Only One!?!

Hey everyone.

I should have expected it this week but I only lost 1 pound. This morning I weighed...

231.4 lbs!

I should be glad it was only a pound and not a gain but I had my birthday this week. We ate at Burger King & Chick Fil A this week! (Mostly because it was so late and we were in Laurel & not at home!) So I guess I am happy. I wish it had been more. But Next week will make up for it PROMISE.

So, I went to my 6 week post pardum appoitment this week and got the A OK to work out... but that if I try to do too much too fast that I would risk my milk drying up. SO, walking it is. And of course my toe is all messed up and its getting chillier. So I guess I will just do low impact aerobics to start with and build it up from there. I am doing alot more walking now that I am back to work. And once our desks move down one floor I am going to be doing alot of stairs! So that will be a good forced work out. (Unless I cheat and take the elevator!)

As for foods... I ate Cream of Wheat this morning with Brown Sugar and Cinnamon. According to WWO it's just 7 points. I should have had a banana that I saw at the last second.... but alora. The Cream of Wheat was really good. I will probably do 1 tsp less of the Brown Sugar next time because it was a little overpowering. I have also found that many of the Weight watcher / dieting recipes are boring and lack flavor. I find I really have to load on the garlic or Italian seasoning or SOMETHING just to get the bland-ness to be less BORING! LOL... Oh well... See ya tomorrow world!

Back at Work. Boo...

Hey peeps.

I am sorry that I haven't been blogging! I am being SO RUDE! :OP Well last Friday I weighed...

232 lbs!

So not as signifigant of a weight loss, but 2 lbs is 2 lbs. Can you believe I have lost almost 10 lbs!?! Thats the weight of my newborn daughter!! This is crazy talk! I lift her and think I was carrying this around... in FAT! Ugh... a baby is a much better use of 10 lbs than fat!

Well I am back at work. (In fact don't tell them... I am blogging AT work!) :OP te he he... Oh and I broke my toe. Its pretty narly. Its purlply and deformed a bit. Overall a mess. So now its hard to work out. BUT I can still walk so I have just upped my walking in order to compensate. I do alot of walking at work. Well... not ALOT but certainly much more than if I were just at home. We got paid today which means I signed up for Weight Watchers Online! Its pretty swell! I think its pretty convenient... minus the fact that my work only has like 2 computers... so I NEED a ledger to keep track of what I am eating so I am glad that my Mommy and Daddy got me a Weight Watchers package for my Birthday.

Oh yea, it was my B-day on Monday! Yay... it was relaxing and we made Hungry Girl "Jello" Cake for my B-Day. We took the Hungry Girl Cake recipe and added Sugar-Free Jello which is no points! And as an icing Fat Free Cool Whip! YEA!!! Cheap on the PointsPlus-ness! Pretty spectacular huh!?! :O) We also had this amazing Brisket for dinner on my Birthday. It was GRAND!

Diet Soda Cake

From: http://www.hungry-girl.com/show/more-surprises-shockers-and-swaps-diet-soda-cake-recipe



Ingredients:

One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix
One 12-oz. can diet soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)

Enjoy!
MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Little Victories.

Hello bloggites!

Today is a WEIGH IN DAY! Yes, it is that time of the week where I get to hold myself accountable to the actions of my dieting. And I am happy to say that I have made some progress. This morning I weighed in at...

234.6 LBS!

That is almost 4 pounds less than a week ago! :O) Yay! This is exciting. Its good to get on the scale and see that all of your trouble you seem to be going to is paying off! Today I ate pretty well. I did not eat breakfast again. BUT I had a 1 cup serving of beans and rice for lunch with a can of green beans and water. I had a cup of chicken broth as a snack. And had a yummy Baked Ziti Recipe that was only 5 points! In the recipe we replaced the ground beef with ground turkey... which was cheaper anyway! YAY! :O) With dinner I had 1 serving of Texas Toast Garlic Bread and Broccoli. Yummmm, overall today was a good day. Tomorrow the clan is off to Kalas wedding. I somehow think my diet may fly out the window. :O/

Baked Ziti Pasta Recipe

from: http://www.laaloosh.com/2010/06/25/baked-ziti-pasta-recipe/

Ingredients:
- 12 oz Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta (I used the penne noodles)
- 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
- 1 cup reduced fat mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup yellow onions, finely chopped
- 1/2 lb extra lean ground beef (96/4)
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp fresh basil, finely chopped
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp rosemary
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat; add onions and garlic and sauté 2 minutes. Add beef and cook until browned, breaking up meat with a spoon as it cooks, about 3 to 5 minutes; drain off any fat and set pan back over medium heat.
Add the oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper. Cook about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and mushrooms and bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Spoon a small amount of beef-tomato mixture into bottom of a 4-quart casserole dish (just enough to cover surface); top with half of cooked pasta. Next, layer with half of remaining beef-tomato sauce and half of mozzarella cheese. Layer with remaining pasta and then top with remaining beef-tomato sauce; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake until cheese is golden and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Cut into 6 pieces.

