metabolism for the day. Who knows, if it stays nice and I get the urge later in the day, I might go for a 2nd walk!

I'm working on ideas for Easter dinner. I found a lower-fat recipe for scalloped potatoes, and I'm leaning toward having at least 2 dishes/desserts that are low-cal or healthy. Maybe fruit salad and/or a sugar-free jello whip. The rest will be normal things to please all the guys, but that way I can fill 1/2 my plate with the healthy stuff, and not overeat on the rest.

National Start! Walking Day

Today was the American Heart Association's National Start! Walking Day. I didn't "start" today, but I continued my progress lately of walking about a mile a day. Sometimes I go at lunch at work, and ironically today, even though they had an event to promote the Start! Walking Day at work, I couldn't go because I had a doctor's appointment. I would have liked to. They probably had some type of incentive for people that showed up too.

Oh well, I didn't need any incentive. I just made sure to go when I got home from work. Me and 4 dogs! We live on back roads without many neighbors, so I don't need to put them on a leash or anything. They stayed with me part of the time, but then took off into the woods after a rabbit. Yesterday, it was deer they were chasing. That was comical. I saw the tails of the deer as they jumped a fence up ahead and went bounding off into the woods. The dogs gave chase, barking and yipping. Well, about 5 minutes later, here come the deer back across the road further ahead of me. A few minutes later, here come the dogs! Of course, they never did catch up.

I'd love to hear if you started walking today...

Fruits and veges

I shopped so healthy today! Canteloupe, carrots, celery, onions, bananas, skim milk. This is in addition to purchases yesterday of lettuce & tomatoes. I think I'll be having lots of salads! I also might make a batch of stir fry some night with either beef or chicken.

I was hoping for strawberries too, but I missed a great sale on them, so I didn't purchase any. It was just a 3-day sale and I didn't know it. Oh well, the canteloupe is fine by itself too. I thought the strawberries & canteloupe would make a nice fruit salad. I just finished the last of the salad I made last week with canteloupe, grapes and kiwi. Yummy. The canteloupe isn't quite ripe yet, so maybe I'll find some other fruit on sale later this week to add with it. Most of our stores have sales Wednesday to the following Tuesday, so a new ad should be coming out soon.

What will I look like?

I survived the auction yesterday without buying ANY food from the concession stand. I brought a sandwich and fruit salad and diet cokes, and that's all I ate for lunch. I had an apple later in the day that I'd brought too. I didn't end up going for a walk during the auction, but I did a lot of back & forth walking between the two sales that were in progress. My feet and legs ached by the end of the day, so hopefully the walking back & forth was enough to do me some good!

Here's a neat tool for motivation. It's the Weight Loss Simulator tool by Prevention, so you can see what you'll look like after weight loss. http://www.prevention.com/mvm/main.html Try it! It's pretty neat. Of course, if you're like me, you can just look at pictures of yourself from several years back and see exactly what you'll look like after weight loss...except the face has a much younger appearance in those pictures! LOL

Going once, going twice, sold!

We are heading to an auction today at one of the local high schools. They have an annual FFA auction, where you just never know what you'll find. There is usually a ton of farm equipment and vehicles, and then just a bunch of you-never-know-what. I would actually rather not go, since I know if we go, we'll spend SOME money, but it's like an annual tradition.

While I head outside to chore this morning, I'll have to think about how to handle the eating part of the day. Usually, I just buy from the cook shack that they have set up - hamburgs, hotdogs, chili, chips, snacks, etc. I think I might try to bring some stuff today instead - sandwiches and fruit salad and drink are all I can really come up with in my head right now. We don't have a lot of other grab-n-go food, since that's usually not a wise diet choice. I may give it more thought though. If I run out of time to pack stuff, there is a McDonalds down the street. I LOVE their grilled chicken ranch salad more so than any hamburger that I've ever gotten at McD's. So, I have that as one option. There is also a grocery store just a mile or so away. I could always go there for other healthier choices. Just saying that gave me a brainstorm. I do sometimes get bored at the auction, even though they generally have 2 auctioneers set up at once in different areas. I could always go for my walk to either the grocery store or McDs. It's supposed to be a beautiful day, so I just might do that!

This is not an April fool's joke

Ok, I fell off the wagon there for awhile, and I think I must have gotten run over by it too. Not that I'm any flatter, just fatter. Ugh, ugh, ugh. But, I am back, and it came about in a strange way.

I was watching Wife Swap last week, and one of the couples were very into visualizing their success. They were maybe a little overboard with it, as is everyone on that show of course, but something about it struck a chord with me. It's the whole "secret" theme, power of positive thinking, etc. etc. Something clicked, and I thought to myself, I CAN do this. So, on April 1st, I started to change things. I've been walking both at lunch at after work several times this week. I looked at my normal breakfast, and trimmed it back a bit. I've started paying attention to calories and reading tips and hints to give me a new perspective on eating healthier.

Then, last night, Suze Orman was on Oprah, and she was insisting that people need to quit looking over their shoulder (to what they used to have) while they are trying to move forward. Of course, her advice was for finances, but it seems like great advice for losing weight. I have to quit thinking about where I was just a few years ago, several pounds lighter, and focus on how to move forward.

So, my new motto is: eyes on the prize! I need to visualize myself as a success, and focus on the end goal.