Am I Hungy or Just Bored?

Today I am enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon. I woke up this morning, did a 30 minute workout, had a healthy breakfast, and took my shower. I kept myself busy the rest of the morning cleaning the house, but now I'm just sitting here watching t.v. and feeling the munchies coming on. I am practically foaming at the mouth thinking about all the good (not good for me) things that I would just love to eat. I can practically hear those bad foods calling my name and banging on the pantry door right now. Of course, I am prepared because I do have snacks that are good for me, but before I put anything in my mouth I have to ask myself one very important question ...am I hungry or just bored? I think it's this very dilemma that sabotages the efforts of so many dieters. It can be so easy to confuse the two. To determine the answer for myself I think about when I last ate, if what I ate was filling and satisfying and if there is something that I could be doing to better use my time. Most times I find that if I just get up and do a small chore or work on a project that I soon forget about wanting to munch and before I know it is actually time to eat! I also take those moments as an opportunity to drink my water...it's amazing how water can fill you up.

So, what do you do when you find your self wanting to snack on a lazy Saturday afternoon? Or even later at night for that matter? Do you give into your urges or do you stop and think about it before doing something that you will feel guilty about later?

Check This Out

My sister-in-law Haley told me today about this really neat website called Sparkpeople.com. It is free to join and you can get a personalized diet and fitness plan and even your own personal SparkPage! You can record the amount of time you spend exercising and it will calculate the calories you burned. You can also record the food you ate for the day and it will tell you how many calories and fat you consumed and then give you a progress report to see if you are getting the nutrients that you should be. The best part is you can change anything to your own personal needs. There is also a community of Spark People, and lots of other useful resources including recipes through out the site. I set up my account today and I highly recommend that you check it out...just click here. It won't cost you anything but a few moments of your time. I think it could be a very useful tool to help keep track of your weight loss progress!

What's For Dinner?

In my quest for losing weight I have been searching for some new healthy recipes that I think my family might also enjoy. It's not always easy introducing new things to young children so it has been somewhat of a challenge. Fortunately I have been able to find a few that I think will be successful. I thought it would be fun to share some of those recipes with you. I will only post them after we have tried them that way I can give you our reviews.

First up is Baked Chicken Parmesan and Spaghetti.
I found this recipe at Skinny Weight Watcher Recipes. I changed it up a little bit so here is my version.

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breast sliced in half
3/4 cup bran flakes (crushed into a breadcrumb like consistency)
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 oz. fat free milk
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup fat free shredded mozzerella cheese

Preheat oven to 450*. Spray large baking sheet lightly with cooking spray. Combine bran flakes and parmesan cheese in one dish. In a second dish place flour, and in third dish place milk. Dip chicken in flour, then milk, then bran flake crumbs. Place coated chicken on baking sheet and spray with a light coating of cooking spray. Bake about 15-20 (until no longer pink) flipping once. Remove from oven, spoon sauce over chicken and top with shredded cheese. Bake 5 more minutes until cheese is melted.

For spaghetti: I used whole grain spaghetti noodles (about 6oz. to feed our family) along with the remaining spaghetti sauce.

Entire recipe makes 8 servings.
Serving size equals one chicken breast half and a small scoop of spaghetti (about 2 oz.)
Point Total = 4

Our Review: This recipe originally called for breadcrumbs and fiber one cereal, but I decided to use the bran in replacement to save some calories (and because that's what I had). Although it was fairly good the flavor of the bran didn't really go well with the sauce. Next time I just wouldn't coat the chicken and I think it would be delicious. The kids seemed to eat it pretty well once they realized it was just chicken!

You Asked...I Answered

The following is a list of questions that a friend has posted on her weight-loss accountability blog. I thought they were excellent questions and I hope that my answers will give you a little insight into how I plan to be successful on my weight loss journey...

Do I get hungry, and if so, when? Normally on any other diet I have tried I have always found myself hungry and wanting, but not this time for the most part. I am doing the Weight Watcher's Point program so I am allowed to eat whatever I like up to a certain amount of points. Now of course I want to get the most out of my points so I have made sure to add a lot of fiber filled foods to my diet. They really do help to keep me full. I have also tried to drink a lot more water because a lot of times we think our body is telling us we are hungry when in fact we are just dehydrated. It's amazing how a glass of water can fill you up.

What is the most difficult part of my day? Normally lunch time would be the most difficult time for me because I am busy and I just want to make things that are simple yet will keep me full and satisfied until dinner. I am not a salad type girl (which I have learned the hard way) so in order to be successful this time I asked myself what it is that I normally like to eat and how I could make a healthier version of that. It has worked great for me and I have found myself being completely satisfied all the way through till dinner!

Do I like my exercise choices? To be honest, I have NEVER liked to exercise before now, but my parents bought me the Wii Fit Plus for Christmas and I love it! I can do something different everyday so I never get bored. I have only missed one day since I started my journey 24 days ago. I have never intentionally excersized that many days in a row in my life! And it feels amazing! In fact, I now feel like if I don't get at least 20 minutes in per day I am missing out.

Am I feeling energized, and if so, by what or whom? Yes, I am feeling energized by the progress that I am already making. It feels so wonderful to see the fruit of my labor.

What is the most helpful part of my regimen? Keeping a food diary. It is amazing the things that we, or at least I, put so mindlessly into my mouth! Writing it down and actually having to physically look at it makes it so much more real.

Do I look forward to any particular time of day or portion of regimen? I do look forward to excersizing which I have been doing every morning. It's a great way to start the day. I also look forward to making some of the new healthier recipes that I have found. Not only am I hoping to lose weight, I want to make this a life style change for me and my family. I have 4 young children though so it's been a challenge finding things that are healthy that I know they will eat. Fortunately I have been able to easily make some of their favorites just by swaping some of the ingredients with healthier versions! It's really great when I get a positive response from them!!

From where/what/whom does my inspiration come? What has motivated me the most is knowing that I am being held accountable by my dearest friends. Any other time I have tried to lose weight I never let anyone know, so when I stumbled nobody was there to get after me, or encourage me to get back up. Now, I know that those who love and know me best are not going to let me give up.

Weclome

Welcome to my weight loss blog! Today I is the first day of week # 4 for me, so I am starting this a bit late, but I guess it's better late than never right? And in a way it's true for weight loss also...it's better to start late, than to never start at all. For those who may not know, my goal for this journey is to lose 30lbs. by my 30th birthday which is in June of this year.

After four kids and a lack of making myself and my health a priority it's time to make some changes. As a mother and a wife I keep myself pretty busy taking care of my family, so now it's time that I take care of myself. Of course right now, my first objective is to lose the weight, but through this journey I am also hoping to learn to eat better and make healthier choices for a lifetime. And if I'm lucky I will even set a good example for my children so hopefully they will never have to feel about themselves the way that I do about myself right now.

Through this blog I hope to inspire others who are traveling this journey as well. I plan to share some healthy and yummy recipes and anything I find that may encourage and motivate all of us. I also plan on being very blunt and honest about how I am doing...if I'm having a bad day, I'll let you know. I think being honest is the best way to hold ourselves and each other accountable!

I wish you all success and look forward to hearing about your journey to a better you!