Pinterest Saturday!

In an effort to actually do some of the awesome crafts and ideas that we find on Pinterest. Some friends and I have decided to take one saturday a month to get together and do them! I have taken this opportunity to make some Christmas present during this time, and I can't tell you everything I've made because then those family members wouldn't be surprised now would they?

I can however tell you about the super cool homemade dry oatmeal packets that I made this last saturday. There are so many preservatives in those packets that you but at the store, not to mention how hugely inflated the price is for oatmeal. So I found a recipe here:http://www.pinterest.com/pin/101682904060311291/. Now I will be honest, I went a little crazy and just HAD to buy all the freeze dried fruit that she uses in the recipes and they are not cheap! But, if I were trying to save money and not just healthfulness I would probably make some that were just cinnamon, or PB using PB2. That would not only save your health by consuming less preservatives, but the price of all the ingredients would be a lot less. Also, now that I have a container of oatmeal, nonfat dry milk, and chia seeds, I can make a lot more packets in the future without having to buy a whole bunch of ingredients. Here are some of the stuff I bought to make them.

 

Now I did use brown sugar for the sweetener instead of using a sugar substitute, my reasoning, I haven't found one that I like yet.So if you have a favorite, leave me a comment and I'll try it! Also, it was already in my cabinet and I didn't want to buy more sugar. This is Amanda, my roomate from when I was in college! 

 And here is the finished product! Using the small snack bags, and a sharpie to label them accordingly. What I ended up with was 3 cocoa banana, 3 PB banana, 6 apple cinnamon, and 6 raspberry orange. I do not know the shelf life on these, but with the weather turning colder here, they are not going to last very long!

Craving some Dessert?

There comes a time at around 8 pm every night. The baby just went to bed and I can finally sit down. Then it hits me, that evil little craving that wants something chocolate. Every. Single. Night. It's sad really, I've been eating what I want without thought for how healthy it is that I've programmed myself to have something sweet before I go to bed. This is something I need to work on, because that's the hardest part of the day for me, I can go all day without a thought to eating a sugary snack, then I sit down after 8 and all I can think of is "what kind of chocolate is in the house?".

So, instead of making myself go insane by trying to ignore the crazy cravings I've trained myself to have, I've decided to look for healthier solutions. One day I will cut out desserts to being a special treat once and a while, until then I am turning to healthier things like greek yogurt.

If you haven't tried it yet, you definitely should, now it is pretty different from regular yogurt in that it's thicker, creamier, and has a little tang to it. Not as sweet as regular yogurt, but I have found it to be really versatile. Tonight for a little sweet treat, I have greek yogurt cookie dough.

 

It is a simple recipe, all you do is take one container of nonfat plain greek yogurt, one Tbsp. PB2 (or regular peanut butter), one Tbsp. sweetener, 1/4 tsp. vanilla, and a Tbsp. of chocolate chips and mix it all together, and you have a semisweet bowl of goodness! Also if you haven't tried PB2 yet and you are a real lover of peanut butter like myself then you should try it. Basically it's powdered Pb with most of the fat taken out so you get the great taste with way less calories.

 

 

I'm super excited about meals I've been preparing today, I don't have all the ingredients to do all of them so I'll tell ya about it tomorrow!

Melissa

 

 

Photo and recipe can be found at: http://www.girlgonecountry.com/recipes-2/cookie-dough-greek-yogurt-3/ 



Day 1: The little stuff matters too

So yesterday I was full of excuses, and I am ashamed of that. I will publicly shame myself by telling you my excuses so I will never use them again.
We didn't have any food at the house that I wanted.
I worked all morning on a Sunday (which is the worst day to be a server (seriously it makes me really sad) ).
I was busy with the baby.
Nick really wanted to watch the football game at a bar.
I was craving chicken wings that they make exceptionally well at said bar.
I was tired.
The chicken was still frozen.

OK

Now that my excuses are out of my system, I can start getting into shape. Today I did something little that may not seem a big deal to people but it was a huge deal to me. On my way to buy groceries, I knew that I needed to stop somewhere and get lunch, because everyone knows you buy more on an empty stomach than a full one. I usually go all out when I stop for fast food, I think to myself that if I'm going to spend the money, I might as well enjoy myself. Most of the time I end up with a big greasy (delicious) roast beef sandwich with some sort of seasoned curly fries and a Pepsi or Mountain Dew because I go to certain fast food chains based on which brand of soft drink they have. And since my drug of choice is Mountain Dew, I like Arby's, Taco Bell, and KFC the best. Well kids, this time I thought about what I'm trying to do here and went to Hardees (still greasy and delicious) but instead of ordering something that would have made me feel like I have to "start my diet over again" I got a turkey burger with ketchup and pickles!! This was not the healthiest thing on the menu, but it was way healthier than I could have been!! I'm proud of myself, I know that mustard is better than ketchup and that you can get the sandwich with lettuce instead of bread (low card option) but I needed to get full. I didn't have any fries or soda today, I was drinking a coffee drink I had made in the morning with coffee, skim milk, and caramel syrup. Again, not the healthiest thing I could have had but when on a normal day I can put down 2 32oz Mountain Dews without blinking, this is a big thing to me! So I would say that my new lifestyle is going very well. I bought a plethora of healthy food and I am actually getting ready to prep some of it now so I don't have an excuse this week. I want to start exercising but I'm trying to start with the little stuff first, then we will move on to the hard stuff.

Tomorrow, I will be weighing myself for my official starting weight, and I will let you in on what I prepped for the week!
Melissa

My Fitness Journey

Today. My fitness journey begins today. I'm tired of "trying" to start and not getting very far because of some thing stressful, or someone coming to visit, or any other excuses I've been using since the baby was born. I'm done! I'm tired of reading about how everyone else is having these great epiphanys and having their journey and now they look great and I'm still sitting here on my couch with my bellay sticking out like I'm still preggo (except I'm not) its my turn Dammit!!

Hello, my name is Melissa and I'm an emotional eater, a lover of food, and just a plain pig sometimes.

I'm not anymore though, starting today, I'm a person who cares about what goes into my mouth (thats what she said ;)), a person who wants to be a good example for my daughter, a person who likes running (eech! well trying to like it anyway). I'm going to stop just looing at fitness posters and actually use them as motivation to get off my fat ass! Granted, I'm not severely overweight, but I'm far enough that I need to change now, before my unhealthy obsession with fried food gets me into clothing that looks like a tent because I have become the size of a small elephant.

Hello, my name is Melissa and I'm a fitness junkie/health nut because I care.

Come with me on this journey, starting in the moring. I'll tell you how it went tomorrow night! Also side note, my baby girl rolled from her back to her belly tonight!!! *Proud momma fist pump*