Rewards Galore!

Good morning ladies and gentlemen!

Well, I went yesterday and got myself an amazing deal on furniture and I decided this was my gift to myself for losing over FIFTY POUNDS! And reaching 1/3 of the way to my goal. I am getting my house in shape, just like I'm getting my body in shape!

As some of you may know, I purchased my house last year and I was basically starting with nothing. I was just graduated from college, I had a good job and I wanted someplace permanent to call my own! I was living in my parents house, I lived there during college and commuted (not the best idea). But I had money saved, I didn't want to play the renting game, and I knew that the real estate market was at my fingertips. Let's just say, I got my beautiful condo for pennies of what it was worth. It was an estate sale and was pretty much being sold 'as-is'. The estate did have to fix the electrical panel that was a complete and total disaster...but it was in very good faith they did that and I was incredibly grateful for it! My house is definitely a fixer-upper but I came in and made the changes that made it perfect for me! I had to rip up all the nasty, smell carpet and I put in laminate tile, redid the tiling in the bathroom and put down LVT in the kitchen while I was at it. The house was completely outfitted with a beautiful soft paint and so I didn't need to paint, so that was excellent. And I still need to redo the kitchen and  bathroom...those are a few years out. But that didn't leave ANY budget for furniture.

My neighbor down the street at my parent's house lost her husband a year earlier and had decided that living in a big house by herself was too much. She gave me her furniture that she couldn't fit and I had some of my own. The piece she gave me was an antique couch from the 1930s. It was definitely sturdy but...not very attractive.

Yeah...not exactly my style but it worked. But now that I'm settled in and I'm saving money and getting things in order...it's time to MOVE ON! This couch will be going to a friend who lives in NYC, this is the perfect couch for a small NYC apartment. I take very good care of my things and this couch was well loved before (just worn because of its age). But it will make a perfect addition to her home!

I went with something a little more upscale:

Yay! I got the couch, the loveseat and a matching ottoman to go with it. The couch has a full sized memory foam sleeper inside. And I also decided it was time to stop laying my clothes in an old bathroom caddy that I bought from Pier One over TEN years ago. Yeah, I cannot believe it either. I actually first used it to put VHS recordings of Days of Our Lives that I watched during highschool. And to keep my other DVD box sets in line. BEFORE they started playing back episodes on the computer. Hell, before I even had a COMPUTER.

So I bought the matching dresser/mirror to my bed!

I have been putting my clean sheets that aren't on my bed on top of the dryer...which is a waste of space. I can now put them in here. I also have room for my underwear, socks, and bras...which are now crammed into that old caddy. I will even have room for all my WORKOUT CLOTHES! So they're not just kind of dumped in a laundry basket for me to go find! I seriously cannot wait. The first delivery I get is this Wednesday, I will get the love seat and the dresser/mirror. Then on March 31st, I get the sofa and ottoman. They had to do it this way because not everything I ordered was in stock! But I got a GREAT price...you wouldn't believe me even if I told you. And I am amazingly excited. This was just the little boost I needed to enjoy the last 2/3rd of my weight loss journey!

On the other hand, my goals this week were an abysmal disaster. I was extremely sick and was barely able to climb the stairs at my condo or, on Wednesday and Thursday, get out of my bed. So I didn't do much exercise. I did go walking with my mom around the neighborhood yesterday! I didn't write lists about my goals, I didn't meditate (unless you count sleeping  on and off while praying for health 'meditating'), and I didn't cook. I didn't want my sicky germs all over the kitchen while I tested a new recipe. I am still having a little runny nose and occasional cough but it's SO much better. I can taste food again, YAY!

I did write a post of my favorite snacks...that was about all I accomplished. I will do better next week! I need to take some time and think about what goals I want to set for this week! We're coming in on the END of the SCC challenge and I want to finish it out with a bang.

Look for goals tomorrow <3 Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday!

Awesome Healthy Snacks that I Love!

AS part of my goals this week, I wanted to do a post about my favorite snacks that are yummy and healthy. Today was a hard today and I had a raging headache all day... but now it's Friday, I am going to buy my new living room furnitre tomorrow, and I am in a good mood!

Let me start with a brand NEW snack that I'm absolutely in love with.

