Lean porridge hot!

Today started with a rather cool morning in the midst of our hot spell and it had me warming up some left over buckwheat cereal for breakfast. Blending in a scoop of Lean and fresh pears made a wonderful sweet & hot breakfast, the Lean adding a creaminess and it's vanilla flavour adding that cobbler taste; just yummy as I guess I noted earlier in the week ;) It's so easy to make four servings of cereal and put three of them into containers for later. Adding in fruit and the Lean later is a snap for a quick breakfast, whether you're eating it at home or taking it to work for later. I was listening to one of the calls and they spoke about cooking with Lean, so I might add it to my pancakes next.

Lunch was left over pizza, thank heavens for the Cheat! I absolutely love cold, left over pizza.

I've added a small note to my blog on the upper right corner listing the weekly call schedule. On each call there is always a testimonial or two, and the calls are led by top people in the company and are great sources of information. I encourage you to call in and hear the excitement about this rapidly growing company that CNI has become, as well as to hear from other's like me who are losing weight and inches, feeling better and stronger mentally, and getting a handle on their health as they start moving more and seeing results and feeling good about themselves. Of course it's also fun to hear about the money :)

Chocolate, Green & Lean

I often make green smoothies for breakfast and add in a scoop of Lean, they are sweet and satisfying and keep me full all morning as I have probably mentioned a dozen times. But today I wanted something more, something rich, and the urge was for chocolate. So I still made my usual smoothie but added in 2T of rich dark cocoa powder. My sister had given a plethora of dark chocolate for Christmas last year and so I have a supply in the cupboard. I was delighted to discover that with the Lean in the smoothie I didn't have to add any additional sweetener to the chocolate; it was the perfect rich chocolaty breakfast that I was craving. Thinking about it later, I realize that this was the pre-menopause 'time of month' that I use to crave chocolate - how wonderful to be able to indulge in that craving using the dark cocoa powder that is full of antioxidants without having to add any of the damaging sugar! Yum and hooray!

More loose bottoms

I felt thinner again this morning getting dressed to walk, my walking pants fitting on me instead of stretching around me. I've been sort of unfocused this past week, wrapped up in Farm Town and not taking care of business! But I have been walking regularly and getting out to the driveway to shoot my bow, and even gave an impromptu Core4 presentation to the AT&T gentlemen who dropped by (yes, we're converting from Dish to their fiber optic network!) One of the things I love about sharing the products is that it can be a spur of the moment affair as I move through my life; much better than sitting at a desk for hours at a time as I use to do.

I wish I had taken the time for food pictures today. My breakfast was so pretty (buckwheat cereal with Lean stirred in and chopped fresh pear on top) and lunch would have made a good picture too (garbanzo's smashed with avocado, green olives & onions & chopped kale wrapped up in a corn tortilla with some shakes of cheat.) But it's a busy day so far and I've miles yet to go! I love spending Friday getting ready for the weekend and straightening up after the week :)

Time for an Accelerate, a big glass of water, and running errands!

Chips and Dip for Lunch

Taking the time to make healthy meals has been a priority for me over the past couple of years, helping me out of a depression and getting me back in the saddle, so to speak. And over the past year home made salads, soups and dressings have become an integral part of my life; I make sure I am eating for nutrition most of the time. I have learned to take the time I need to shop and prepare foods that I know will give me the fuel my body craves, I am worth it (as they say.) But having this good foundation of nutritional knowledge does not keep me from craving foods that are not the best choice for me, and when I can take a favorite and make it healthy I am very happy. Like my lunch today. Chips and dip for lunch, how decadent! But I made the refried beans and they are full of veggies and low in sodium, and the corn chips are baked not fried. I made the guacamole this morning using fresh ingredients and the tomato is from my garden.

Having the Cheat to use with this lunch is great, because I was able to portion out just what I should eat for a serving and know that I would be satisfied instead of reaching back into the bag again ...and again ... and again all afternoon until the chips were nothing more than a few crumbles of corn left in the bottom of the bag! No, I had my beautiful little lunch, drank a glass of water with it, and got busy around the house. Here it is hours later and I have no desire for more even though I love it and it's right there in the kitchen. Of course the Accelerate is a part of that too, helping to curb appetite and keep my energy level high.

