"I am determined, I've made up my mind!"

Do any of you know that children's Bible song? I have been feeling very determined these last few days! A friend of mine at WW and I, almost 2 years ago, did a little challenge thing together. I made up charts for us to mark off healthy things each day from, and whoever had the most at the end of the challenge, won. Now, we never ended up having a winner, or any prizes, haha, but it was fun and motivating. Now that I'm back at WW for a few months, she's been begging me to make up the charts again to help motivate her. So Thursday night, about an hour before the meeting, I'm writing up charts to bring for her, when this brilliant idea crossed my mind. What if I offered for anyone in the WW meeting to get in on this challenge with us, for $5, and we could have cash prizes at the end? Long story short....I explained it to our leader, she loved it, so I stood up in front of everyone and explained the whole thing. Basically, it is a 6 week "End of Winter" Challenge, ending April 11th, and bottom line, whoever has the most "checks" at the end of the 6 weeks, wins! I got 30 PEOPLE to sign up! Haha...I walked out of there with $150! So now the first place winner gets $75, second place $50 and third place $25. Pretty good huh? Everyone was SO excited and thanking me up and down for coming up with it. I felt like a celebrity lol! I think everyone seems to be in a funk right now...I think it is just this time of year. Everyone is so sick of winter, and the weather isn't getting nicer yet so you don't have that "motivation for swimsuits!" :-) I'm really excited about doing this, and it is really keeping me accountable to counting my points each day, trying to get in all my fruits and veggies and making time to work out. I hope this will carry out the whole 6 weeks, because once it ends, it will be only a week till my sister's wedding! I could sure use that $75 to put towards getting mine and my girl's updos!

So here is my officially WI for you guys.

2/24 - 202.8
3/3  -  201.6  ( loss of 1.2!)

I'm so desperate to get under 200! I'm hoping I can do it by next week! I posted a picture of the chart I made, so you can all see what I was talking about. Maybe you would like to make one for yourself too? I hope you all have a great week! Hopefully I will post again before next Sunday! ;-)

Checking In

I'm still here! This week has been really busy, so I'm sorry I haven't written much. I did pretty well this week, though not perfectly within my points. I didn't go to WW on Thursday night because I didn't have a babysitter for my kids. My weight today was 202.8 today.  I think I will feel better posting a morning weight each week on Sunday, just so I know it will be consistent. Now don't go thinking I lost 5 pounds...haha...because I weigh more on the WW scale, and it is at night, but I know a lost a couple. Going to really try to be strict with my counting this week, as I feel like I have a handle on the clean eating at the moment. I know that can change, but I need to start being stricter sooner than later since the wedding is in 55 days! I am proud of myself today though! We went to my family's house for the day and she made Ritz Cheddar Chicken for dinner. I had her just give me a plain piece with cheddar cheese on top instead. Then she made my absolute favorite dessert EVER....Apple Torte with the most amazing "sugar cookie" crust, and I didn't have a bite, but instead brought 2 small Sweet Potato Brownies. I'm starting to get to the point that I'm in a good groove, so I need to make sure not to ruin it! Now just to get my points under control! On to tomorrow!

One week

Today marks one week of eating clean! I made it 7 whole days lol! This weekend went pretty well. I'm going to be honest...I haven't been counting points like I should. I feel like I need to get one thing down first, which would be getting all of my food healthy. I am hoping that soon I will start hunkering down and counting every point. I hope to see a loss on the scale this week at WW. I really wish my weigh in was in the morning! I hate that I have to weigh in at 6pm at night after a day of eating! I feel like what I eat each week before WI will change what my weight could/should be. I have to think that I will be under what I was last week though....so as long as that is the case, I will be happy! :-)

 I made homemade clean chocolates today for the first time, and was pretty happy with how they turned out! It is pretty much coconut oil, so it's great knowing that it is actually healthy for me! Here is the recipe for anyone who is interested!

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
2 TB pure maple syrup/honey/agave ( I used syrup )

That's it! I microwaved the oil until it was melted enough to stir in the powder and syrup, then put it in a mini cupcake pan. I made 22, and sprinkled some sea salt on them. They came out really good! I want to try some with peanut butter, maybe raisins, or peppermint extract. Let me know if you try them and what you think!