Entire recipe makes 6 servings
Serving size is 1 piece
Each serving = 5 Point Total

The Hunger Monster.

LOL, I needed that photo today. I am sick of this HUNGER thing. I also know I am not doing this dieting thing right. I am pretty sure I am NOT eating the correct amount of calories. I mean today I only had 2 meals and tiny portions at that! Well, I think that's because we planned our meals BEFORE I decided to diet and so I would much rather UNDER eat than over eat. BUT, if this is what anorexia feels like... you can count on me to never be THAT GIRL.

I planned the meals for the next 15 days since we get paid tomorrow. All of them are Weight Watchers recipe friendly and they all have the accurate amount of points per serving which will help me to know what I AM eating points wise. There are some yummy recipes on there... like Slow Cooker Red Beans & Rice as well as Dijon Chicken. Quite excited...

Today I made Diet Soda Cake! It was amazing and HALF the calories of REAL cake. Thank you Hungry Girl! I started recording that show on the Food Network and I must say she is very ingenious! There is an all veggie no noodle lasagna I want to try! :O)

Diet Soda Cake

from Hungry Girl Website

*Makes 12 servings*

1 18.25 box of moist style cake mix

1 can of diet soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.

2. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and transfer to properly sized pan. Refer to box for bake time.

Day of Rest.

So today was probably not the best day for the diet thing.

Not that I didn't try but its just the meals we have planned are not great for calories. So I had a cup and a half of Multi-Grain Cheerios with a cup of non-fat milk for breakfast. Felt really down in the dumps today. I dunno if its because of the hunger or lack of "normal" calories for me... but I just couldn't look cute today. AND since it was a church day I really wanted to look cute.

So after church we had our lunch/dinner before evening service. For this meal I had Mexican Beans and Tacos. I ate one serving of the beans and 2 servings of tacos. Tacos were pretty generic no recipe just 93% lean ground beef, taco seasoning, crispy taco shells, reduced fat Mexican Cheese from Sargentos, Tapitio Hot Sauce and a dollop of Daisy (Light Sour Cream). Pretty sure that was NOT DIET WORTHY. After the evening service today I had two ladies tell me I look like I lost weight. I think they are just referring to the GIANT pregger belly. I certainly don't FEEL skinnier. LOL... but luckily the only other things I ate today was a snack of the Thrifty Chicken and Broccoli leftovers (about 1/2 a serving.) Oh and 3 scoops of Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.

Yea, I am still hungry. AND my husband noted that I am more irritable because of this whole thing. I noticed that when my newborn cries I get really REALLY annoyed. Usually vocally. I get a headache and I want to cry because I don't know whats wrong with my baby and because I am borderline miserable and trying to hide it. LOL...

No exercise today. :O(

Mexican Style Black Beans

from cookbook "Cheap. Fast. Good."

*Makes 4 servings*

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 can Black Beans

1 can diced tomatoes

1 medium Onion

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1. Heat the oil in a 2 quart or larger pan over medium heat. Peel the onion and corsley chop it, adding it to the pan as you chop and stirring frequently. Add the garlic to the pan. Cook stirring for 1 minute.

2. Add the beans with their liquid. Add the tomatoes with their juice and the Worcestershire Sauce, chili powder, and cumin. Stir well and bring mixture to boil. Then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans have thickened slightly. about 10 -20 minutes. Serve at once.

Body Gospel.

So, this is a random extra post because I found a strangely intriguing work out collection and wondered what y'all thought. Its called "Body Gospel."

http://www.teambeachbody.com/workout-routines/body-gospel-workout?tracking=COACHFBSTORE&referringRepId=67384

Begin Again.

Colbie Callait.

That's all you have to say. Her music is so light and refreshing. So even though her song "Begin Again" is meant to be used between romantic couples... (Maybe I should use it to symbolize the couple of me and dieting!) I am using it to title my blog for today as a reminder that I am trying to maintain this positive attitude and every day I am going to "begin again" this diet thing! LOL...