Archer Farms Strawberry Mango fruit twists. They are 80 calorie, 0 fat nuggets of LOVEE! Let me first start off by saying that if you used to love Gushers...you will love these. Caveat: I opened my package and these little guys are a little, uh, moist. WEll that may be because they're made from REAL fruit. And count as a fruit serving! I loved this as a healthy, sweet snack! It's also ALL natural and made from yummy healthy ingredients. A totally awesome snack!

Skinny Cow Heavenly Crisp peanut butter candy bars. Oh dear god. This is like a reese's peanut butter cup met one of those yummy crisp cookies. They are amazing and only 110 calories. SO good. One of my FAVORITE snacks ever.

Sabra Supremely Spicy hummus is amazing. It is VERY spicy though...and I'm no wimp. I eat habaneros and jalapenos right out of the jar or sliced fresh. I put sriracha on EVERYTHING. This stuff will clear out your sinuses. But Hummus is an amazingly delicious healthy snack. It's gluten free, packed with protein and fiber and excellent with reduced fat cheez its or baby carrots!

5g of fiber in a delicious SOFT brownie? Ummm...yes please? I don't eat these very often but as a treat, 90 calories is an amazing find!!

My favorite on the go snack is Special K chocolately pretzel 90 calorie bars. They travel SO nicely and are delicious! Just the right about of sweet and salty that it really keeps me going during the day. Without being tempted by office snacks!

POPCORN! I have an air popper and I freaking LOVE target brand popcorn seasonings. Nearly ZERO calories and they spice up popcorn SO nice. No butter or anything needed. Although a good spritz of I Can't Believe its not Butter spray is awesome!!

Other awesome snacks include Skiny Cow Ice Cream! And today I bought a bunch of Lean Cuisine snacks including: Thai Egg Rolls, Garlic Chicken Egg Rolls, and Spinach and Artichoke dip. I haven't tried them yet but I can't wait!

What are some of your favorite snacks??

On the Road to Recovery!

I am FINALLY feeling better...thank GOD! I had such a rotten day yesterday, I was completely and totally sick. My stomach was a mess (I'll leave it at that) and my head was pounding, I was SO congested. I spent the entire day in bed napping and watching House Hunters and Property Virgins on HGTV while drinking copius amounts of tea. I also ate my cureall which is Wonton soup from this little Chinese place down the street that delivers. Let me just tell you...it works. There's no getting around it. Last year I had a horrible bug and I was SO sick for a whole week. I ate some of this wonton soup and the next day I was better! The soup didn't make things 100% today but I do feel a whole lot better. Better enough to post a real blog post!

AND UPDATE THE SIDEBAR! ME AT 259.8!!!!!

I am officially 1/3 of the way to my goal... today when I was resting in bed I went back and read some of my earliest posts. The me that wrote those posts is so different from the me I am now. And I'm happy about that! Back then I felt sad and overwhelmed. Now I feel like I can take on the world! Maybe its because I've lost weight or simply grown as a person, but it's a very happy time in my life!

I can't wait to keep moving forward in this journey and reach my goals!!!

Weigh in Wednesday: Still Alive...sorta.

Barely...

Last night was brutal. I took a nap yesterday from 5-7...then I got up and had some tea and ate a little bit. Then went back to bed and slept until my alarm went off. I debated not going to my Jenny Craig weigh in but I decided I needed the fresh air. After a quick weigh in, I had to go to CVS and get more dayquill, I needed to buy some Vicks vapor rub and some more cough drops. Then it's back in my bed to rest... except I vomited TWICE when I got back home. Ugh. New symptoms, yay. I also feel like I'm going to have diarrhea. So this will be a very short post.

Starting Weight: 261.2
Weigh In: 259.8 (-1.4!)
Target Weight: 240
Pounds Until Goal: 19.8

I'm in the 250s...can you believe it?

When I actually don't feel like dying I will upate the side bar with a progress picture. And I'm officially 1/3 the way to my goal. Holy crap.

I'll write more when I feel better <3 Thanks for all the comments. I love you all!

Deathly Weigh In Eve

Well...