Very Depressing Day

I'm so disappointed in myself. I weighed in at WW tonight and was 207.2. I didn't even want to admit that on this blog, but I wanted to post a starting weight. I guess I can't expect anything less than that, since I haven't been doing well the past few months. You get out what you put in, right? I know I just came off of vacation, which I know some of those pounds came from, but it is still depressing. I am committing to myself to track every bit this week, while still eating clean. I would love to lose 4 or 5 pounds by next Thursday. I think I would be able to do it, if I worked hard, but if I don't, as long as I have a loss, I will be happy. I will be back tomorrow with my daily eats. I'm going to try to have this motivate me, instead of make me want to cry....which is what I want to do right now. :-/

Getting back into it....slowly.....

So, today was day 3, and it went pretty well, but could have gone better. I still didn't count all my points today, but I am planning on starting tomorrow. It's hard to come off a vacation, and jump in 100%, I'm not going to lie! I'm proud of myself for at least sticking with the clean eating for the past few days! I went grocery shopping today also, after being gone for a week and a half, so that will help me the rest of the week to have some good food on hand! I'm planning on grilling some chicken tomorrow so I can put it on salads for meals. Tonight was a high carb meal...I made the kids whole wheat pancakes which I ate with 100% pure maple syrup. It's amazing how even when eating something like pancakes, I still don't feel bloated like I would normally if I had white pancakes, and sugary syrup. I do love how I feel when I eat this way....I  need to remind myself of this when I head down the slippery slope of crappy eating! :-) Tomorrow I have a weigh in at WW...the first in 2 weeks since I've been on vacation. I don't know what I will be...but I'm sure I will be up. Oh well...I'm hoping that eating like this will start helping the pounds come off! Hope you all had a great day!

Day One Complete!

Well, Day 1 is over and done with! I ate clean all day, though didn't count my points. I'm still on vacation until tomorrow, so I figured I would take one step at time since it is harder in general when I am not at my own house. I had a headache all day...not sure if that was the lack of sugar or not, but it was brutal. My friend who's house I'm staying at, made chocolate chip cookies, and the smell was AMAZING all day! Of course, part of me was like, "I'm only on vacation 2 more days, I will just start when I get home", but knowing people were doing it with me, made me stick with it! Once I get home, I will be trying to post what I eat and such each day! I will post again tomorrow! Sorry so short! :-)

Let the Challenge Begin!

If any of you have followed my blogs before, you know that I am the world's worst blogger! I always have good intentions, and life just gets in the way, and I put blogging on the back burner. I am starting a 68 day challenge, in which, I am going to attempt to eat "clean" for 68 days. Just so you know, the 68 days came about because my sister is getting married in 69 days from tomorrow, and that will bring me right up to the wedding. I have eaten clean before, for up to a month one time, and as hard as it was, I felt amazing when I was doing it. I have fallen back into some pretty bad habits, and would like to break them if I can. I am going to be eating clean, while also counting WW points. I am going to start off by just eating till satisfied, with healthy foods, and seeing how many points that is...not worrying if I go over my daily 36. Then, if I find I'm not losing, I will scale down my points, while still eating clean. I have my own rules that I am going to follow for eating clean, so that may not be exactly what "clean eating" people would call "100% clean." LOL! I have a family of 5, so I need to do my best while staying in our very low monthly food budget! :-)

This is what I will be doing:

No white flour of any kind, only breads/crackers that are 100% whole wheat

No white/brown sugar of any kind. I will use Agave, Honey, and sometimes there will be evaporated cane juice in my greek yogurt or something like that. I know that's not good, but it is WAY better than what I've been doing, and even still, I am going to have it in moderation.

No soda....diet or regular.

No artificial sweeteners like Aspertame, Splenda, etc.

I think that is about it. I am doing this challenge with Alissa from A Journey to Thin, and hopefully also with my sister in law. I told Alissa and I would love for her to post on here as often as she can also, with recipes, or ideas, and how she is doing. I am not going to promise that I will post everyday, but I will try! ;-) This challenge will start tomorrow, February 11th, and will end on April 19th! Let me know  if you are reading! :-)