"Well this is not the way that it should end, its the way it should begin. It's the way it should begin again!" ~Colbie Callait

So as I begin again another day I am proud of where I have come and look to the future. I didn't have breakfast today. (Not cause I didn't want to but because I didn't get up till 10 AM.) That's the thing with newborns. You tend to get your sleep schedule all out of whack! :o) So instead of eating breakfast I ate what I like to call a "Mexican Salmon Sandwich." I created it myself with a small can of Pink Salmon, a can of Pinto Beans, lime & lemon juice, cumin, cilantro, reduced fat cream cheese, and cheese all wrapped up in a flour tortilla. Then with PAM cooking spray I heated them up on a non stick pan. They were DELISH! I had that with a side of corn and the LAST Diet Pepsi soda in the house!

Then after a few feedings of the baby and playing with my daughter in the pool, I worked out for the first time in a WHILE. And it kicked my butt! I did Zumba on the Wii for 20 minutes and thought I was gonna die. Some of those moves were crazy hard and I was doing this on BEGINNER! Oh boy do I have a ways to go! Luckily I knew a few of the steps from Jazzercise (like the grapevine). But some stuff was crazy. It looks like Zumba targeted my calves cause I feel the lactic acid building in them as I type! Eeeek! I told my husband to go up stairs cause I was self conscious about working out in front of him. But after about 10 minutes I felt a lot more comfortable with it... lol. I made it to level 4 (out of 4!) Which means that I was keeping up. And the game lets you set up an exercise program for the week. So tomorrow I will be doing Beginner 2 and take a couple days off and then do Intermediate 1! Ohhhh man! lol...

So after Zumba I did some crafty stuff. I made 2 garters for my friend Kala's wedding. :O) That was fun. For dinner the family had "Thrifty Chicken & Broccoli" out of the same cookbook from yesterday. It was really delicious but I think this recipe could also use a bit of tweeking to make them more friendly to the dieting person. Although I am still hungry.

Yea, this is why I hate dieting. The hunger. Its probably why I give up. Right now all I want is a cupcake or a brownie. Alas not only do we not have any in the house I cannot eat them. hahahahahahha... Alora!

So that was my dieting day today. Not too shabby I think. Trying to stay motivated!

Thrifty Chicken & Broccoli

from cookbook "Cheap. Fast. Good."

*Makes 4 servings*

1 cup long-grain rice

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1 can fat-free chicken broth

1 pound Boneless Chicken Breasts

1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1 large Onion

1 clove of garlic minced

1 pound of frozen broccoli

1/2 cup low-fat Cheddar Cheese

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in an extra-deep 12 inch nonstick skillet that has a lid. Add onion & cubed chicken to the skillet.

2. While the meat cooks, add the garlic & broccoli.

3. Cook the Rice separately and set aside. Open can of Cream of Chicken Soup and after the chcken is cooked thoroughly pour in the cream of chicken soup.

4. Serve over rice. Yum.

Scaled Back.

Hi again.

Well today was relatively productive in that as the official day one of this diet blog I think overall I did well. My husband and I did a load of walking today not because we WANTED to but because we were in search of the elusive and mystical "Weight Scale." Apparently people don't weigh themselves anymore because trying to locate one is like trying to locate a wrinkle on a supermodels airbrushed face. We first went to Joanns in Brandywine (one of my FAVORITE stores) to get the stuff I need to make a garter for my friend Kala's wedding. Then we went next door to Marshalls where I got to look at their selection of hundreds of panties for a panties party in honor of the Bride-to-Be. (I am pretty sure that my panties are gonna win the ugliest award!) ;O) Oh well, this whole ordeal started at about 1130 AM and we didn't finish those stores till 330 PM! Wowza! So we were walking a lot. Holding babies... looking at panties... all that jazz. Well... Ken ran into Target to buy me a scale (because we decided keeping the kiddos in the car would have been easier that dragging them into another store...) Well, they didn't have one. We went to the Exchange & Home Traditions on base... and neither one of them had one. Then it was CVS in Clinton. Yep... that was a big NO! I was beginning to lose hope. Until I went to Walmart. Now I am not a huge fan of Walmart... BUT they had it... in the PAINT DEPT no less. (Believe me I searched high and low and eventually had to ask an employee for help.) So now I have a scale. WHICH MEANS... I now know just how much I weigh. Are you ready to hear the number?? ...

238.2 LBS!

Honestly, that number is lower than I expected. I thought I was somewhere in the 250 range. So, this is my starting point! I am going to weigh myself every Friday and post it on this blog for the entire web to see.

SO, want to hear about the stuff I ate today!?! Since we already planned the meals for the rest of this pay period before I decided to diet its not the healthiest things I could be eating but I think I did pretty well portion wise.

