Hi everybody!
I feel like such a bad blogger, not keeping up with you! I've just been SO CRAZY! Between working all the time and rehearsals every night from either 6-9 or 7-10 (in a town about 30 minutes away from me), I have been WIPED. Today I am so exhausted I'm not even going to Target today...and ya'll know how much I love Target! I have healthy food left and I'll go to the store this weekend and pick up more fresh veggies, but for now I am set.
I weighed in today, after a little break...I'm down another 2.3 pounds!! And last night I splurged and had Chinese food for dinner. So I'm wondering if I'm not holding on to some fluid because I already feel a huge difference in my clothes. I was a good girl though, I didn't eat my whole meal. Instead I ate about 1/2 and put the rest in the fridge for lunch today! Yipee! I put it all into my calorie counter and I feel good!
I've also been doing a TON of exercise. Dance rehearsals will get my blood flowing and I've been practicing my dancing. I am not tthe most graceful but I try hard! And its really good exercise. I've also been walking more and doing more activity.I feel a difference...and I also feel more tired! I guess it's par for the course!
Hope everyone has a great day!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Way Busy Wednesday!
I'll admit, ya'll, I am cheating myself a bit because I weighed in yesterday! DOWN 3.2 YIPEE! I weighed in yesterday because I am at my parents' house today for some time with my mom and some much needed R&R! I didn't want to weigh in on a different scale.
Work has been crazy...honestly, I don't know how much more I can take. I just keep on going and praying. And then add rehearsal from 7-10 every M-Th and woof. I am going to make it but damn I am tired. I'm starting not to feel so good today too, my body is aching and I am really hoping I'm not coming down with something. I was at a patient on Sunday who kept COUGHING ON ME despite me repeatedly offering them tissues and reminding them to cover their cough. Disgusting. Honestly, I could not wait to get out of there. I had a nasty horrible headache yesterday that lingered....finally I slept it off. It could just be stress but I definitely don't feel 100%. Blehhh...especially with all the crap going around, I really cannot afford to be sick right now!
Eating has been really good this week. I have been doing Special K shakes or peanut butter toast for breakfast. I bought Peanut Butter and CO white chocolate peanut butter. It is ALL NATURAL, no preservatives and SUPER YUMMY! I love it for breakfast, it makes me feel like I'm cheating even when I'm not! Lunches have been great too! It's been SO busy so I've often been doing hummus, peppers, string cheese and turkey pepperoni or a Lean Cuisine in a real pinch! Having turkey bacon around and having TUrkey BLTs has been yummy too! I am back on track and doing well!
I didn't go grocery shopping today because I'm not at home! But don't worry, I have plenty of healthy food at home :) I'll go shopping Saturday this week!!
Hope everyone is having a good day!!!
Work has been crazy...honestly, I don't know how much more I can take. I just keep on going and praying. And then add rehearsal from 7-10 every M-Th and woof. I am going to make it but damn I am tired. I'm starting not to feel so good today too, my body is aching and I am really hoping I'm not coming down with something. I was at a patient on Sunday who kept COUGHING ON ME despite me repeatedly offering them tissues and reminding them to cover their cough. Disgusting. Honestly, I could not wait to get out of there. I had a nasty horrible headache yesterday that lingered....finally I slept it off. It could just be stress but I definitely don't feel 100%. Blehhh...especially with all the crap going around, I really cannot afford to be sick right now!
Eating has been really good this week. I have been doing Special K shakes or peanut butter toast for breakfast. I bought Peanut Butter and CO white chocolate peanut butter. It is ALL NATURAL, no preservatives and SUPER YUMMY! I love it for breakfast, it makes me feel like I'm cheating even when I'm not! Lunches have been great too! It's been SO busy so I've often been doing hummus, peppers, string cheese and turkey pepperoni or a Lean Cuisine in a real pinch! Having turkey bacon around and having TUrkey BLTs has been yummy too! I am back on track and doing well!
I didn't go grocery shopping today because I'm not at home! But don't worry, I have plenty of healthy food at home :) I'll go shopping Saturday this week!!
Hope everyone is having a good day!!!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Weekend Update!
Well, it was another working weekend but honestly, I can't say that it was too bad. I got up and showered, had a nice breakfast and was on my way. I did hit a slight snag when I got to my office and the DOOR WAS BROKEN! The key did not work! So I was unable to get in and get admission packets, thank God I had 2 in the car for my 2 admissions. If I have any tomorrow that means I have to drive into Hartford and get some because the door is broken, UGH. I realllllly hope that does not happen because I will be incredibly unhappy to have to do that. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
It'll be nice to have some extra money, that's for sure! I won't complain about that. Since I have been consistently eating healthier, I feel really a lot better. I feel like my stress is more manageable and I'm feeling like I have more energy. I've been sleeping better too, yipee!
It is that TOM so I have been a little crampy but nothing serious! Although my appetite has been next to nothing. Yesterday I was so turned off by food! But I ate small little things and made my calorie level so I wouldn't put my body into starvation mode. And I woke up pretty hungry this morning, so I had a Special K shake. On days when I have to work, these are a godsend! It's got protein and vitamins and it keeps me full until lunch time. Today I got home, finished my charting and then made buffalo chicken salad. I LOVE spicy food and this is SO amiazing! I should've taken a picture but I devoured it before I started writing this post, hehe.
What I've been doing is taking a Tyson Grilled and Ready chicken breast fillet (AWESOME for an easy meal!!) you cook it in the microwave for 2.5 minutes then I cut it into bite sized pieces and toss it with some hotsauce in a bowl. Then I do about 2-2.5 cups of Romaine. I have a large bag and I do about 1/2 of it per serving and there are 3 servings in there. I added 1oz of crumbled blue cheese and 0.5oz crushed tortilla chips for just a little bt of a crunch, an a bit of thinly sliced onion. Then I add 2 tablespoons of blue cheese dressing and I use some extra hotsauce to thin it out. NOM! I am just gaga for this delicious, healthy meal. SO good! And VERY filling, I'll tell you. Between the chicken and the blue cheese, it keeps me full and satisfied until dinner time! LOVE it!
Also this week I have been eating Turkey BLTs. On WEdnesday I cooked a package of turkey bacon in the oven so it stayed straight and didn't drown in grease. And I've been eating it on Sara Lee Natural and Delicious 45 calorie bread. No preservatives and only a handful of ingredients, it's not filled with chemicals like many other bread! I eat 2 slices with butter lettuce, some fresh sliced organic tomato, 1 tablespoon of light mayo and about 2-3 slices of turkey bacon, depending on my calorie count that day. Served with a portion of Alexia chiptole sweet potato fries cooked fresh and hot from the oven...YUM! And it's SO easy to put together too! Love it!
I still have lean cuisines in the freezer but I'm trying to do as much cooking as I have time for. On Monday I start rehearsals for Godspell in which I'm playing Joanne. And I know that my schedule is going to become more hectic, so I love having the option to just throw a lean cuisine in my bag and I can eat it before rehearsal or on a break! Works for me!
I hope that everyone is having a lovely Saturday...I stayed FAR far away from any grocery stores today but I'm sure it's busy as heck before the Superbowl here in the states. If you're going, Godspeed...if you already went, I'm glad you made it out alive! Have a good weekened everybody! <3
It'll be nice to have some extra money, that's for sure! I won't complain about that. Since I have been consistently eating healthier, I feel really a lot better. I feel like my stress is more manageable and I'm feeling like I have more energy. I've been sleeping better too, yipee!
It is that TOM so I have been a little crampy but nothing serious! Although my appetite has been next to nothing. Yesterday I was so turned off by food! But I ate small little things and made my calorie level so I wouldn't put my body into starvation mode. And I woke up pretty hungry this morning, so I had a Special K shake. On days when I have to work, these are a godsend! It's got protein and vitamins and it keeps me full until lunch time. Today I got home, finished my charting and then made buffalo chicken salad. I LOVE spicy food and this is SO amiazing! I should've taken a picture but I devoured it before I started writing this post, hehe.
What I've been doing is taking a Tyson Grilled and Ready chicken breast fillet (AWESOME for an easy meal!!) you cook it in the microwave for 2.5 minutes then I cut it into bite sized pieces and toss it with some hotsauce in a bowl. Then I do about 2-2.5 cups of Romaine. I have a large bag and I do about 1/2 of it per serving and there are 3 servings in there. I added 1oz of crumbled blue cheese and 0.5oz crushed tortilla chips for just a little bt of a crunch, an a bit of thinly sliced onion. Then I add 2 tablespoons of blue cheese dressing and I use some extra hotsauce to thin it out. NOM! I am just gaga for this delicious, healthy meal. SO good! And VERY filling, I'll tell you. Between the chicken and the blue cheese, it keeps me full and satisfied until dinner time! LOVE it!
