Plans

A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook that she JUST STARTED planning out her meals before going grocery shopping. (And no, she is not 18, she is my age.) Another friend recently asked me to come over so she could, "pick my brain about food." I brought her my meal plans for the next month so she could photocopy them. I plan out every day for a month--breakfast, lunch, dinner, after-school snacks and Friday night game night dessert. And now I am discovering that not everyone does this!!! Wow. How do you people function?! :) I love to do it. I love to plan. I love to cook. I love to try new recipes. I love to alter them to make them healthier for my family. It is right up my alley. I'm going to try to find a convenient way for me to share my plans on here--so that those of you who aren't planners can take advantage of my OCD. I say convenient because as much as I love to plan and try new recipes, I don't particularly love typing them out. Really it takes me long enough to do this...

Where have I been?

I was just looking for a recipe on this old blog of mine and I realized, Hey, this was a dang good blog. Why did I stop? This last year was so busy for me--we pretty much remodeled and redecorated the whole house and the blog got put on the back burner. I also really started relying on myfitnesspal.com to help keep me accountable. But now that the house is complete, I think I will start back up! How about a recipe??

THIS BREAD IS DIVINE!!! No, really, you probably shouldn't make it because you might not be able to stop eating it!!!! Not only is it fabulous, it is 100% whole wheat, has no fat and my kids love it too!!!

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons yeast

4 cups really warm water

1/2-3/4 cup honey

10-11 1/2 cups whole grain wheat flour (freshly ground if possible)

3 teaspoons sea salt

1/4-1 cup anything else you would like: I add 2/3 cup steel cut oats and 1/4 cup flaxseed

cooking spray

Directions:

1. Grind wheat.

2. Mix yeast, water, and honey in a bowl.

3. Let rest for 5 minutes until yeast foams.

4. Then add flour, I just add all the flour at once then gently mix with my paddle attachment.

5. Then add salt and anything else, if you choose to.

6. Then gently mix again just until the salt or other ingredients are mixed in.

7. Knead for 4-6 minutes. Now this dough is really sticky and you are going to think that you need to add more flour. Sometimes I have had to add the entire 11 1/2 cups but sometimes I am fine with just 10, however just know that the dough will be very sticky and you only want to add enough flour that the dough barely pulls away from the bowl.

8. Let dough rise for 15 minutes.

9. Spray the back of your hands with cooking spray and punch down the dough.

10. Form into loafs, this will make 3 smaller sized loafs. Put into greased loaf pans.

11. Let rise in pans for 30 minutes.

12.Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. I like to put a large glass baking dish filled with water on the lower rack.

14. Remove from pans immediately and let cool on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!! And don't say I didn't warn you....

Halloween Soup

Um, so should I address the fact that I haven't posted on this blog in like months, or just ignore that and share this awesome recipe with all of you?? I do have my reasons...maybe I'll get to those on another post. But for now...here is the recipe! My friend Heidi made this for a get-together we were both at recently and everyone there requested the recipe. She shared it with all of us, so I'm sure she won't mind me sharing it with all of you. Imagine my delight when I made it tonight and discovered that it's not only tasty and filling but it's only about 75 calories per cup (give or take--this is not an exact science!!) For someone who tries to stay around 1200 calories a day that is AWESOME!! And it's awesome for the rest of you, too!

So chop up and bake those Jack O Lanterns before they rot and make yourself some...

Black Bean and Pumpkin Soup

3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 TBSP butter

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. cumin

2 cans chicken broth

1/2 cup water

1 can pumpkin puree--I used about 3 cups fresh pumpkin puree

In a blender puree beans and tomatoes with a bit of the broth in several batches. In a large pot, melt butter on medium heat. (I cut the butter in half and used Pam instead.) Add onions, garlic, salt, pepper and cumin. Cook 6 minutes until onions are soft. Stir in beans and tomato puree. Add broth and pumpkin. Mix well; simmer for about 30 minutes. Makes about 13 cups of soup--or more depending on how liberal you are with the pumpkin.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt.

Yes, my friends, you can go from this...

to this...

Yummy!!

Correction

15 lbs!!!!!

The New Me and my new BFF

I know I've mentioned on here that I have been thinking of changing my goals/aspirations a bit since the running thing just wasn't working for me. We've always loved doing family bike rides and my parents are avid cyclists, so I decided to start taking that sport more seriously. I think I have found my niche. I absolutely LOVE it. Ryan and I got new (to us) road bikes and I am in love with my bike!! Lincoln and I still take morning rides together most mornings, but the child seat is on my mountain bike (which I have named "The Blue Beast" because it is SO heavy.) On the evenings and weekends when I get to ride my road bike by myself, I just fly. I LOVE IT!! I come home so happy. I never felt that way about running. I liked the way I felt physically after doing it (minus the massive knee pain) but I never loved it. Not like this. I look forward to my rides. I still have a lot to learn, but I am so excited to have found something I truly love to do! Now Ryan and I are training for a triathlon relay in Sept. where we will be the cyclists on our teams.

In terms of eating, I have still continued to count calories using my website (myfitnesspal.com) and it is such an effective tool for me. I'm down 13 pounds (and that is even with my two week vacation and some bouts of serious stress eating.) I have learned a lot and I'm glad I tried that South Beach Diet because it gave me a lot of tools for how to substitute foods in order to cut calories. Carbs can get dangerous, let me tell you. So I rarely eat pasta now, but I always have a lot of spaghetti squash on hand. Today's lunch was spaghetti squash, turkey meatballs and marinara for a whopping 303 calories. The same lunch using whole wheat spaghetti noodles would have been 500 calories. I also use only low carb tortillas (70 cal.) and those sandwich thins (100 cal.) You just have to find what works for you and go for it! And thank goodness that most restaurants have nutritional info online these days! THAT is eye-opening.

