The "I cant's"

 Lots of people just flat out do not try. It's very easy to make up excuses! After all I did it for years! I have a thyroid disorder, I can't run, I am to busy, my kids don't allow me to get an hour to myself. Merely excuses that I used to overeat and not get my butt moving for years! Do these things make my lifestyle change more difficult? YES! They are some what true. However if you are serious and you have a thyroid issue go see your Dr.! Tell them I am serious about this and I need your help! Most Dr's will help you with your thyroid and check you regularly making sure you are not Hypo or Hyper so you can maximize your weight loss ability! As for the other excuses it was all about managing my time and there are lots of exercises I can do without running! However after years of the "I cant's" I started to push myself to try to do things I never wanted to do, like lifting weights, and running! So I started the couch to 5K program. I figured this might be a good way to learn how to run. I still hate running, I hate how I feel like I am going to keel over and die and I cough so much I feel like I might cough a lung out but the truth is I am able to run, I am gaining more endurance everyday and I feel good about myself for trying something new! So Last week I started the Couch to 5K and I did that 3 days a week and then Jillian Michaels 30 day shred 2 days.. I lost 3 lbs, and it felt so awesome to lose that weight and know that I earned it, I ate right and kicked butt exercising! So this week I push myself a little further and I am setting a new goal. I am going to not eat after dinner. I normally have a snack and I read that eating late at night causes your belly fat to hang on longer! My biggest issue is this damn belly fat! It's ugly, and although in clothes I am looking good, when I am Naked I don't feel very good about myself. So New nightly routine is Eat dinner, clean up, have a nice cup of tea (not caffeinated) and brush my teeth. I have to change up my whole routine and I have to work hard to get to my goal. So this will probably be a hard habit to break but we will see how it goes!

Yum Yum Dumplin's!

I am not a professional photographer, although I do not think my picture is awful it is obviously just a photo! Any way these are my dumplings, I make these every once and a while they are pretty low fat and low calorie but the salt is up there from the soy sauce, but you are more than welcome to use a low salt version. I pack these babies full of veggies and this was my meal! 

Dumpling recipe:

1 Package Goysa won ton wrappers (any wrappers will do)

1/2 a pound of ground chicken/pork

2 cups napa cabbage

1/4 cup shredded carrots

1-2 tablespoons chives (depends how much you love them)

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger

1 tablespoon cornstarch

dash salt and pepper (for taste)

1 Tablespoon oil (I have used olive and vegetable both work fine)

1 cup water

Directions: place napa cabbage in colander sprinkle with salt let sit for about 20 minutes, wring out cabbage and chop, place in a large bowl. Add meat, carrots, chives, soy sauce ginger, sesame oil, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Mix until combined set aside while you prep. Get a small bowl of water, you will use this around the edges of the wrappers to seal, now time to fill MANY little wrappers! I sort of wing it here just a little scoop full in the middle seal it up and put to the side, repeat! Then heat a large skillet with oil and place your dumplings in for 1 minute and then pour 1 cup water over the top and cover. You want to steam these for about 8-9 minutes but watch them they will be ready when water is evaporated. I usually take the lid off and sort of get them a little crunchy. Now its time for the dipping sauce!

Dipping Sauce:
2 Tablespoon water
4 Tablespoon Soy sauce
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/8th tsp ginger
a teeny pinch of sugar
Chili paste to taste (I love siracha)
Optional chinese mustard also to taste

My sauce is sort of by taste, you can try it and see if it needs more of something, you can double the recipe, I usually make a huge batch as my kids eat this up!

My Facebook Motivational Page

I have started a Facebook motivational page, it is to help me stay on track and hope to inspire others as well as get information out there from other pages!

https://www.facebook.com/Newyearnewu

The Haunting Past

  I feel like I have a really good week and then a bad week or not even a full week but a bad few days! My self control seems to come and go without me sometimes realizing it. My brain is still functioning the old way but I am usually okay to push through it. Its been very cold and I have been fighting a cold, these are not valid excuses they are what I use to tell myself to justify eating what I have eaten the past few days! I am sure I have gone over my calorie intake and I have not done any extra exercise other than my already active lifestyle of chasing my kids and having a million things that we have to attend. Alas I have hit my normal routine today and I am feeling a bit better about life. I am feeling like I can set some new goals and move forward. I have bought a huge Camelbak water bottle they are on sale at Target! I can't stand those metal ones they make the water taste awful and after that whole news clip about kids mouths getting stuck in them I am going to steer clear! So with that huge water bottle I am going to make sure it always has water in it and that it is always right next to me. Next thing is my processed sugar intake, it has certainly gotten out of hand and although I will not completely remove it from my diet I will be more conscious about what I put in my body. I am really anti anything fake, and although stevia and splenda are supposed to be okay I assure you I have read things that say there is not enough research. So I just stay away because it all has to be processed to get it to the fine powdery substance. Honey and pure maple syrup are really great alternatives and I use these for my yogurt and oatmeal but at night I am really struggling with my huger so I am going to try to find an alternative for night snacks, I still can have them but I probably need to eat things like popcorn, fresh fruits and veggies.. Its a lifestyle change that has not changed yet but the fact that I know they are wrong and I know I have the power to change them. Not going to dwell on the past but look forward to the things I can change, like the rest of today and tomorrow. One day at a time.