Also this week I have been eating Turkey BLTs. On WEdnesday I cooked a package of turkey bacon in the oven so it stayed straight and didn't drown in grease. And I've been eating it on Sara Lee Natural and Delicious 45 calorie bread. No preservatives and only a handful of ingredients, it's not filled with chemicals like many other bread! I eat 2 slices with butter lettuce, some fresh sliced organic tomato, 1 tablespoon of light mayo and about 2-3 slices of turkey bacon, depending on my calorie count that day. Served with a portion of Alexia chiptole sweet potato fries cooked fresh and hot from the oven...YUM! And it's SO easy to put together too! Love it!
I still have lean cuisines in the freezer but I'm trying to do as much cooking as I have time for. On Monday I start rehearsals for Godspell in which I'm playing Joanne. And I know that my schedule is going to become more hectic, so I love having the option to just throw a lean cuisine in my bag and I can eat it before rehearsal or on a break! Works for me!
I hope that everyone is having a lovely Saturday...I stayed FAR far away from any grocery stores today but I'm sure it's busy as heck before the Superbowl here in the states. If you're going, Godspeed...if you already went, I'm glad you made it out alive! Have a good weekened everybody! <3
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Weigh in Wednesday & Extreme Couponing!
Hi all!
It's been quiet on the blog because I went away for the weekend with my sister tocelebrate my 25th birthday! WOO! A quarter of a century old, yipee! But it was a reminder that I'm still a work in progress...I want so much more out of my life! Eating last week was good, up until I left on my trip...then it was a lot of eating out, alcohol and fun. However my sister and I did get some exercise! We walked all through the mall and went shopping and we also went swimming in the indoor pool for hours!
I weighed in today after getting right back on track Monday, my weight is exactly the same. So I guess I didn't do THAT badly. I at least maintained where I was at and didn't go nuts. NSV for me!! I've been doing well with eating since I got back from the trip. For breakfasts I've been doing the Special K protein shakes in the morning, a fruit leather/fruit snack for a midmorning snack, hummus with bell peppers, turkey pepperoni and string cheese for lunch and either a lean cuisine or something quick for supper. Then for a dessert I have a variety of healthy options that I like to choose from!
This week at Target I got some AMAZING deals!
They have a buy 6 Lean Cuisine get 1 free Skinny Cow Ice Cream deal going on right now. The Lean cuisines are also on sale for between 1.99 and 2.69 a piece at my local store. I also had a Buy 12 Lean Cuisine get $3 off. So I bought 12 Lean Cuisine (approx half and half the different prices) so 6 x 1.99 and 6 x 2.69 which is $28.08 then I got a free SKinny Cow Mint Ice Crea Sandwiches for 3.99 and a Caramel Cone for 4.74 FREE!!! WOW! That'll last me a few weeks too!
Another great buy was the Market Pantry fruit snacks. 80 cals a piece, so easy t too keep in the car and they were on sale for a 10 count package it was 1.69. And I had a coupon that if you bought 2 packages, you get $1 off from Target.Com!! 2 Fruit Snack boxes at 1.69 a piece = $3.38...then I got a dollar off hich is 2.38. Each package of fruit snacks is 12 CENTS! WOWWWW!
There is another great sale going on for those of you who have families. If you buy 10 items of these foods, you get a free $5 giftcard. Stacking coupoins with this is AMAZING! The items included were select beans, pasta sauce, pasta, etc. I had $1 off 4 Old El Paso Items, so I got 4 cans of refried fat free beans to put on wraps and to use in recipes, I had $1 off Barilla Pasta Plus so I got 2 boxes of that (These were also on sale for 1 a box, it was like getting one FREE!), I bought 3 ragu sauces using a Target 60 cents off 2 ragu sauces AND a manufacturer's coupon for $1.25 off if you bought three WOW! Then I also bought a Ragu pasta sauce which was included in the deal that was on sale for $1.19. Woot! All told, these items came to 18.10 (BEFORE COUPONS) then I had the $2.85 in coupons...which was 15.25. AND I have a shiny new $5 giftcard for next week's use! If I subtracted that, ALL of these items would be 10.25...yes for 4 pasta sauces, 2 boxes of pasta and 4 cans of refried beans. All of which will last me a VERY long time. YAY!!!
I got all of the items mentioned above plus a 48 count package of swiffer dry cloth refills (had a $1 off coupon), 3 Snackwells 100 calorie pack boxes (had a $1 off 3 coupon), 2 packs of turkey pepperoni (had a $1 off coupon), a package of turkey bacon, 4 containers of Sabra roasted garlic hummus, a loaf of Sara Lee bread (had a 50 cents off Taget Coupon), 4 cans of Rotel Tomatoes (not included in the buy 10 get a 5 dollar giftcard free but on sale for 89 cents), weight watchers ice cream (had a $1 off coupon), a package of glad freezer containers (had a $1 off coupon) and 2 jars of Newman's Own Salsa (had $1 off 2 coupon) all for 92.10!!!
In total I saved $35.72 shopping today and an extra $4.55 for using my redcard! Yayyy
For my birthday, I bought myself a little present! I have been keeping my coupons in an envelope which is great BUT twice now my envelope shredded down the side and all my coupons went EVERYWHERE. So I invested i nthis ADORABLE coupon pouch. Yipee!
I absolutely LOVE it!! I had all my coupons organized and that made this shopping trip super fun! Hope all is well with you guys! REmember if you haven't left me your blog link in a comment please do! I want to get back to reading your guys' awesome blogs <3
Happy Wednesday!
It's been quiet on the blog because I went away for the weekend with my sister tocelebrate my 25th birthday! WOO! A quarter of a century old, yipee! But it was a reminder that I'm still a work in progress...I want so much more out of my life! Eating last week was good, up until I left on my trip...then it was a lot of eating out, alcohol and fun. However my sister and I did get some exercise! We walked all through the mall and went shopping and we also went swimming in the indoor pool for hours!
 |
| Look at me swimming and the snow outside! Hilarious!! |
This week at Target I got some AMAZING deals!
They have a buy 6 Lean Cuisine get 1 free Skinny Cow Ice Cream deal going on right now. The Lean cuisines are also on sale for between 1.99 and 2.69 a piece at my local store. I also had a Buy 12 Lean Cuisine get $3 off. So I bought 12 Lean Cuisine (approx half and half the different prices) so 6 x 1.99 and 6 x 2.69 which is $28.08 then I got a free SKinny Cow Mint Ice Crea Sandwiches for 3.99 and a Caramel Cone for 4.74 FREE!!! WOW! That'll last me a few weeks too!
Another great buy was the Market Pantry fruit snacks. 80 cals a piece, so easy t too keep in the car and they were on sale for a 10 count package it was 1.69. And I had a coupon that if you bought 2 packages, you get $1 off from Target.Com!! 2 Fruit Snack boxes at 1.69 a piece = $3.38...then I got a dollar off hich is 2.38. Each package of fruit snacks is 12 CENTS! WOWWWW!
There is another great sale going on for those of you who have families. If you buy 10 items of these foods, you get a free $5 giftcard. Stacking coupoins with this is AMAZING! The items included were select beans, pasta sauce, pasta, etc. I had $1 off 4 Old El Paso Items, so I got 4 cans of refried fat free beans to put on wraps and to use in recipes, I had $1 off Barilla Pasta Plus so I got 2 boxes of that (These were also on sale for 1 a box, it was like getting one FREE!), I bought 3 ragu sauces using a Target 60 cents off 2 ragu sauces AND a manufacturer's coupon for $1.25 off if you bought three WOW! Then I also bought a Ragu pasta sauce which was included in the deal that was on sale for $1.19. Woot! All told, these items came to 18.10 (BEFORE COUPONS) then I had the $2.85 in coupons...which was 15.25. AND I have a shiny new $5 giftcard for next week's use! If I subtracted that, ALL of these items would be 10.25...yes for 4 pasta sauces, 2 boxes of pasta and 4 cans of refried beans. All of which will last me a VERY long time. YAY!!!
I got all of the items mentioned above plus a 48 count package of swiffer dry cloth refills (had a $1 off coupon), 3 Snackwells 100 calorie pack boxes (had a $1 off 3 coupon), 2 packs of turkey pepperoni (had a $1 off coupon), a package of turkey bacon, 4 containers of Sabra roasted garlic hummus, a loaf of Sara Lee bread (had a 50 cents off Taget Coupon), 4 cans of Rotel Tomatoes (not included in the buy 10 get a 5 dollar giftcard free but on sale for 89 cents), weight watchers ice cream (had a $1 off coupon), a package of glad freezer containers (had a $1 off coupon) and 2 jars of Newman's Own Salsa (had $1 off 2 coupon) all for 92.10!!!
In total I saved $35.72 shopping today and an extra $4.55 for using my redcard! Yayyy
For my birthday, I bought myself a little present! I have been keeping my coupons in an envelope which is great BUT twice now my envelope shredded down the side and all my coupons went EVERYWHERE. So I invested i nthis ADORABLE coupon pouch. Yipee!
Happy Wednesday!
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Weekend Update
Happy Saturday!