My cold finally decided what it wanted to do. I am so sick. Horribly croupy cough, running nose, runny eyes, stuffed up head and chest, and my nose is raw from blowing it. I have been getting almost no sleep because I'm so congested I keep waking myself up coughing. I've been wearing an N95 (very heavyduty) mask, washing like crazy and wearing gloves to see my patients...thankfully the census is relatively low and I have been able to do my few visits then come home and chart and rest and try and recuperate. My boss has been very understanding thankfully. And thank GOD I am off tomorrow because I think today is the worst day so far... I can hardly talk, I feel super congested. I'm drinking tea tea tea (and more tea) and water! Those are the things that are going to help.

This week food wise has been awesome. I didn't splurge or go outside of my calorie range, I didn't eat out. I did not buy very much Jenny Craig food at all. I went to Target and got a bunch of the market fresh options and used those instead. So I'll be interested to see what kind of a loss I have this week (I sure hope its not a gain!). Aunt Flow is due in 2 days and I'm feeling a little crampy...so with the added fluids I'm taking in to try and fight this cold and such, I suppose we'll see tomorrow!

This post will be short because I really feel like crap. Just thought I'd check in...I'll update tomorrow. Send healthy vibes in my direction, please!

Sicky Sunday.

Morning all!

The wierdest little cold has been plaguing me for a couple days now. And what's bothering me the most about it is that it cannot seem to decide whether or not to become a cold or go away!!! Wednesday I had a sore throat and a little cough and I thought it was the start of something...but I woke up Thursday morning and it was gone! No sore throat, no cough, nothing! By Thursday evening though I had a very occasional cough that really only started in the evening right before bed. It continued Friday morning when I first got up but during the day, I wasn't coughing...and it's continued like this through the weekend! It's just a nagging little cough. I'm not really sure if its allergies or a little bug...but it's definitely a pain. And I feel very tired today but I'm not sure if that's a result of it being another grey day for the fifth day in a row...

I got up and had a delicious cup of tea and made my egg mug! I took a picture...I remembered when I was halfway done eating it and so here's a picture inside my morning breakfast!

It's sooo good. Today after putting my calories and such into sparkpeople I noticed that I was really low on protein and also didn't meet my calorie count with the dinner and lunch that I put on my counter. So I decided to have 2 extra morningstar farms veggie sausage on the side of my breakfast (they come in 2 packs and I find if you leave them even 1 day in the freezer even in a baggie, they get super freezerburnt and icky). SO yummy. LOVE it. And Mmmm...and hey for a huge egg mug and TWO sausages, my breakfast was under 350 calories. WOO.

So it's Sunday which means its time to look back over my goals for the week...

NSV

1) Buy new scrubs.... it's way past time for me to get new ones.

* I did buy new scrubs but I had to order them online...but you know what? I bought a size XL!!!!!!!!! There was a time not that long ago I was struggling to fit into 3XL!! WOO!


2) Continue moisturizing every day x 7 days - Slacked a little on this one. I forgot last night but for the most part I did well!

3) Get 8 hours of sleep each night!
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Exercise

1) Buy a new pair of sneakers ASAP!  I went ALL OVER looking for reasonably priced sneakers. But I decided to buy a pair online that came highly reccomended. They didn't have my size anywhere (I wear a size 10) and all the shoes looked flimsy and wouldn't be good to walk in all day!

2) Walk every Day x 7 days
3) 30DS x 1 - Did not do.

4) Bike x 2 - Fail.

Food

1) Make and post TWO recipes on my blog! I did one but this week was so busy that I barely had time to cook.

2) Track on sparkpeople
3) Eat 5 fruits/veggies per day! DId awesome on this! I love veggies!


So looking ahead to next week as we get closer to the end of the challenge, I'm definitely not going to meet my goal weight...but you know what? I'm okay with that. It was a CHALLENGE. I made  a lofty goal and hey, you know? I'm not that far off from it. I am hoping this week puts me into the 250s...a place I haven't been since about my freshman year of highschool. So I'm looking forward to finishing off this challenge in a positive way AND starting up on the NEW CHALLENGE!

Check it out! It's going to be awesome!

Okay goals for this week:

NSV:

1) Write a list of the positive changes I've made over the last 8 months.

2) Write a list of areas I need to improve in to be successful in my weight loss.

3) Take some meditation time every evening and say 5 things I'm thankful for.

Exercise:

1) Bike x 3 Days - Need to do this.