Happy New Year!

Well the holidays were chaotic and I managed to sneak a trip in to GA with my kids! So fabulous! I even took a week off of exercise and I kept my meals good but also had a little cheesecake while visiting the cheesecake factory! Michigan does not have one of these! In the whole state there is none! Well glad to say no weight gain and I even lost one pound while I was there. Since then I have lost another 4lbs sooo a grand total of 65lbs lost so far! The weight is coming off much more slow. I am having a really hard time with my thyroid and I can feel it. One week I have lots of energy one week I have no energy and my hunger levels change! I feel super hungry sometimes and other times I flat out forget to eat because I am not hungry. So the last 2 weeks I have added circuit training in I do that 2x per week and 3 days a week I do my treadmill and weights. I have also just started getting up and moving more I am trying to stay away from the computer, and I am baking a lot which moves me around my kitchen and I am standing which burns more calories than sitting. I am in the kitchen baking several times during the day. I have started making my own bread and yummy homemade granola bars! So although I am still not seeing HUGE results in pounds lost I feel good and I will not stop exercising and eating right just because the weight is just slowly coming off now. I did hope to get to my first goal with no hiccups but it just seems like with my thyroid and probably my age I am gonna battle with the "Plateau's". This word is something that I have read many controversial aspects on. The one that sort of made me angry was, that there was no such thing as a plateau.. Well unfortunately there is! Especially for someone with a thyroid disorder. I was consistently losing 2-3lbs a week and now I am losing 1 pound a week and that seems like a struggle to get that off, yes I am still losing but its sort of a plateau its my body leveling out and getting used to the way things are. I always like to change things up to try to keep my metabolism guessing whats going on.

Better Late than Never

I know it has been a while since I was on here I promise I have not been eating junk and given up on my lifestyle change. I have been busy dealing with my son who is Autistic and trying to get him services in school.   I am back and I am 1 pound away from 60 lbs of weight loss!! WOO HOO! My thyroid was off so we had some medicine adjustment and lets just say my weight has sort of flip flopped I was losing 4 lbs a week for 2 weeks and then gained 2 lbs one week and lost  3 lbs last week! So tomorrow is my weigh in since my medicine was changed again last week I am not real hopeful for big things but just that 1 pound to bring me to my 60 would be awesome! I am going to add some of my daily meals on here and I am going to try to come back more frequently and post recipes and hopefully get some pictures up here because I am a huge foodie and I love taking pics of my healthy recipe's! Hopefully I can get some more followers I am not sure how to get my blog out there! Very new to this blog thing!

Mon-Fri Breakfast is 1 cup of coffee (about 8 oz) 1 tablespoon of vanilla all natural coffee creamer and one Stella Doro S cookie
Sat-Sun is usually a Naked smoothie 8 oz sometimes I will do oatmeal I like the Irish Maple and brown sugar stuff its good and all natural or sometimes I go to Mc Donalds and get the Fruit and Maple its a little high in sugar but the calories are good and I love all the fruit and fiber.

Lunch varies: I do 2 eggs 1 1/4 cup frozen shredded potatoes and a ton of bell peppers this is a little over 300 calories for me but so filling and yummy!
 I also do cereal sometimes with some fruit or Half of a pita stuff full of tuna 1 tablespoon low fat olive oil mayo and a TON of pickles! Then I eat carrots or celery or whatever fresh veggies I have

Dinner is always just a smaller portion of what I feed my family, I give them meat in their pasta sauce I will not have meat and add a little extra garlic and parm cheese I have one piece of bread which is 60 calories because it is a baguette , or I make chili and I get myself 2% cheddar cheese for the top, I put more beans than meat in it and I make my own cornbread and use 1/2% milk and omit things that may be super fattening.

This is just some samples I will come back and give some more recipes I have snacks but they are usually fresh fruit or veggies or a piece of low cal string cheese nuts are great too! Pistachios are wonderful and GREAT for you!

The Vow

Going to go a little off topic today, I watched The Vow while running on the treadmill the other day :) It was a very sad movie. I thought it was going to be a little bit sad but I thought for sure she would just wake up and remember everything and they would fall back deeply in love. It did not end up like that! It was sad but Channing Tatum is oh so sexy in that movie! So basically I had one point in the movie that sort of REALLY touched me. It was when her mother said this" "I didn't leave your dad for one thing he did wrong, but I stayed with him for all the things he did right" I know most will not agree and that is okay! Basically I have gone my whole life thinking "once a cheater always a cheater" but as I age I become much MUCH wiser and after being married for almost 12 years and been with my husband for over 13 years now and in a military environment I have seen and been through my fair share of things. I know that some people stay, relationships are not perfect and they take so much work. If you have had a fairy tale life GREAT! I am so happy that there are some people who go their whole lives with no hiccups, but we are not one of those couples. I struggle daily with the things I have been through but I do have to say the good out weigh the bad and I am GRATEFUL for where we are today. I have finally just come to the point where I move forward everyday and I enjoy the things each day has to bring. Anywho the movie just really made me think and reflect on things we have been through and where do I want to be in the years to come as my children become teens and then adults.