I am writing this post from my parents' house. I'm here looking after my brother who's just not doing well. He had to have another surgery to clear out the infection in his arm and maybe will need another 1-2 if the infection doesn't resolve. Ugh. Poor kid, I feel so bad for him. My parents are both working today so I came down to spend the day with him...but he likes to sleep until noon or later so, until he gets up I'm going to drink some coffee, relax and take some quiet time for me!!
This morning I had a delicious breakfast of turkey sausage and 2 pancakes. Yum! I have been pretty good staying on plan, not sure what today looks like since I'm not at home but my mom said she got hummus for me at the store so I believe I can have soe hummus, veggies and Triscuits for lunch. Woot, yay healthy meal planning!
Another thing I wanted to put out here on my blog is that given my recent work stress, I have stared thinking about my options. I'm a nurse, so I can segue into many different fields. I could go and be a professor, I could decide I want to work at a clinic or, in my case,I was thinking about legal nurse consulting. When I was in highschool and before I decided to become a nurse, I looked at many liberal arts colleges including several prelaw programs. I actually almost chose a school in New York with a 3 x 3 program which is an intensive 3 year prelaw/bachelors degree and then 3 years of law school, culminating in full licensure and certification and job placement by the age of 24! But I decided that I would prefer to work in medicine...
But now this LNC program would allow me to keep my nursing and go into law too. I am still doing a lot of research on this, it seems like the program would be about $2000 dollars which, if you ask me, is doable. Especially since when I got a LNC job, it would come with a big pay raise. It's definitely not about the money though (although when you're going to spend that much out of pocket, you definitely need to consider the financial aspect!!) but it's also about my stress. I think the day to day patient care aspect is extremely demanding both physically and mentally. Whereas working with legal cases would still be challenging (Which I like) but not as personally overwhelming, I also would not have to worry about going out in megabad snowstorms and such as the schedule seems more flexible and I could work from home too, possibly. Like I said, I'm still sort of putting all the pieces together! But those are my most secret inner thoughts!
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend planned. For those of you who are working I hope it's quiet and calm! Have a good one!
I am writing this post from my parents' house. I'm here looking after my brother who's just not doing well. He had to have another surgery to clear out the infection in his arm and maybe will need another 1-2 if the infection doesn't resolve. Ugh. Poor kid, I feel so bad for him. My parents are both working today so I came down to spend the day with him...but he likes to sleep until noon or later so, until he gets up I'm going to drink some coffee, relax and take some quiet time for me!!
This morning I had a delicious breakfast of turkey sausage and 2 pancakes. Yum! I have been pretty good staying on plan, not sure what today looks like since I'm not at home but my mom said she got hummus for me at the store so I believe I can have soe hummus, veggies and Triscuits for lunch. Woot, yay healthy meal planning!
Another thing I wanted to put out here on my blog is that given my recent work stress, I have stared thinking about my options. I'm a nurse, so I can segue into many different fields. I could go and be a professor, I could decide I want to work at a clinic or, in my case,I was thinking about legal nurse consulting. When I was in highschool and before I decided to become a nurse, I looked at many liberal arts colleges including several prelaw programs. I actually almost chose a school in New York with a 3 x 3 program which is an intensive 3 year prelaw/bachelors degree and then 3 years of law school, culminating in full licensure and certification and job placement by the age of 24! But I decided that I would prefer to work in medicine...
But now this LNC program would allow me to keep my nursing and go into law too. I am still doing a lot of research on this, it seems like the program would be about $2000 dollars which, if you ask me, is doable. Especially since when I got a LNC job, it would come with a big pay raise. It's definitely not about the money though (although when you're going to spend that much out of pocket, you definitely need to consider the financial aspect!!) but it's also about my stress. I think the day to day patient care aspect is extremely demanding both physically and mentally. Whereas working with legal cases would still be challenging (Which I like) but not as personally overwhelming, I also would not have to worry about going out in megabad snowstorms and such as the schedule seems more flexible and I could work from home too, possibly. Like I said, I'm still sort of putting all the pieces together! But those are my most secret inner thoughts!
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend planned. For those of you who are working I hope it's quiet and calm! Have a good one!
Friday, January 18, 2013
Par for the Course
Hi all,
Work is still driving me closer to the brink of insanity. And now my brother is not well either. He had surgery to fix his shoulder (this is the THIRD surgery he's had) and then it seems there is a massive infection. They rushed him into surgery this afternoon, the poor baby. So now on top of work I feel the stress and pressure of being the only nurse in the family settling in. I just am so stressed...
BUT I did not stress eat. I almost caught myself today after another 10+ hour day. I ate some healthy snacks in my car and then I didn't get to eat lunch until 4:30pm...after I ate my lunch I still felt hungry and so I had a weight watchers ice cream. It almost turned into a binge but I didn't let it! YAY! I drank a huge glass of water instead and then realized I wasn't even hungry at all anyore, I ate a good healthy portioned lunch and had an appropriate dessert and I'll be fine until dinner which I'm planning on having around 6:30/7pm. Tonight I'm doing a salad with chicken and light caesar dressing. I bought a Dole Light Caesar kit with everything in it and then I have some shredded parmesean. It's a healthy, yummy, filling meal! Yay!
This weekend I am going to hunker down, CLEAN MY HOUSE since it has reached pigsty level (at least in my opinion). It's not actually that bad just very cluttered with things that need to be thrown out. I am going to purge and cleanse, relax, catch up on some junk TV and just VEG. I need this so bad. I really do.
Hope everyone is having a good day. TGIF!
Work is still driving me closer to the brink of insanity. And now my brother is not well either. He had surgery to fix his shoulder (this is the THIRD surgery he's had) and then it seems there is a massive infection. They rushed him into surgery this afternoon, the poor baby. So now on top of work I feel the stress and pressure of being the only nurse in the family settling in. I just am so stressed...
BUT I did not stress eat. I almost caught myself today after another 10+ hour day. I ate some healthy snacks in my car and then I didn't get to eat lunch until 4:30pm...after I ate my lunch I still felt hungry and so I had a weight watchers ice cream. It almost turned into a binge but I didn't let it! YAY! I drank a huge glass of water instead and then realized I wasn't even hungry at all anyore, I ate a good healthy portioned lunch and had an appropriate dessert and I'll be fine until dinner which I'm planning on having around 6:30/7pm. Tonight I'm doing a salad with chicken and light caesar dressing. I bought a Dole Light Caesar kit with everything in it and then I have some shredded parmesean. It's a healthy, yummy, filling meal! Yay!
This weekend I am going to hunker down, CLEAN MY HOUSE since it has reached pigsty level (at least in my opinion). It's not actually that bad just very cluttered with things that need to be thrown out. I am going to purge and cleanse, relax, catch up on some junk TV and just VEG. I need this so bad. I really do.
Hope everyone is having a good day. TGIF!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Weigh In Wednesday & Coupon Extravaganza
Hi all!
Well what a huge wet snowy mess CT is today, woof! It was quite the winter wonderland out there!! I got up early and my mom and I were chatting and enjoying each other's company. I weighed in this morning...REALLY unhappy with myself for letting my weight get back up. The scale said 297.8 today. UGH. I was really upset. And am still really upset. I did splurge a little bit last night. I was running low on healthy food, basically I had no veggies left, etc and the chicken I took out for dinner for me and my mom TWO DAYS AGO...was still freaking frozen SOLID! Ugh. So we ended up ordering chinese. I only ate half my meal and then put it away for lunch today, that was a really good choice on my part! I'm focusing on healthy meals and such this week!!! I'm going to try not and let me beat myself up over gaining weight back...I slipped and now I'm picking myself up, dusting myself off and continuing on my way.
So...WELCOME TO THE FIRST COUPONING EXTRAVAGANZA SEGMENT.
Today, as usual, I went to Target and Stop & Shop for my weekly grocery shopping and couponing extravaganza. I had a lot of great coupons today! I want to start off by giving you some resources that YOU can use for couponing. I know there are a lot of beginners out there who don't know where to start OR they're afraid they're going to get on some phony website and end up with a computer virus. Believe me, I don't want that! So I want to start today's couponing lesson with how to organize yourself to get some deals. I am going to use Target as my example (That's where I always go) but you should use whatever store that YOU like to shop at most often. Walmart, Kroger, Costcos...whatever floats your boat!
Why Target, you might ask? For one thing, they have major deals over grocery stores. Plus, I can get 90% of my food and personal care items...my target is NOT a fresh grocery store but they do have a huge food section with MANY items. But they do not carry fresh produce ( I get all of that at Stop & Shop). I also have a Target Redcard and I get 5% off every time I shop! That's a huge savings on top of what I already save using coupons.
STEP ONE:
First of all, I always start off with my Sunday paper. I know that coupons are regional, some of you don't recieve any OR you don't get a Sunday paper. What I can say is that I only get a paper on Sundays and the amount I save in coupons FAR outweighs what I pay for a paper yearly. 1 year Sunday subscription to the Hartford Courant is approxminate $150 dollars. But you have to understand that last week I saved almost $75 and this week I saved $55...right there is practically the entire subscription cost in just TWO months. If you do this right, you'll more than make back the cost of the paper.