If anyone is still reading this and is a member or joins myfitnesspal.com (it's free) we can become friends on there and encourage each other! Let me know...

Still Alive

We have been out of town for the past two weeks, and then frantically trying to get the kids ready to start school again (yesterday.) But I have still been working out religiously--we did a ton of hiking on vacation and I'm back to strength and cardio (biking and elliptical) since I've been home.

I came home from vacation to find a flourishing garden!!! :) SO HAPPY!! So we have been having fresh lettuce and green onions from our own garden in our salad every night! Hopefully everything else will produce food and not just look cool.

And here is my Fourth of July feast. Kind of lame, I know, but we had driven over nine hours the day before and I had spent the whole day cleaning, doing laundry and trying to get settled in. So a turkey dog on half a sandwich thin it was. (Don't worry, the rest of the family had real buns, and even got grilled corn on the cob!)

Thoughts

I've noticed a pattern in my work-out efforts. I am great at getting in my 4 day a week strength training sessions and my Pilates as well. I am great at doing my daily cardio--the elliptical and bike, for instance. Then I will go for a run and feel pumped and excited. I will run a great 4 miles and think I can do anything and be so motivated that I will e-mail my dear running friend, Priscilla to start re-planning our marathon together.

Then the next day I will be unable to walk because my knees hurt so badly. So I will continue on with all my other forms of exercise and hobble up and down the stairs for about a week before the cycle starts all over again. Feel great. Run. Want knee replacements. Hobble. Hobble. Hobble. Feel great. Run. Want knee replacements. Hobble. Hobble. Hobble...

So really, maybe I am just not cut out to be a runner. I would LOVE to be able to say I have run a marathon. What an incredible accomplishment. I want to put one of those little 26.2 stickers on my car window. But I don't know if it's ever going to happen. :(

I'm now thinking along the lines of a 100 mile bike ride. That's a big accomplishment, too, right? My parents do one every year. I'll have to look into it.

Hard work

Wow, this bike riding stuff really wears us out...

funny how the one that gets the most tired is the one that is just along for the ride!! (Yes, he is sound asleep!!)

Summertime!!

It's here, officially! I think a healthy lifestyle is a million times easier in the summer. At least where I live. When we lived in Arizona, not so much. Now it's time to walk to church


take day-long family hikes

and fun family bike rides in the evenings. No picture of this because I was, um, riding my bike, but we had a blast last night exploring new parts of the neighborhood. The weather was incredible. Plus, summer is the time of unlimited WATERMELON! (It's a very low-cal food--although I don't recommend eating large quantities of it when you are on a long road trip in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. Food for thought.)

The other night I went out to dinner at an Irish Pub. I spent all day carefully counting and saving my calories, as well as studying their menu and planning what I was going to eat. I also did extra time on the elliptical just to be safe. I chose the Steak Irish Boxty--which is a traditional Irish meal. It's like a pancake with Steak and mushrooms on it. It was super yummy!! I was so proud of myself, though, because although I was plenty hungry, I only ate half and took the rest home. I am usually a finisher. I always finish everything on my plate. I counted it as a huge victory that I didn't! That way I saved major calories and still got to taste some authentic Irish food and not feel guilty. Plus, Ryan got a yummy lunch the next day, too!

Success!!!!

I don't have a ton of time, but I am thrilled to report that since I started starving myself counting calories I have lost 10 pounds!!!!! Woo hoo!!!

30 day Shred

My kids are wimps! They couldn't even make it through level one using Lincoln Logs as their hand weights. :)
Here I am showing them how it's done...

News

I finally got in to see the Endocrinologist last Monday. It was a really good experience--I felt like the doctor actually listened to me. She spent a good 40 minutes just talking to me and explaining things. Some interesting things she had to say:
1. There is very little that doctors actually know and understand about weight gain and hormones. There is often no identifiable reason for unexplained weight gain. Yay for me!
2. Just because something worked before (i.e. Body for Life) doesn't mean it will work again. Well that explains the last year of my life.
3. The older we get the harder it is for us to keep the weight off. I guess I knew that--kinda sucks though.
4. Anti-anxiety medications can cause weight gain.
5. While exercise is great, all it really boils down to is calories in/calories out.
6. You can gain weight eating too much broccoli.

She decided to re-test my thyroid, even though the test came back normal in October. She had my charts right there in front of her and nicely pointed out that yes, I have gained 12 pounds since October. That doesn't count the 18 or so pounds I had put on before October. (So, while I appreciate all of the kind comments from those of you who have said I look fine--I have proof from my doctor that I have put on a TON.)

She also decided to test my cortisol levels because she said that was the only other identifiable cause of unexplained weight gain. She made it pretty clear that it was unlikely that either of these hormones were out of whack. She says she often sees patients that have nothing wrong (that they can find) and suggested I start counting calories. I left feeling somewhat bummed that there wasn't going to be any magic pill to cure me, but also encouraged that at least I had a game plan.

I have spent the past week limiting myself to under 1200 calories a day. I found a great website--myfitnesspal.com that helps me track my calories--the food I eat and the calories I burn working out. Yes, I have been at least vaguely hungry most of the time, but I have felt in control and I like working toward a goal. I have a lot to lose. I also met with my regular doctor and got my anti-anxiety meds switched to see if those could be contributing to the problem. (Yes, I am a crazy person. Now you know.)

Well, lo and behold, the endocrinologist called today with my test results. My thyroid is still completely normal, but my cortisol test came back abnormal, so now I have to go back in for more tests.

So--maybe there is something wrong with me. I don't really know what it is or what they can do about it. I will go back in and talk to her more soon. But I have to say I find it a lot less depressing to think that it is not my fault that I have gained all this weight! It's not my fault!!! :)