2) Walk x 7 days

3) Take a walk with my mom.

Food:

1) Blog about my favorite healthy snack items.

2) Post ONE new recipe on my blog, which means cooking one new recipe, lol.

3) Use up some of the food in the freezer before purchasing new items.

Hungry Girl Weekend! And a SHOUTOUT!

Hi all,

I hope you're enjoying a nice relaxing Saturday morning! Me...I'm working this weekend. Ugh. It doesn't look too bad though. I have an admission today that's not too far away from me, so at least I don't have to do a whole lot of travelling and driving. Which is nice because its nasty as all hell outside...last night it was sleeting and snowing again. I could hear it pounding on my window! At first it sounded like somoene was trying to rip the screen...which woke me up. Then I remembered I lived on the third floor, there's an incline that makes my house steeper than others so my windows seem higher up, there's no bushes or anything to climb up and that was probably not very likely. I have to say though, I think my neighbors across the hall got a notice from the association about their noise...because I haven't heard them or their constantly barking dog all hours of the night for a while! I hope it's taken care of for good!

This morning I got up around 7:45am, it was nice to sleep in a little bit! And I decided I was going to make a HUNGRY GIRL breakfast! WOW! I have to say, I tinkered with it a little bit (I'm going to post my recipe today YAY!) but Lisa Lillien is a GEINUS. I used to hate egg beaters...and she makes them palatable!!!!!!!! I can't wait to have the same thing tomorrow.

I'm sorry there's no picture of this recipe...I was hungry and scarfed the thing before I had time to take a picture. Oops. So you'll have to use your imagination of what it looked like. I'm going to make it again tomorrow for breakfast so I'll try and remember to take a picture then!

But first before I post my recipe...TODAY IS TARYN'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Taryn is awesome and she writes Fat Girl in a Skinny World! I was just a nervous lonely little blogger with no followers when Taryn wrote one of the first comments I ever got on my blog! We're both nurses who started at the same starting weight... I like to call her my lost twin! She is amazing so if you don't already read her blog, check it out. Taryn is smart, super funny, not to mention sweet and caring. So I want to say a gigantic HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Taryn! I love you lots! Go leave some birthday love on her blog!  :D

Today my recipe will be dedicated to Taryn :D

All American Egg Mug**: MY WAY

Let's pretend this is it...okay?

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup egg beaters
1 frozen Morningstar Farms MAPLE FLAVORED sausage
1 tablespoon sugar free maple syrup
2 tablespoons Kraft 2% shredded cheddar cheese
Hot Sauce to Taste

Directions:

1) Find a large coffee mug and spray it with just a little Pam cooking spray. I made the mistake of using a smaller one and the eggs almost overflowed!!

2) Add the frozen sausage patty to the bottom of the mug and cook on high for 45 seconds.

3) Cut up and crumble the sausage patty with a fork. Then add the syrup  and mix it around. Add the 1/2 cup of egg beaters, STIR WELL! Microwave on high for 1 minute.

4) Gently move around the eggs in the cup. Microwave for approx 30-45 seconds more or until the eggs are just set. **Hungry Girl cookbook says 1 minute but mine were done after 35 seconds and almost overflowed. My eggs were nicely set after just 35 seconds**

5) Sprinkle the top with shredded cheese and microwave for 15 more seconds.

6) Remove the mug carefully, IT WILL BE HOT! Stir it around a little and add a little hot sauce to the top (if desired).

**ADAPTED FROM: Lillien, Lisa. Hungry Girl 300 under 300: 300 Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Dishes under 300 Calories. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2011. Print.


The Verdict:
I loved this recipe. It was AMAZING. I love sweet/spicy things and as far as breakfasts go...this one was amazing. I'm full, I feel good. And I LOVED IT!

SOOOOO Let's look at the nutritional breakdown. It is nothing short of eggs-cellent! (You had to let me get at least one egg joke in today).

In total there are:

Calories: 189
Fat: 6g
Carbohydrates: 8g
Protein: 24g!
Cholesterol: 12g
Fiber: 1g
Sodium: 617mg

AWESOME! It certainly meets my dietary requirements! I hope that you'll enjoy it! I hope everyone has a good weekend! I'll check in tomorrow!