I get a variety of coupons in the paper. I start by grabbing my good old Target circular!! **At this point if you do not have a paper, go online and check out your favorite store's weekly ciruclar. Believe me, I would say 99.9% of stores have these available online now!** This is essential for finding savings! I read the ciruclar to see what is on sale, keeping in mind the things that I need an ALWAYS buy, for example: hummus, 100 Calorie Packs, fruit leather, egg beaters, etc. Then I go through my coupon pages and clip coupons for things I need to buy now AND later. This isn't a difficult exercise. You know what you will need to buy! And if you're not sure, clip it anyway! This really doesn't take my time!
STEP TWO:
After I clip coupons from the paper, THEN I go on Target Coupons. These are AWESOME because with every item you purchase, Target allows you to use 1 Manufactuer's Coupon AND 1 Target Coupon!! For example, this week I had a Target coupon for $2 Off When you Buy any TWO Skinny Cow Bars. I used this coupon AND I had 2 $1 off One Skinny Cow Bars that I got from taking this silly survey: http://lol.skinnycow.com/. In total, that meant I got $3 off on 2 boxes of bars. The bars started at $3.49/box with 6 snacks in each box. Then you take $3 off, so it's almost like getting a box for FREE. Total price PER candy is $0.33. WOW! BIG SAVINGS! WOO!
STEP THREE:
Once I have my coupons clipped from the paper and from Target Coupons. Then I go to www.coupons.com. This is a safe site with MANY deals! This is the one I use religiously and it's been great. Go through and pick the coupons you want to print, then send them right to the printer. Easy as pie!
STEP FOUR:
I have two websites that I check on a daily basis: http://hip2save.com/ AND http://www.totallytarget.com/. These people FOR THEIR JOB actually go to stores and find major deals. That takes a lot of time and effort off me. They alert you to deals and specials. I've had a LOT of success with this!
That's it, folks! I organize all of my coupons in a plain envelope. I don't have a binder or anything. I find it easier if everything is in the envelope then I just flick through and get my coupons out. My total today before I had coupons was $215.63. I saved $54.17 with coupons then got an additional $6.44 from using my Redcard. All told, I got weekly groceries PLUS stocked up on 100 Calorie Snack packs, fruit snacks, I got a Real Simple MAgazine (I have a 50 cent off coupon for it), a Paula Dean 12quart Stockpot for myself which was on sale for $25 (and I've been needing one for a long time), 12 Lean Cuisines, tortellini, egg beaters, iced coffee (International Delight), sausage, Tyson Grillers Chicken breast...and many more. I also used the $25 of free gift cards I got from stocking up on items last week...
My total?
Drumroll please...
$126.10
(Now if I could only get my weight there, haha).
Hope everyone has a great day! If you have ANY QUESTIONS! Leave a message here and I'll be happy to answer them. Also, as I requested before, blogger ate all my blogs I used to follow so if you write a blog, please leave a link so I can add you to my reading list! Thanks!
P.P.S
Look at this sweet stockpot I scored for $25 bucks! I have needed one for a LONG time. And this one matches my pans!! LOVE Paula Dean! THis is still included in my 126.10 too! It's like I got it free with the giftcards I had from last week's trip!!!!!
Well what a huge wet snowy mess CT is today, woof! It was quite the winter wonderland out there!! I got up early and my mom and I were chatting and enjoying each other's company. I weighed in this morning...REALLY unhappy with myself for letting my weight get back up. The scale said 297.8 today. UGH. I was really upset. And am still really upset. I did splurge a little bit last night. I was running low on healthy food, basically I had no veggies left, etc and the chicken I took out for dinner for me and my mom TWO DAYS AGO...was still freaking frozen SOLID! Ugh. So we ended up ordering chinese. I only ate half my meal and then put it away for lunch today, that was a really good choice on my part! I'm focusing on healthy meals and such this week!!! I'm going to try not and let me beat myself up over gaining weight back...I slipped and now I'm picking myself up, dusting myself off and continuing on my way.
So...WELCOME TO THE FIRST COUPONING EXTRAVAGANZA SEGMENT.
Today, as usual, I went to Target and Stop & Shop for my weekly grocery shopping and couponing extravaganza. I had a lot of great coupons today! I want to start off by giving you some resources that YOU can use for couponing. I know there are a lot of beginners out there who don't know where to start OR they're afraid they're going to get on some phony website and end up with a computer virus. Believe me, I don't want that! So I want to start today's couponing lesson with how to organize yourself to get some deals. I am going to use Target as my example (That's where I always go) but you should use whatever store that YOU like to shop at most often. Walmart, Kroger, Costcos...whatever floats your boat!
Why Target, you might ask? For one thing, they have major deals over grocery stores. Plus, I can get 90% of my food and personal care items...my target is NOT a fresh grocery store but they do have a huge food section with MANY items. But they do not carry fresh produce ( I get all of that at Stop & Shop). I also have a Target Redcard and I get 5% off every time I shop! That's a huge savings on top of what I already save using coupons.
STEP ONE:
First of all, I always start off with my Sunday paper. I know that coupons are regional, some of you don't recieve any OR you don't get a Sunday paper. What I can say is that I only get a paper on Sundays and the amount I save in coupons FAR outweighs what I pay for a paper yearly. 1 year Sunday subscription to the Hartford Courant is approxminate $150 dollars. But you have to understand that last week I saved almost $75 and this week I saved $55...right there is practically the entire subscription cost in just TWO months. If you do this right, you'll more than make back the cost of the paper.
I get a variety of coupons in the paper. I start by grabbing my good old Target circular!! **At this point if you do not have a paper, go online and check out your favorite store's weekly ciruclar. Believe me, I would say 99.9% of stores have these available online now!** This is essential for finding savings! I read the ciruclar to see what is on sale, keeping in mind the things that I need an ALWAYS buy, for example: hummus, 100 Calorie Packs, fruit leather, egg beaters, etc. Then I go through my coupon pages and clip coupons for things I need to buy now AND later. This isn't a difficult exercise. You know what you will need to buy! And if you're not sure, clip it anyway! This really doesn't take my time!
STEP TWO:
After I clip coupons from the paper, THEN I go on Target Coupons. These are AWESOME because with every item you purchase, Target allows you to use 1 Manufactuer's Coupon AND 1 Target Coupon!! For example, this week I had a Target coupon for $2 Off When you Buy any TWO Skinny Cow Bars. I used this coupon AND I had 2 $1 off One Skinny Cow Bars that I got from taking this silly survey: http://lol.skinnycow.com/. In total, that meant I got $3 off on 2 boxes of bars. The bars started at $3.49/box with 6 snacks in each box. Then you take $3 off, so it's almost like getting a box for FREE. Total price PER candy is $0.33. WOW! BIG SAVINGS! WOO!
STEP THREE:
Once I have my coupons clipped from the paper and from Target Coupons. Then I go to www.coupons.com. This is a safe site with MANY deals! This is the one I use religiously and it's been great. Go through and pick the coupons you want to print, then send them right to the printer. Easy as pie!
STEP FOUR:
I have two websites that I check on a daily basis: http://hip2save.com/ AND http://www.totallytarget.com/. These people FOR THEIR JOB actually go to stores and find major deals. That takes a lot of time and effort off me. They alert you to deals and specials. I've had a LOT of success with this!
That's it, folks! I organize all of my coupons in a plain envelope. I don't have a binder or anything. I find it easier if everything is in the envelope then I just flick through and get my coupons out. My total today before I had coupons was $215.63. I saved $54.17 with coupons then got an additional $6.44 from using my Redcard. All told, I got weekly groceries PLUS stocked up on 100 Calorie Snack packs, fruit snacks, I got a Real Simple MAgazine (I have a 50 cent off coupon for it), a Paula Dean 12quart Stockpot for myself which was on sale for $25 (and I've been needing one for a long time), 12 Lean Cuisines, tortellini, egg beaters, iced coffee (International Delight), sausage, Tyson Grillers Chicken breast...and many more. I also used the $25 of free gift cards I got from stocking up on items last week...
My total?
Drumroll please...
$126.10
(Now if I could only get my weight there, haha).
Hope everyone has a great day! If you have ANY QUESTIONS! Leave a message here and I'll be happy to answer them. Also, as I requested before, blogger ate all my blogs I used to follow so if you write a blog, please leave a link so I can add you to my reading list! Thanks!
P.P.S
Look at this sweet stockpot I scored for $25 bucks! I have needed one for a LONG time. And this one matches my pans!! LOVE Paula Dean! THis is still included in my 126.10 too! It's like I got it free with the giftcards I had from last week's trip!!!!!
 |
| LOVE! |
Monday, January 14, 2013
Day by Day
Hi all!
Your love and support and prayers are so strong. Thank you! After taking Sunday to detox I felt a lot better Monday morning. I put on my big girl pants and went into work with a smile on my face. And I had a pretty good day. Yes, it was busy. But I ate a good breakfast and had some coffee that I made at home, and made it happen. It worked out just fine. Tomorrow is going to be busy but I know tomorrow evening when I get home that my mom is coming over and I am doing some extreme couponing tomorrow...
