Week 3 Weigh In

This has been a good week. The weather has been nice in spots, allowing us to exercise outdoors. Yesterday we went to the park for another beautiful family walk and also ran around with Brooklyn at the playground. We've also tried some new recipes. We've really been watching portion sizes so that we can keep an accurate calorie count each day. Here is a recipe I made Friday night and is in our top favorites so far. It is from the Mrs Dash Web site. I just had to take a picture because I thought it looked like it came from a restaurant. Here's the recipe: http://www.mrsdash.com/recipes/recipe-view.aspx?recipeID=77.

And now for our week 3 results (insert dramatic music):

Amie: lost 6 pounds for a total of 15 1/2 pounds

Thomas: lost 3 1/2 pounds for a total of 11 pounds

Observations

We are 20 days into this journey and I have made a few observations to celebrate:

• in these 20 days we have only eaten out once and we had salads
• we have eliminated regular sodas
• we have "withdrawn" from caffeine
• our dishwasher has worked mighty hard in the last 20 days, it has been ran more in the last 20 days than in the past 6 months--maybe we need to invest in Cascade
• most importantly, we have reevaluated what is most important in our lives and I feel we have grown closer by doing this journey together!

We both have had people mention that we've lost weight and look good, which really feels good to hear. We may not be breaking records in weight loss, but we feel healthy. Here's to hoping to even better health!

Yummy recipe

We made this last night for dinner and loved it!

Pork Chops and Apples (Cooking for 2)

Pile on the Pork

Pork loin is a lean protein choice. Protein supplies amino acids that give structure to the body in skin, cell membranes and muscles.

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Lean chops and apples baked in one dish to serve two. All you need is a mixed green salad. From eatbetteramerica.

prep time:20 min

start to finish:1 hr 5 min

makes:2 servings

1	medium unpeeled cooking apple, sliced
2	tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4	teaspoon ground cinnamon
2	pork rib chops, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick (about 1/4 lb each)

1.	Heat oven to 350°F. Place apples in ungreased 1 1/2-quart casserole. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.
2.	Remove fat from pork. Spray 8- or 10-inch skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium heat 1 to 2 minutes. Cook pork in hot skillet about 5 minutes, turning once, until light brown. Place pork in single layer on apples.
3.	Cover; bake about 45 minutes or until pork is no longer pink in center and apples are tender.

Week 2 Report

We are two weeks down! How long before it becomes a habit? Anyway, this week we stayed strong on our goals of drinking water, exercising, eating healthy, and staying on budget. Another accomplishment is that we didn't have any regular sodas and only a few diet ones!! I am not affected by not having caffeine in the morning any more, which is nice. We continue to try new recipes for healthy meals and watch our portions. As noted before, we also are seeing how working out helps our energy levels. We are not as tired during the day since we've become more active.

Week 2 Results:

Amie lost 5 pounds and Thomas lost 3 pounds

Total weight lost:

Amie 9 1/2 pounds, Thomas 8 pounds!!!!!!

Thanks for all the support everyone!

Loop-de-loop

The frigid weather has taken a bit of a break and we took advantage of it. We headed outside tonight for our exercise. It was nice to be outside and not cooped up in the house. Our subdivision is in a loop and I improved my timing by 2 minutes a loop. Yes! That felt good.

Last night I cooked fish fillets for the first time (the non-breaded kind). I really like it, but Thomas didn't. I baked it in the oven brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with some Mrs. Dash. If you have any suggestions on how to make it so my hubby might like it, please let me know!

Tonight the menu was turkey burgers. Thanks to my friend Maggie (and I think her mom or new mom), we had a delicious recipe and Brooklyn even ate some!

On another note, we are starting to see the benefits of our exercise. We have more energy during the day since the we've been more active.

The weather is supposed to be in the 50s this weekend, so hopefully we get out to a park for a family stroll.

Passed a Test

Tonight we decided to go to a basketball game and whenever we decide to do this, it isn't worth the drive to go home and back. This caused us a dilemma of what to do about dinner. We picked up a couple of salads and a diet coke. It was so hard to resist the smell of the french fries and cheeseburgers, but we did it and we were quite proud of ourselves. Tom said, "It's a sacrifice for our own good." So my teacher friends, what grade do we get on this test? By the way, the Scarabs won by over 30 points.

Catching Up- Week 1 Report

Well the first week of our journey is up and we have made a lot of strides toward our goals. Although I didn't blog, we continued working out for 6 of the 8 days. Wow... that sounds like SO much considering we never worked out before. We drank 2 regular sodas the whole week, when we used to drink 2-3 per day. Our caloric intake is so much lower and we see the results!

Drum roll please........................Amie lost 4 1/2 pounds!!!! Thomas lost 5 pounds!!!!

We really appreciate all the encouragement and support. Please feel free to share recipes, suggestions, tips, whatever you think might help us!

Here's to hoping for even more strides on our journey during week 2!