We GOT this!

Good Morning!! It's definitely a GRRREAT morning here - I hope yours is as well :) Today is the beginning of Day 21 for me ... so I have 3 days left to hit my goal of losing 20 pounds. Gifts have been promised at 20 pounds ;)  As of this morning I have lost a total of

19.3 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is ground breaking for me. Earth shattering really. The best part of it is how driven and motivated I am... STILL. Believe me I have been frustrated and sad when that stupid ole scale didn't say what I wanted it to say... or when I look in the mirror and realize my stomach doesn't look that much smaller or feel a little twinge of disappointment when no one said they could tell. But I just remind myself that every single day brings me closer to my end goal and that one day people will be able to tell.

Do you know what I realized?? I have literally gone 21 days (with the exception of my birthday dinner) with NO bread, NO pasta, NO soda, NO chocolate.... that's pretty dang good and something I would have told about 25 days ago was impossible. I haven't missed it, I haven't craved it and I have been able to turn it down in one way or another without a problem. The other day at lunch Clint offered me a crouton, one crouton and I gave him a horrible face and I said "UMMM NO that is so not worth it" ... and it isn't. I am going to add in some whole grain pastas and breads from time to time, maybe 1-2 times per week but that is something that was a real problem for me - back then, you know when I was fat ;) haha - so it was actually easier for me to avoid it than try to limit it. But I do realize that whole grains do make for a healthy, rounded diet and I am at a point that I feel that I can safely add them back in - so here goes. (And don't get crazy, yes, I know I'm still fat)
... and let's all take a moment to note that it was extremely awesome of me to go through my 31st birthday without consuming ANYTHING sweet... I'm giving myself a high five for that one.

Another part of this lifestyle change that I LOOOVE is finding out about new things to cook. I'm picky, like seriously picky... I don't like all those "good for you things" like bananas, peaches, peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc... so I have to figure out a way to sneak little extras into my diet. I have determined that I'm definitely asking Santa for a really good food processor... I need to be able to emulsify those veggies and fruits! This morning I made my very own spaghetti sauce with extra lean ground turkey to enjoy later on this week with some fresh whole grain pasta! Sounds delicious AND healthy, right?? You'd be surprised how much healthier you can be making things from scratch. Our family loves pizza... I don't know why but it's just our thing. I've been making Renn his own little pizzas so I'm not tempted to eat any... but I figured it's about time to find a pizza I can enjoy too. So tonight for dinner we are attempting cauliflower crust pizza with plain old tomato sauce + seasonings (which makes it scrumptious) and low fat cheese... we will see but I'm pretty stoked about it. One of my complaints about Advocare was that we can't really afford to do all fresh veggies week to week at our house so I was worried about using canned veggies since it's "not as healthy"... not to worry... Mrs. Dana says just dump out the can o' veggies (no added salt) in the colander and rinse with water twice - to cook put in just enough water to cover the veggies and use things like: garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, Ms Dash or splenda to season. Sounds easy enough to me! Now on to my worst nightmare... FRUIT... I seriously dislike most fruit. I think mostly it's a texture issue - bananas... they make me gag, like BAD. Yet... I need to get more fruit in my diet. So during one of my late night research moments I found out that FROZEN fruit is actually better for you than fresh fruit... because it's flash frozen during it's ripest time - which means it's frozen in time when it has the most nutrients. So I got a few bags of frozen berries to pop in my current rinky dink food processor and mix into my morning meal replacement shake - I got this. Care to share any little secrets you have to keep yourself healthy??

Love you guys... really and truly I do. Thanks for reading.