I have an amazing couponing segment lined up for Wednesday. PLUS my restarting weigh in (I really am not looking forward to that, bleh). I forgot to mention that I have a special goal in mind! I want to be down 30 pounds before April 20th...because I am playing Joanne in a production of Godspell! I auditioned back in November and I got the part! It's a lot to take on but I love acting and performing...and I want to feel my best before I get up there for all to see. Between dance rehearsals and eating right, exercising, it's possible! That is an average of about 2-3lbs per week, btw, that's not an insane goal! Don't worry!!
Hope everyone is having a good Monday!!
Your love and support and prayers are so strong. Thank you! After taking Sunday to detox I felt a lot better Monday morning. I put on my big girl pants and went into work with a smile on my face. And I had a pretty good day. Yes, it was busy. But I ate a good breakfast and had some coffee that I made at home, and made it happen. It worked out just fine. Tomorrow is going to be busy but I know tomorrow evening when I get home that my mom is coming over and I am doing some extreme couponing tomorrow...
I have an amazing couponing segment lined up for Wednesday. PLUS my restarting weigh in (I really am not looking forward to that, bleh). I forgot to mention that I have a special goal in mind! I want to be down 30 pounds before April 20th...because I am playing Joanne in a production of Godspell! I auditioned back in November and I got the part! It's a lot to take on but I love acting and performing...and I want to feel my best before I get up there for all to see. Between dance rehearsals and eating right, exercising, it's possible! That is an average of about 2-3lbs per week, btw, that's not an insane goal! Don't worry!!
Hope everyone is having a good Monday!!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Hooray!!!!!!!
Happy Sunday!
I called in this morning to get my assignment and they don't need me to work today. God is so good!! I have been praying very hard to get a break. If I didn't get today off I'd have 2 more days on before I got 1 day off. So this is a very welcome relief after having already worked all week and Saturday.
Last night I could hardly sleep, I felt so horrible and anxious. I kept mulling over my bad day and everything about it. I don't know what time I fell asleep (I got in bed around 9:30pm) but I woke up before my alarm, feeling well rested. You can't beat that! I made myself a cup of coffee with a little bit of half and half and read the paper. I'm getting another week of couponing all queued up!!
Recently (as in over the last 3 months) I have really started getting into couponing, I've always used coupons but I never really focused on the deals that I could find. I just bought things I needed and if there was a coupon, great! But now I'm looking at things I need to buy, checking the Target circuar (I always shop target because I have a RedCard and get 5% off on top of my deals) and their coupons online, clipping from the paper and using Coupons.Com!! All in all, my couponing takes about 20 minutes... last week at Target I saved $73.76 using coupons, then I got $7.33 off from my RedCard and then I got $25 worth of giftcards back with the promotion they were running! Not to mention I am completely set for at LEAST one year (if not more) with: toothpaste, garbage bags, paper towels, toilet bowl cleaner and tissues. At LEAST six months (if not more) with dishwasher detergent, toilet paper, and feminine hygiene products. These are all items that won't go bad that I can store in my garage and in the bathroom withou cluttering things up...and I saved an insane amount of money!
My total before any discounts was $252... now this includes ALL of the stocking up items AND all of my weekly groceries (including 10 Lean Cuisines). With my coupons and everything, my total (AFTER tax) was 170.90...and then on top of that I have $25 in giftcards to use the next time I am at the store. Not too shabby, eh? I'm set for a year plus on many essential items, so imagine taking all of that off your weekly grocery bill... that makes me a very happy lady!
Look for my Wednesday Couponing Extravaganza (And weigh in) this week <3
****P.S. For some reason Blogger ate ALL OF THE BLOGS I USED TO FOLLOW!! When I first came back o my blog all of the ones I had were gone. I don't know why this happened. But if you have a blog, can you leave me a link so I can add them to my blog list? You all are the best!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Rough Day
Well,
I ended by day bawling my eyes out in my car on the way back home to chart 2 very difficult admissions and a revisit (which wasn't that bad). My first admission I spent three whole hours being verbally abused by a patient...it was one of the most horrible, degrading experiences in my life and I could say nothing about it. I was already shaking and upset when I left there and went to the second admission. This patient was very sweet but was incredibly sick, it was very stressful for me. My last visit of the day was an adorable person who actually made my day bearable. She reminded me of why I became a nurse... BTW It wasn't to be verbally abused and degraded.
After I got home I was in tears, under so much stress after working ALL week then being forced to work the weekend. I talked at length to the weekend supervisor (I kept all of my personal feelings out of it, go me!) and she stated she took it to a higher power w/ how the patient treated me.
Of course as I'm in the middle of my stress breakdown, my mom called and insisted on coming over. She also brought me some thai food. I love thai food and its healthier than other takeout! I had drunken noodles with tofu and veggies, lots of water and I felt better. It also helped to talk things over with my mom. I still feel horrible and stressed but I can do this. I can. I need to.
Prayers would be appreciated for my sanity today.
I ended by day bawling my eyes out in my car on the way back home to chart 2 very difficult admissions and a revisit (which wasn't that bad). My first admission I spent three whole hours being verbally abused by a patient...it was one of the most horrible, degrading experiences in my life and I could say nothing about it. I was already shaking and upset when I left there and went to the second admission. This patient was very sweet but was incredibly sick, it was very stressful for me. My last visit of the day was an adorable person who actually made my day bearable. She reminded me of why I became a nurse... BTW It wasn't to be verbally abused and degraded.
After I got home I was in tears, under so much stress after working ALL week then being forced to work the weekend. I talked at length to the weekend supervisor (I kept all of my personal feelings out of it, go me!) and she stated she took it to a higher power w/ how the patient treated me.
Of course as I'm in the middle of my stress breakdown, my mom called and insisted on coming over. She also brought me some thai food. I love thai food and its healthier than other takeout! I had drunken noodles with tofu and veggies, lots of water and I felt better. It also helped to talk things over with my mom. I still feel horrible and stressed but I can do this. I can. I need to.
Prayers would be appreciated for my sanity today.
Friday, January 11, 2013
So much stress...
Hi all!
I need to rant and rave a little bit today because if I don't, I feel like I might explode.
Work has been absolutely killing me lately. I am getting everything piled up on me as we have had a ton of staffing changes. We used to have 6 RNs on staff...now we have 2. Between maternity leave, poor performance, illness and leaving to pursue other oppertunities, this is what it's come down to. Tons of pressure and stress on top of the 2 of us. On top of that, there is always HUGE stress being a nurse around the holidays. I flew to Chicago for my cousin's wedding the week before Christmas, and it was so hard. I flew in Friday, the wedding was Saturday and then Sunday at 4am I had to be back at the airport to go home so I could work on Christmjas Eve. My head was spinning...then with Christmas everything was stress city, I had to work NYE and New Year's Day. Patients are very sick now, everything is changing at the ofice...and now I've worked all week AND I am stuck working this weekend. And they've already told me its going to be a busy one. Not to mention if we work the weekend we're supposed to get 2 days off during the week...but since we have no staff, they already told me I can't have days off next week. UGH!
I am trying not to lose my mind...
I love my job, my patients, and nursing...
I just need a break! I don't think that's too much to ask!!!
Tonight I feel like eating my feelings. I'm starving but I KNOW its not real hunger. I've been doing good since I started yesterday. I had some cereal for breakfast and my "treat" was a coffee from Dunkin Donuts. I also needed this coffee to survive today!!!!! For lunch (when I got home at 2pm) was a lean cuisine. BEST decision I made this week was to have something quick and easy because I made a healthy choice and I didn't stop for fast food or anything. For dinner I'm thinking I may make a pizza from my freezer and just eat an appropriate portion, then save some for lunch tomorrow. I think that'll be a good choice. I am tracking on sparkpeople and drinking plenty of water. Tonight I plan on detoxing and relaxing, just letting myself rest before what promises to be a busy weekend.
Despite it all, I am keeping a positive attitude. Writing this post actually helped me come to terms with how I was feeling (So thanks for listening). I joked wih my supervisor that I was going to be earning the big bucks that I'm worth this weekend! :)
Hope you all are having a much less stressful Friday than I am! Happy weekend! Get out there and enjoy it for me!
I need to rant and rave a little bit today because if I don't, I feel like I might explode.
Work has been absolutely killing me lately. I am getting everything piled up on me as we have had a ton of staffing changes. We used to have 6 RNs on staff...now we have 2. Between maternity leave, poor performance, illness and leaving to pursue other oppertunities, this is what it's come down to. Tons of pressure and stress on top of the 2 of us. On top of that, there is always HUGE stress being a nurse around the holidays. I flew to Chicago for my cousin's wedding the week before Christmas, and it was so hard. I flew in Friday, the wedding was Saturday and then Sunday at 4am I had to be back at the airport to go home so I could work on Christmjas Eve. My head was spinning...then with Christmas everything was stress city, I had to work NYE and New Year's Day. Patients are very sick now, everything is changing at the ofice...and now I've worked all week AND I am stuck working this weekend. And they've already told me its going to be a busy one. Not to mention if we work the weekend we're supposed to get 2 days off during the week...but since we have no staff, they already told me I can't have days off next week. UGH!
