Check-In, Sunday.

Sausage biscuit for breakfast.

Trail Mix for my midmorning snack.

Almonds when it got way to late for me to not eat, but I couldn't take my lunch yet. Busy day at work with a huge sale and almost no overlap in my department. Went in at 7, got lunch at 1:10.

Salad with homemade corn salsa for lunch. Almond milk when I got home.

Dinner remains a mystery at this point because we're heading up to my dad's.

However, I did bring trail mix with so I didn't end of snacking on something I shouldn't have.

***Dinner at Dad's was pork barbeque, Dutchy-style (no sauce) with pickled cabbage. I had a glass of water and managed to completely avoid the potato chips that Gramma put out. I did however cave and had a cupcake.

***Tofu for an evening snack. However, at this point, I've apparently been up enough hours that my body thinks it needs another snack. I'm having a sausage biscuit.

I did the 15 minute Breath and Body Segment on my Yoga DVD tonight. Would have loved to to more, but my knee was finished before I was.

***10:20, still frickin' hungry. One slice of peanut butter bread.

Saturday Check-In

Sausage biscuit for breakfast. Again, almond milk, but I did actually bother with a glass today.

No mid-morning snack, that's gonna be hit or miss on Saturdays that I work.

Lunch was more of the Fajita Topped Salad from last night, and some almonds. I was also a little extra hungry because I missed my snack, so I also had about 1/2 a portion of my homemade trail mix.

Finished the partial bag of trail mix on the way home from work. Decided to join my mom for a walk, so I had a second bag of trail mix because dinner was going to be late compared to lunch.

Mom's making dinner now, steak and salad with strawberries!


I WALKED 2.5 MILES TODAY!!!

***Lucky me, dinner also included Fresh Pineapple!! For snack I had the last two of the goodies from my mother-in-law. (I did mention they're bite-sized, right?)

Food Check-In

Breakfast, a sausage sandwich one the way out the door and a couple swallows of Vanilla flavored Almond Milk. Right the carton. Yeah, I'm like that.

Mid morning Snack, more almonds.

Lunch, leftover Asian salad from last night, and because I got my lunch pretty late, I ate the trail mix I intended for my afternoon snack because I was still hungry.

No afternoon snack, because I ate it early.

Dinner/Supper/the meal I'm trying not to drop on the laptop, spicy, Fajita-style grilled chicken and bell peppers over spring mix with chopped tomatoes, tortilla chips and a small sprinkle of shredded cheese. For dressing, I used the Spicy Chipotle Vinagrette we made last night. Hubby had seconds, I am going to have a glass of Almond Milk instead.

So far, I feel like I'm doing pretty good.

***Evening snack time. Will raid the baked goods from Mom-in-law again. Only having two cookie/bear claw thingies.***

Spicy Chipotle Vinagrette

This is another doctored up Good Seasons Recipe. I don't always use their mix for my start, but when it's got what you need anyway, why not? Plus it makes the recipes easier to share!

Prepare the Good Seasons mix with White Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil.

Then add the following and shake again.

2 tsp Hot Sauce (We love Poblano brand.)

1 tsp Chipotle Powder

1/4 tsp Ancho Chili Powder

1/2 tsp Ground Cumin

1/2 tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

A little bit of heat and a great smoky, chipotle flavor. We were enjoying it with raw bell pepper strips.

Awesome Asian-Inspired Salad

For the dressing, you'll need:

Good Seasons Italian Dressing Packet

Sesame Oil (a flavorful one, like Kadoya)

Unseasoned Rice Vinegar

Soy Sauce

Make Dressing according to package instructions, add soy sauce to taste. I like a lot, but some of you might not enjoy the sodium.

For the salad, you'll need:

More Sesame Oil

McCormick Perfect Pinch Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper

Roasted Sesame Seeds

Sea Salt

Chicken (whatever cut you prefer, about 10 oz.)

Baby Spinach, Spring Mix or whatever greens you like best.

8 oz. can Sliced Water Chestnuts

15 oz. can Mandarin Oranges in Light Syrup

Crispy noodles.

Grill the Chicken in Sesame Oil. I usually cut it into small pieces before cooking to get more seasoning onto it. Season with Sea Salt and Perfect Pinch to taste. Throw in a generous amount of Sesame Seeds. When the Chicken is almost fully cooked, add the Water Chestnuts to warm them up and coat them with seasonings.

Serve the Chicken and Water Chestnuts over the greens and top with mandarin oranges and crispy noodles. Drizzle with your Sesame Vinagrette and Enjoy.

Greens in the bowl first

Holding myself accountable. Get Healthy Check-in.

So, I had breakfast at home today. Two ounce sausage patty on a biscuit.

For a morning snack I had whole almonds. They had donuts at the meeting, and I did have one, but I took a smallish one with very little frosting and no filling.