So for breakfast I had 1.5 cups of Multi-Grain Cheerios with a cup of non-fat milk. Then for lunch it was leftovers. "Shipwreck Skillet" Mmmm, it was fantastic but COMPLETELY not diet friendly. Though I only had one serving (1 cup) I have no idea how that impacted my "diet." I ate lunch with a Diet Pepsi. After our walking around everywhere at 5pm (before I went back out to Walmart and CVS) I ate 3 scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream. THIS WAS A BAD DECISION! But I was starving and there wasn't much for me to eat. Probably next time I will opt to having a PB&J on Whole Wheat bread. Now I am about to eat a "Crispy Southwest Chicken Wrap." Which the ingredients for this one don't look half bad... worst thing is probably the cheese. Here are the recipes for the above meals...

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/09/crispy-southwest-chicken-wraps.html

*Makes 6 wraps*

1 cup cooked rice, warm or at room temperature

1 cup cooked, shredded chicken

1 can black beans, rinsed and drianed

1 green onion, finely sliced (white and green parts)

1/2 red or green pepper, diced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

juice of 1 lime

1/2 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

2 cups shredded cheese (I used a combination of monterey jack and sharp cheddar)

Sour cream (optional)

6 burrito-sized flour tortillas

Mix rice together with chili powder, cumin and garlic salt. Add remaining ingredients except for cheese and sour cream. Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges, then arrange chicken and rice mixture down the center of each tortilla. (Optional: on some of the wraps, I dotted the cheese with about 1-2 tablespoons of reduced fat sour cream before arranging chicken and rice mixture down the center - it made the wraps delightfully creamy.) Roll stuffed tortillas, leaving edges open. Spray the tortillas all over with cooking spray.

Heat a large non-stick skillet (or griddle) over medium heat for 1 minute. Arrange 2 wraps, seam-side down, in pan and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining wraps. Serve.

Shipwreck Skillet Dinner

from cookbook "Cheap. Fast. Good."

*Makes 4 servings*

1 cup long-grain rice

1 can fat-free beef broth

1 pound ground beef (I used 97% lean Ground Beef, but I am thinking of substituting this for Lean Ground Turkey)

1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1 large Onion

1 clove of garlic minced

1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn kernels

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in an extra-deep 12 inch nonstick skillet that has a lid. Add onion to the skillet.

2. Add the beef (fresh or partly defrosted) to the skillet and raise the heat to high.

3. Cook, turning and breaking up the meat and stirring from time to time until the meat is crumbled and brown, about 5 minutes.

4. While the meat cooks, add the worcestershire sauce, garlic, and seasoning salt. Rinse and seed the bell pepper and cut it into bite size pieces. Set aside.

5. Open the beef broth and remove all visible fat. Measure out the rice and set aside. Add the broth to the skillet. Add the rice green pepper and corn. Stir well and cover the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium high.

6. Boil, covered, 3 minutes. Uncover and stir well. Cover and continue to boil until the rice is tender and absorbs most of the broth, about 2 more minutes. Season with black pepper to taste. Serve at once or remove from the heat until ready to serve. (don't overcook!).

Dieting. Yuck.

Hello World Wide Web.

My name is Jennifer and I am a married mother of two. I have a loving husband who is my rock. We are a military family and my daughters are "Navy Brats." Though I never look at them as brats. I am the working bread winner you could say but that does not mean that my husband has any less to do than I. In fact somedays I really think that what he does at home is much more stenuous that what I do.

Some may wonder, where does the title come from? Well, before I was married I had the initials JAB. (It was a family thing.) When I was growing up, I always thought my initials were strange and my dad told me to make them an acronym. He sat down with me a brainstormed and we came up with "Just Adorably Beautiful." From then on I never hated my initials. Not only had I known that I came from a line of JAB's but that I knew that I was beautiful no matter what.

As of this moment I don't feel "Just Adorably Beautiful." I just had my second daughter 3 weeks ago and needless to say after 2 pregnancies back to back I gained unnecessary amounts of extra poundage! So I have decided that instead of wallowing in self pity; crying myself to sleep over a 5 gallon tub of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream I was going to do something about it. Since I am in the Navy I really have no choice but to lose the weight or get kicked out. My families livelihood is on the line. So to keep me motivated and dedicated I started this BLOG. Through this blog you will journey through the highs and lows of DIE-ting. I am no different than you and I hope that maybe this blog will help motivate others to not eat their feelings but write about them. (Even though eating them might be more fun!)

Here is my Motivation:

(Left is Post Boot Camp)

(Right is Last Weekend With my Eldest Daughter)

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Philippians 4:13