I am trying not to lose my mind...
I love my job, my patients, and nursing...
I just need a break! I don't think that's too much to ask!!!
Tonight I feel like eating my feelings. I'm starving but I KNOW its not real hunger. I've been doing good since I started yesterday. I had some cereal for breakfast and my "treat" was a coffee from Dunkin Donuts. I also needed this coffee to survive today!!!!! For lunch (when I got home at 2pm) was a lean cuisine. BEST decision I made this week was to have something quick and easy because I made a healthy choice and I didn't stop for fast food or anything. For dinner I'm thinking I may make a pizza from my freezer and just eat an appropriate portion, then save some for lunch tomorrow. I think that'll be a good choice. I am tracking on sparkpeople and drinking plenty of water. Tonight I plan on detoxing and relaxing, just letting myself rest before what promises to be a busy weekend.
Despite it all, I am keeping a positive attitude. Writing this post actually helped me come to terms with how I was feeling (So thanks for listening). I joked wih my supervisor that I was going to be earning the big bucks that I'm worth this weekend! :)
Hope you all are having a much less stressful Friday than I am! Happy weekend! Get out there and enjoy it for me!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
New Year, New Look, New Me
Hello Everybody! Long time no see!!
I would love to tell you that in my hiatus that I was a good girl who kept tracking and eating well and running...but that's not the case. The holidays and life got the better of me. I fell off the wagon and let it run me right over!
Lately I woke up and realized that I don't feel my best, that I can be better and I deserve better! I decided not to go back to Jenny Craig right now, since its far too expensive for me at this time in my life, and focus on doing it on my own. I started with tracking my food and water on Sparkpeople again. It's always a shock to me that I don't gain weight because I eat too MANY calories...its because I'm on a constant cycle of eating too few and then when I do eat a big meal, it all sticks because my body is in starvation mode. Not good.
My first goal for my first week back is to eat breakfast EVERY DAY! It's always been a struggle for me to eat in the mornings. I feel nauseous and horrible...but if I don't set myself up right, I can't continue through the day. I bought some Lean Cuisine this week because they were on sale at Target. (On a side note: I've started really branching out with my extreme couponing, so a new segment on my blog will include Couponing Wednesday :) I hope you like it! Everyone keeps asking me how I'm doing it so I think my blog is a good place to start!!) I am planning on eating cleaner but right now with work and life being SO overwhelming, I need some help with portion control and Lean Cuisines are an easy thing to throw in when I literally cannot handle anything else that day.
I haven't weighed in. Frankly I'm a little scared...I'll do that next week on Wednesday. In the meantime, I will be checking in as often as I can! I love you guys! I hope you're not too mad that I disappeared!
<3
Katelyn
I would love to tell you that in my hiatus that I was a good girl who kept tracking and eating well and running...but that's not the case. The holidays and life got the better of me. I fell off the wagon and let it run me right over!
Lately I woke up and realized that I don't feel my best, that I can be better and I deserve better! I decided not to go back to Jenny Craig right now, since its far too expensive for me at this time in my life, and focus on doing it on my own. I started with tracking my food and water on Sparkpeople again. It's always a shock to me that I don't gain weight because I eat too MANY calories...its because I'm on a constant cycle of eating too few and then when I do eat a big meal, it all sticks because my body is in starvation mode. Not good.
My first goal for my first week back is to eat breakfast EVERY DAY! It's always been a struggle for me to eat in the mornings. I feel nauseous and horrible...but if I don't set myself up right, I can't continue through the day. I bought some Lean Cuisine this week because they were on sale at Target. (On a side note: I've started really branching out with my extreme couponing, so a new segment on my blog will include Couponing Wednesday :) I hope you like it! Everyone keeps asking me how I'm doing it so I think my blog is a good place to start!!) I am planning on eating cleaner but right now with work and life being SO overwhelming, I need some help with portion control and Lean Cuisines are an easy thing to throw in when I literally cannot handle anything else that day.
I haven't weighed in. Frankly I'm a little scared...I'll do that next week on Wednesday. In the meantime, I will be checking in as often as I can! I love you guys! I hope you're not too mad that I disappeared!
<3
Katelyn
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Wacky Wednesday!
Hi everyone!!
This week has sort of flown by. I've been so busy I've hardly been able to find a minute to breathe. I've been doing really well with tracking though, hooray! I did splurge a little bit on Sunday when I went out to dinner with the girls and we went to see Pitch Perfect (hilarious movie, btw). But I got right back on track and kept plugging along. I can already feel a difference in my clothes and they're becoming looser, which is good. I peeked at the scale this morning and I did NOT like the number. I need to really focus and work to get back to where I was and lower! But I'm feeling more motivated!
Eating has been good. I had baked potatoes in the fridge for an easy dinner and I bought some more to cook today. I love grabbing one out of the fridge and dressing it up with carmelized onion and some reduced fat cheddar! It's a really easy, quick dinner for me! I also have been making taco salad with turkey meat, which I have some of leftover. And I love doing this sort of fajita bowl thing with shredded lettuce, a perfect portion chicken breast, peppers, onions which I season with a tiny bit of taco seasoning and then I put light sour cream and a 100 calorie pack of guacamole. It's like a mexican restaurant opened up in my house! Love it! And if I'm missing calories or need to amp up the protein, I put in a sprinkle of cheddar too!
So for now I'm staying on track, feeling good. Today is my day off so my mother stayed over last night and we're going to head off to Target and shop our hearts out! Plus I need some more fresh veggies! Yum yum! Things are going well! Hope they are with you too, lovies! <3
This week has sort of flown by. I've been so busy I've hardly been able to find a minute to breathe. I've been doing really well with tracking though, hooray! I did splurge a little bit on Sunday when I went out to dinner with the girls and we went to see Pitch Perfect (hilarious movie, btw). But I got right back on track and kept plugging along. I can already feel a difference in my clothes and they're becoming looser, which is good. I peeked at the scale this morning and I did NOT like the number. I need to really focus and work to get back to where I was and lower! But I'm feeling more motivated!
Eating has been good. I had baked potatoes in the fridge for an easy dinner and I bought some more to cook today. I love grabbing one out of the fridge and dressing it up with carmelized onion and some reduced fat cheddar! It's a really easy, quick dinner for me! I also have been making taco salad with turkey meat, which I have some of leftover. And I love doing this sort of fajita bowl thing with shredded lettuce, a perfect portion chicken breast, peppers, onions which I season with a tiny bit of taco seasoning and then I put light sour cream and a 100 calorie pack of guacamole. It's like a mexican restaurant opened up in my house! Love it! And if I'm missing calories or need to amp up the protein, I put in a sprinkle of cheddar too!
So for now I'm staying on track, feeling good. Today is my day off so my mother stayed over last night and we're going to head off to Target and shop our hearts out! Plus I need some more fresh veggies! Yum yum! Things are going well! Hope they are with you too, lovies! <3
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Sunday Funday!
Hi all!
It's been a really great weekend so far! I've been doing pretty well with tracking my food this week and staying on track! Tonight I'm going out to dinner with some friends and then we're going to see the movie Pitch Perfect! It looks HILARIOUS, I can't wait! I've also already been on the Outback Steakhouse website and decided on what I'm having. I decided on the Filet & Grilled Shrimp on the Barbie with grilled asparagus, which fits perfectly into my plan for today.
This morning I got up around 7 (this is the latest I've been able to sleep in for quite some time!), had a nice cup of coffee while I read my paper and then I made myself a healthy egg mug! I don't know what's going on this weekend but I felt like Connecticut was deserted. Yesterday my mom called me up and asked if I wanted to do some shopping with her so we went out and hit Target and I got some produce at Stop and Shop. Instead of it being PACKED (as it usually is on a Saturday at 10) there were only a few people in Target! Same thing at stop and shop! Usually it's hell trying to get things accomplished on a Saturday around here...people must be on vacation or something!!
And speaking of vacations, I've been planning a Girl's Weekend with my sister. Nov 2-4 I'll be in Philadelphia hanging out and having a great time! We already signed up for a ghost tour, which looks to be amazing! And hey, we are going to take a nice long walk and enjoy our time around the city! It's going to be great!
Lots of fun things are coming up, I'm not going to let work stress or anything derail me! I hope everyone is having an amazing, blessed Sunday.
It's been a really great weekend so far! I've been doing pretty well with tracking my food this week and staying on track! Tonight I'm going out to dinner with some friends and then we're going to see the movie Pitch Perfect! It looks HILARIOUS, I can't wait! I've also already been on the Outback Steakhouse website and decided on what I'm having. I decided on the Filet & Grilled Shrimp on the Barbie with grilled asparagus, which fits perfectly into my plan for today.