For lunch, I ate pretty lousy, 2 slices of pepperoni pizza, but I skipped the cookies and soda and went for fruit juice and the Cherry Almond Trail mix I packed.

I had more almonds for a snack on the way home.

For dinner, we are having an Asian inspired salad! Spring Mix, Mandarin oranges, chicken, water chestnuts, and crispy noodles with an awesome sesame vinagrette. I'm still a bit hungry, so I'm going to have a bit of my Sesame Marinated Tofu.

For a snack later, I'm going to try to get away with a tall glass of Vanilla flavored Almond Breeze.

***edit*** my snack ended up being a few strips of bell pepper to try out an awesome new dressing recipe i whipped up, and Mom-in-law goodies with my almond milk. If love is an ingredient, do the calories still count?***

By the way, I felt really guilty about the pizza and it didn't sit all that well. That'll teach me, I guess.

Train, Train! Take me on out of this town.

Ok, it's really more like "Take me on out of this self-defeating, half-assed backwards mindset," but what can I say, I'm sort of a Blackfoot fan.

This past year sucked. Say it with me: "2010 sucked!" But, at the risk of turning into a walking cliche, there's been a silver lining in a lot of it.

Sure, my house almost burned down, but I didn't have to finish painting the 3rd floor and we got a kitchen/bathroom remodel.

Sure, I dislocated my knee and was out of work 3 weeks. but I got like a dozen afghans done for charity.

On the downside, is that all of the upheaval and, let's be honest, boredom, has lead to a lot of really, REALLY lousy eating habits.(And a serious Facebook addiction.) For so long, we were forced to eat based on convenience and now it's become our first instinct. We used to relish a chance to cook together, now we don't bother unless it's 3 days till the next check and there's $10 in the bank account.

I made fantastic Chipotle Corn Chowder for dinner the other night, but not because I had a brilliant recipe idea, it was because all I had left in the fridge was frozen corn, a stick of butter and a little milk.

At any rate, I ran into an old friend the other day, and she looked AWESOME! (Good for you, JuneBug!) Turns out, all she's doing different from my fat ass, is that she's actually doing all the things I keep meaning to do. Regular Yoga, eating the way she needs to, and so on. Basically, not being a useless lump after she punches out from work.

WAIT! That's all I need to do? Really? I swear on all that is holy and good, there really is something wrong with me. I can't even get my prescription filled on time. (Which I was gonna do tonight, I swear.)

And then I was sitting and thinking about it, I know I'm lactose intolerant, why do I continue to eat dairy? Why do I say, "well, I could have a little more milk before I have to worry about getting sick"? When I should be saying "I don't normally eat that, but for your birthday, I could have a smidge of Ice Cream."

I know that I can't eat onions. (Migraines) Yet over and over again, I find myself staring at Scallions or Chives saying "if I'm careful not to eat much of it, I'll be fine." When I should be saying "I should just skip this" or "I need to learn to cook this myself, you know, onion free, so I don't risk puking or missing work."

I genuinely love healthy goodies like dried fruit, nuts and seeds. So why don't I eat them?? I have a huge bag of almonds, could I tell you where it even is? Nevermind, when the last time I actually ate some of them.

I love Yoga. It centers me. It makes me feel awesome, spiritually and physically. If I did yoga yesterday, I can almost guarantee I'll do yoga today. Problem is, if life happens and I have to skip a day, it takes me like a week (or sometimes more) to get around to it again. Why??? What's wrong with me?

I could keep whining and say "I have OCD, I can't help it, I fixate on everything that sucks." Let's be honest, I'm on meds for that (which I still need to get refilled) and I know that I train myself to fixate on the good instead of the crap, I've done it in the past.

I'm not happy at work. Things are finally changing for the better, but it all feels like too little too late. So why don't I fixate on the things that do make me happy, you know, the not work stuff. How about yoga and almonds, cuddling with the cat or the fact that after almost 5 years, I'm still glad I married my husband. This isn't rocket science. It's easy stuff.

I need to just keep my eyes on the prize. No more onions, limit dairy to dry cheeses like parmesan and cheddar or things like sheep's milk feta which doesn't upset my stomach. Eat smaller, healthier snacks. Enjoy my food for the flavor, not the quantity. Pack a lunch, have breakfast at home.

Back to the basics! Need to get it right this time. Aside from the fact that I can't keep up with my favorite 4 yr old any more, I need to not look like a moose in the pictures at my sister's upcoming wedding.

Share with me! What have your "get healthy" victories been? Keep me motivated.

I'm not going to track my progress with weight loss. I'm going to track it in pants sizes. I'm also going to pay a visit to a giant staircase not far from our house (90 steps) and time myself climbing up and back down. Every week I'm going to go back and time myself again. I'm going to post the times here to keep myself honest.

Wish me luck.