I guess what I am trying to say is how wonderful it is to eat foods I love without binging on them - to just enjoy them in moderation and be able to have them in the house. Lets hope this holds true with the peanut butter I just bought yesterday ;)

Pancake with Lemon Date Frosting (&Cheat)

Another cool morning considering it's still August, and I wanted a warm breakfast. There was just enough Oat Bran pancake mix left for one pancake (half a batch) so I mixed it up with 1/2oz ground walnuts for that iHop Harvest Grain effect. I was out of honey, and maple sugar too, so I started thinking about what to dress it with and my eye landed on the little baggie of fresh lemon juice. A strong memory popped up of sprinkling pancakes with powdered sugar and then squeezing lemon over the top - a childhood favorite - so I started thinking what I could do for sweetener when I saw the bucket of dates in the fridge. In the end it was 3 fat dates blended in my magic bullet with 1T brown sugar and 2T fresh lemon juice that made the sweet\tart frosting that you see here. And of course my sprinkles of Cheat on top. In the 2nd picture you can see how the Cheat has started changing and how the frosting is now glistening. This was quick to make, so delicious, and very filling. I got in my omega 3's early, fiber and micronutrients from the dates and lemon, and the Cheat will take care of the sugar ;)

A delicious and warm way to start the day, I know I will be doing this many times in the coming cold season!

Birthday Cake and walking

Today was fun, a friend's daughter turned two and we went to celebrate. The morning had gotten away from me and I missed my morning walk, but that was okay - every routine needs a break now and then. At the party I had a tomato sandwich, lots of grapes, chips & watermelon plus a piece of yummy dense cake. And wine, two glasses! I had forgotten to make breakfast so the wine hit me hard and when we came home I was tired and woozy. I lay down for a minute intending to watch a movie and nap, but my Farm Town addiction pulled me to the computer before too long. And then I remembered my Accelerate, so grabbed one from the kitchen and had a big glass of water. An hour later it felt as though I hadn't had any wine at all, my head was clear and I was back to normal. I felt so good that as twilight started to set in I grabbed my iPod and Kaley and off we went for our daily walk after all. I was out of audio books and in my library saw "You on a Walk" and decided what the heck and loaded up the iPod. While the techno dance music didn't do a thing for my appreciation of music, it did keep my feet going at the pace they wanted, and I shaved some time off of my normal route. I think I'll start using this a couple of times a week to make sure I am really walking and not strolling.

And the stretches - OMG! - I never remember to stretch, and as I followed their guidelines I felt how tight my thighs & calves were and how inflexible I was. I don't like what I felt, and I am determined to add stretching to the end of my walks from now on. I think that is a good place for me to start getting ready for Yoga this winter; I want long lean lines! So a good day. Oh, and I made a Green Lean Smoothie for dinner (frozen mango, a little V8 Fusion, two dates, 3oz of fresh spinach and a scoop of Lean) before I left for my walk. It was fun hearing on the audio book how the goal of a healthy body is to build and then maintain lean muscle; I mean, I know this, but using the Lean and knowing that is what it is specifically formulated to do made me feel good about my dinner.

So another good day, my only regret is that I forgot my Cheat to put on the cake!

Another new low!

192.8 !!!
It's always such a tease to get on the scale and see a lower number just before it settles in at your weight for the day. But today was no tease, and the scale stayed at a new low. I am really into new territory here. In the early 2000's I had used another product to lose ten pounds and saw 195 briefly. I was walking 5 miles a day and developed plantar fasciitis because at 200 #'s that is not necessarily a good thing to do for your feet when you have high arches like I do. I was in pain for a year before getting relief from The Good Foot store and wearing inserts in my shoes. And I quit walking. So this time I am walking in moderation, enjoying taking my little dog out most days and usually keeping it to about 35 minutes. As I learn to trust my feet, this time around I am sticking to a shorter distance and walking faster to make sure I get my heart rate up and feel like I am getting a good work out without putting so much stress on my feet until I get a little lighter. Combined with my shooting and the occasional bike ride and intermittent push ups I feel I am working out enough without going crazy. I want to be fit without being a slave to exercise, I want to enjoy it so that I keep doing it; fitness is for life :)

So back to my original thought, it feels really good to see a number on the scale that is a couple of pounds lower than I have been in six or seven years. And I can really feel the downward momentum now, like I am on a path and this is not a fluke. I'm enjoying things I haven't eaten in years, but in moderation. Which brings me to another thought. I have had a jar of vegenaise in the fridge for over a week and I don't feel compelled to use it every day. In the past year that was one of my guilty pleasures, using it to make thousand island dressing, eggless egg salad sandwiches & potato salad. I would make everything in the same week, polishing off that jar of mostly fat like I was on a mission from God. But now I seem to be able to have it in the house without going crazy. Same with the Lite butter\canola spread that my honey bought to use on the corn he brought home; I've had two half cobbs using that butter but haven't felt compelled to nuke some potatoes to melt it on. For me really strange. But this relief from those compulsions is wonderful, like another weight has lifted off my shoulders, and it's really nice to still be able to eat for nutrition most of the time while throwing in some decadent and unhealthy choices some times without the fear of gaining back any weight. Another big Thank You to Core4 this morning!