This morning I got up around 7 (this is the latest I've been able to sleep in for quite some time!), had a nice cup of coffee while I read my paper and then I made myself a healthy egg mug! I don't know what's going on this weekend but I felt like Connecticut was deserted. Yesterday my mom called me up and asked if I wanted to do some shopping with her so we went out and hit Target and I got some produce at Stop and Shop. Instead of it being PACKED (as it usually is on a Saturday at 10) there were only a few people in Target! Same thing at stop and shop! Usually it's hell trying to get things accomplished on a Saturday around here...people must be on vacation or something!!
And speaking of vacations, I've been planning a Girl's Weekend with my sister. Nov 2-4 I'll be in Philadelphia hanging out and having a great time! We already signed up for a ghost tour, which looks to be amazing! And hey, we are going to take a nice long walk and enjoy our time around the city! It's going to be great!
Lots of fun things are coming up, I'm not going to let work stress or anything derail me! I hope everyone is having an amazing, blessed Sunday.
Friday, October 19, 2012
WHAT IN THE WORLD!?
Yes, I am still alive...
Although recently it's sort of felt like I died. It's been so stressful on me lately. Work, family and friends, and other pressure on me has been piling up! Then my computer crashed...dead hard drive, ugh. I had HP send out a new one and I actually installed it myself. I also had a horrible migraine that knocked me on my ass for almost a week. Eating has been pretty bad lately although over the last week I've been tracking again and starting to get things back in order.
I don't really know what's going on with me lately. I am falling back into old patterns with the "I Don't really care what I eat" attitude. Could have to do with stress (I'm a notorious stress eater)! I'm trying day by day to get myself back in order and man, I need to do it! My scrubs are getting tight, so are my clothes...I just don't like this at all!!! So I'm back, I'm blogging. And I need to be accountable!!
I have been cooking healthy things and keeping them in the house. One of my FAVORITES has been Thee Cheese Tortellini and Mushrom Soup! I've been making this and eating it and it's been amazing. I also add a big package of baby spinach and that really makes it for me! I've also been doing baked potatoes with low fat sour cream/onions/cheese. Today I had a Veggie Delight from subway for lunch since I was running like crazy. This morning I had to be at my first patient by 7am which meant I had to leave my house by 6:30am! When I got up it was sooo dark and rainy, I needed a coffee and I was out of the house by 6:15am. That makes for a REALLY long day, I'll tell you! I'm fighting a headache right now and I know its a combo of stress and such. I'm also drinking a TON of water, filling up my cup and working on hydration too. This is my time, I need to succeed! And this week, so far so good!
I hope you all are well, I've missed you and I'm terribly sorry to neglect you so! <333
Although recently it's sort of felt like I died. It's been so stressful on me lately. Work, family and friends, and other pressure on me has been piling up! Then my computer crashed...dead hard drive, ugh. I had HP send out a new one and I actually installed it myself. I also had a horrible migraine that knocked me on my ass for almost a week. Eating has been pretty bad lately although over the last week I've been tracking again and starting to get things back in order.
I don't really know what's going on with me lately. I am falling back into old patterns with the "I Don't really care what I eat" attitude. Could have to do with stress (I'm a notorious stress eater)! I'm trying day by day to get myself back in order and man, I need to do it! My scrubs are getting tight, so are my clothes...I just don't like this at all!!! So I'm back, I'm blogging. And I need to be accountable!!
I have been cooking healthy things and keeping them in the house. One of my FAVORITES has been Thee Cheese Tortellini and Mushrom Soup! I've been making this and eating it and it's been amazing. I also add a big package of baby spinach and that really makes it for me! I've also been doing baked potatoes with low fat sour cream/onions/cheese. Today I had a Veggie Delight from subway for lunch since I was running like crazy. This morning I had to be at my first patient by 7am which meant I had to leave my house by 6:30am! When I got up it was sooo dark and rainy, I needed a coffee and I was out of the house by 6:15am. That makes for a REALLY long day, I'll tell you! I'm fighting a headache right now and I know its a combo of stress and such. I'm also drinking a TON of water, filling up my cup and working on hydration too. This is my time, I need to succeed! And this week, so far so good!
I hope you all are well, I've missed you and I'm terribly sorry to neglect you so! <333
Thursday, September 6, 2012
EPICLY YUMMY RECIPE!
Okay so I have been healthy meal planning...Pinterest I <3 you! So anyway, I had my usual day off yesterday. I wasn't able to go running but I did the housewife workout, getting my house clean and ready for guests on Sunday. Also I made a pasta bake for a coworker in need; she's had just one bad thing after another and I wanted to help out. You'll be super proud of me, I only tested one noodle to make sure the pasta bake was properly seasoned and tasted good. It was fantastic...but I packaged it up and left it alone while I started on my healthy meals for the week.
As always I made a pound of turkey taco meat. I LOVE having this around. 1/2 of it I put in the fridge. 1/2 of it I froze. I made 2 taco salads, one for lunch yesterday and I ate one today. Yay healthy eating! And I also prepared a recipe I found on Dashing Dish...with a few changes! IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yum!! I decided to share it as my first Get Fit, Feel Epic healthy recipe I enjoyed!!!
So! ENJOY!
Adapted from Dashing Dish Recipe found here: Pizza Stuffed Peppers
4 Large Bell Peppers or 8 Medium/Small - Mine were WAY too small. Mine ended up being only half the size I needed but they still were amazing.
1 container sliced mushrooms - 8oz or so, I bought them presliced at the store!
1/2 cup onion finely chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic chopped
1 lb lean ground turkey
8oz spaghetti sauce (I used Hunt's garlic & herb sauce)
1 tsp each dried basil, oregano and parsley
1/4 cup tomato paste
10oz can Rotel diced tomato & green chilies DRAINED - I LOVED the spicy kick it gave this recipe. YUM!
1/2 cup parmesean cheese - I had fresh grated parm left over from making my coworker's recipe so I used that
2 tablespoons mozzarella cheese PER PEPPER.
2 slices Hormel Turkey Pepperoni PER PEPPER
2) Heat a pan over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Add mushrooms, onion and garlic and sautee until onions are translucent and mushroomsa are soft. Put into a bowl and set aside.
3) Spray the same pan again and add turkey. Cook until the meat is no longer pink, then add 8oz of tomato sauce. Add back in mushroom/onion/garlic mixture. Also add in spices, Rotel, parmesean cheese and tomato paste. Stir until combined.
4) Remove from heat. Stuff peppers. If you are using a large pepper you should be able to fit in 1 cup of the meat mixture. If smaller, about 1/2 a cup. My peppers were smaller, so they didn't stand up nicely. I used tin foil to sort of prop them up in the pan.
5) Top with 2 tablespoons of mozzarella cheese shredded and 2 slices of pepperoni per pepper.
6) Bake 15-20 minutes IF using small peppers. 25-30 minutes IF using large peppers.
NOM...
As always I made a pound of turkey taco meat. I LOVE having this around. 1/2 of it I put in the fridge. 1/2 of it I froze. I made 2 taco salads, one for lunch yesterday and I ate one today. Yay healthy eating! And I also prepared a recipe I found on Dashing Dish...with a few changes! IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yum!! I decided to share it as my first Get Fit, Feel Epic healthy recipe I enjoyed!!!
So! ENJOY!
Pizza Stuffed Peppers
Adapted from Dashing Dish Recipe found here: Pizza Stuffed Peppers
4 Large Bell Peppers or 8 Medium/Small - Mine were WAY too small. Mine ended up being only half the size I needed but they still were amazing.
1 container sliced mushrooms - 8oz or so, I bought them presliced at the store!
1/2 cup onion finely chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic chopped
1 lb lean ground turkey
8oz spaghetti sauce (I used Hunt's garlic & herb sauce)
1 tsp each dried basil, oregano and parsley
1/4 cup tomato paste
10oz can Rotel diced tomato & green chilies DRAINED - I LOVED the spicy kick it gave this recipe. YUM!
1/2 cup parmesean cheese - I had fresh grated parm left over from making my coworker's recipe so I used that
2 tablespoons mozzarella cheese PER PEPPER.
2 slices Hormel Turkey Pepperoni PER PEPPER
Instructions
1) Preheat the oven to 400. Spray a square baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.2) Heat a pan over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Add mushrooms, onion and garlic and sautee until onions are translucent and mushroomsa are soft. Put into a bowl and set aside.
3) Spray the same pan again and add turkey. Cook until the meat is no longer pink, then add 8oz of tomato sauce. Add back in mushroom/onion/garlic mixture. Also add in spices, Rotel, parmesean cheese and tomato paste. Stir until combined.
4) Remove from heat. Stuff peppers. If you are using a large pepper you should be able to fit in 1 cup of the meat mixture. If smaller, about 1/2 a cup. My peppers were smaller, so they didn't stand up nicely. I used tin foil to sort of prop them up in the pan.
5) Top with 2 tablespoons of mozzarella cheese shredded and 2 slices of pepperoni per pepper.
6) Bake 15-20 minutes IF using small peppers. 25-30 minutes IF using large peppers.
NOM...
| 281 | Calories per Serving (1 large pepper or 2 small) |
| 9 g | Fat per Serving |
| 15 g | Carbohydrate per Serving |
| 3 g | Fiber per Serving |
| 6.6 g | Sugar per Serving |
| 37.7 g | Protein per Serving |
| 7 | WWP+* *From the Dashing Dish site |
GREAT recipe and it is SO yummy! I can't wait to have the leftovers for supper! Enjoy :)
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Wacky Wednesday!
Hello all!
I really didn't want to wake up and face the scale today. I really didn't want to get up at all...we're getting the backlash of Hurricane Issac and it's thundering, downpouring and we even had a little bit of hail. Needless to say, it was not an appropriate morning to go running. It is also horribly humid out and NASTY. But yeah...the scale...
I know that I've gained. I can feel it in my clothes... 274.8 was definitely not my favorite number to see. Ugh. But it is the number to beat. We're just starting the Get Fit, Feel Epic challenge and I've been tracking 100% and I did a mega shopping today and got tons of healthy food!
I also have healthy recipes planned for the week. I've made a pound of turkey taco meat to make healthy taco salads! And I'm making a pizza stuffed peppers recipe that I got from the Dashing Dish site which is AMAZING. If it turns out well, I'll be posting this as one of my new recipes! Katie over at Dashing Dish is amazing and I love her recpies!! I also have some peppers which I love to eat with hummus as part of a quick healthy lunch or snack.
My big challenge will be this weekend, I am hosting a Make Your Own Pizza Party at my house! The great thing about it being in my home though is I have some control over ingredients. Plus! I plan on making a healthy pizza. All the ingredients are organic and fresh, no added sodium and I know the calorie counts on everything! I also am not going to be drinking wine or anything since the party is on a Sunday and I am working the next day!
Setting myself up for success! It'll be great! Hope everyone is having a good week so far!
I really didn't want to wake up and face the scale today. I really didn't want to get up at all...we're getting the backlash of Hurricane Issac and it's thundering, downpouring and we even had a little bit of hail. Needless to say, it was not an appropriate morning to go running. It is also horribly humid out and NASTY. But yeah...the scale...
I know that I've gained. I can feel it in my clothes... 274.8 was definitely not my favorite number to see. Ugh. But it is the number to beat. We're just starting the Get Fit, Feel Epic challenge and I've been tracking 100% and I did a mega shopping today and got tons of healthy food!
I also have healthy recipes planned for the week. I've made a pound of turkey taco meat to make healthy taco salads! And I'm making a pizza stuffed peppers recipe that I got from the Dashing Dish site which is AMAZING. If it turns out well, I'll be posting this as one of my new recipes! Katie over at Dashing Dish is amazing and I love her recpies!! I also have some peppers which I love to eat with hummus as part of a quick healthy lunch or snack.
My big challenge will be this weekend, I am hosting a Make Your Own Pizza Party at my house! The great thing about it being in my home though is I have some control over ingredients. Plus! I plan on making a healthy pizza. All the ingredients are organic and fresh, no added sodium and I know the calorie counts on everything! I also am not going to be drinking wine or anything since the party is on a Sunday and I am working the next day!
Setting myself up for success! It'll be great! Hope everyone is having a good week so far!
Monday, September 3, 2012
Get Fit, Feel Epic Challenge!
 |
| http://weightwars.co.uk/get-fit-feel-epic/ |
This is an 8 week challenge... and I plan on making the most of it. So starting out, I'm setting FIVE goals!!!
1) By the end of week 8, I will be consistently running 4 miles, 2x a week!
I am running my 5K on October 13th, 2012. And I am running 3.1 miles 2x a week. After this race I am going to start the B210K program! So I want to be running 4 miles at least by the end of the challenge!
2) I will to be able to plank at least 2 minutes consistently!
I have never planked before...but I heard its good for your abs. Apparantly it's very hard and I think 2 minutes is a good goal!!!
3) TRACKING!! I will track everything!! Every bite, lick and taste for 8 weeks!! This also includes weighing in once weekly on Wednesday!
I love cooking...I love HEALTHY cooking. So this is a great challenge for me! Woot!
5) Organize and get rid of all the junk in my spare bedroom and find a purpose for that room by the end of the 8th week. Use Pinterest to gather ideas and implement them! (Before and after photos will be taken)
** You may wonder why I didn't set a weight goal. I have been really frustated lately. I have gained, I know I have...so I don't want to focus on the scale. I want to focus on a healthier me!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
I RAN 5K TODAY!
Yes, it is true! I ran a full 5K today...without stopping once! HELL YEAH!
On Wednesday I had a terrible, horrible run. I actually didn't even run because I had such a pounding headache and as soon as I started running, I had horrible nausea. I felt like there was acid in my throat and it was seeping into my lungs. So I just took a walk. I felt that was much better than trying to push myself and go nuts. So...that was a failure for me. But I picked myself up, dusted myself off and I decided today I would do a "fun run" on my C25K app. They have all sorts of times and distances. But I decided to be ambitious and try 5K.
Mile 1 felt fantastic. I felt good...but somewhere around 1.1 and 1.5 miles I started feeling horribleeee. I felt winded and breathless but I said to myself...what are you, a wimp? You're used to running more than 2 miles! Kick it up!
And you know what? I did. I ran the entire rest of the way. WITHOUT STOPPING. A full 3.11 miles (over 3.5 with my warmup and cooldown). And I felt AMAZING. I felt at the end that I definitely got a good workout. But I was a little suprised I probably could've pushed myself further. Bridge to 10K will start after my race in October... and I'm excited.
So...my time today for a 5K was 49:08.
Okay. I'm not winning any awards for this time. But my biggest fear was that it was going to take me hours to run a 5K and I wasn't going to be able to run any of it at all. I'm running the whole thing and my pace can only improve from here! This is the time to beat! Yippee! I can do this! Now, this was on a flat trail so...I'm going to try running 5K on WEdnedsay up my hills and dales at home. But this was an amazing place to start. Yay! I feel awesome!
I've done my run, I've caffeinated. I took a shower...now check out this happy mug!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Crazy Weekend & Food Poisoning
Ugh.
Food poisoning. Need I say more? I went wine tasting and such with my mother on Saturday. We had some fabulous wine and it was beautiful. And then she wanted to go this little earthy-crunchy, wierdass tea place. Pretty much I don't think they believe in washing anything...especially their hands. I had a tomato basil mozzarella sandwich and some soup and a delicious chai iced tea... twenty minutes into eating, I was in the bathroom.
Here's me, happy as a clam with my iced tea. Even the meal looked good...
But it wasn't. It made me SICK. And my mom got sick too. It was BAD. I felt like crap all weekend. UGH.
Even so, I needed to get things done. I made some healthy pasta bake from my own recipe!
No preboiling noodles! No preboiling noodles!
Food poisoning. Need I say more? I went wine tasting and such with my mother on Saturday. We had some fabulous wine and it was beautiful. And then she wanted to go this little earthy-crunchy, wierdass tea place. Pretty much I don't think they believe in washing anything...especially their hands. I had a tomato basil mozzarella sandwich and some soup and a delicious chai iced tea... twenty minutes into eating, I was in the bathroom.
Even so, I needed to get things done. I made some healthy pasta bake from my own recipe!
Chicken Sausage Pasta Bake
Submitted by: KATEBRNNo preboiling noodles! No preboiling noodles!
Number of Servings: 9
Ingredients
- 1 lb Dreamfields rotini or penne or other high fiber pasta
28 oz can Tuttorosso crushed tomatoes w/ Basil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 package chicken sausage (I used target brand spinach and garlic!)
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 cup Grated parmesean, divided
Directions
1) Preheat oven to 425. Place 1 lb dry pasta in a 9 x 13 pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
2) Pour Tuttorosso over pasta then fill can 3/4 full with water and also pour over.
3) Add garlic, 1/4 cup grated parm and any other spices to the 9 x 13 pan and stir in the pan.
4) Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30-35 minutes.
5) Take off foil, put on 1 cup of the mozzarella and the remaining 1/4 parmesan over the top. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until cheese is bubbly.
6) Enjoy! (This reheats REALLY well!)
Serving Size: Makes 9 Servings
2) Pour Tuttorosso over pasta then fill can 3/4 full with water and also pour over.
3) Add garlic, 1/4 cup grated parm and any other spices to the 9 x 13 pan and stir in the pan.
4) Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30-35 minutes.
5) Take off foil, put on 1 cup of the mozzarella and the remaining 1/4 parmesan over the top. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until cheese is bubbly.
6) Enjoy! (This reheats REALLY well!)
Serving Size: Makes 9 Servings
Also for those of you who requested it, pictures of my yummy sausage stuffed zucchini boats!
I feel better now...definitely dehydrated. I've been sucking down the water like crazy. I need to relax!! Have a good Monday ya'll!
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