Farmers Market

Saturday morning we got up early and went to the Farmers Market. We like to purchase our fresh fruits and vegetables from there to support our local farmers and to eat healthier (organically). We bought almost every vegetable imaginable. We had to bring a veggie tray to a Graduation party for a nephew. So we bought peppers, carrots, cauliflower, celery, and radishes to make our veggie tray. Everything tasted soo good.

We also bought corn on the cob because we eat it at every meal these days. It's great on the grill! We also bought red potatoes and organic pasta. I tried organic pasta for my Nutrition class when I had to try a new organic food for a project. Now we are hooked! We've tried several flavors now including whole wheat fettuccine, garlic spinach fettuccine and linguine, and a mixed variety of pasta with several different flavors. We would definitely recommend it to anyone!

We had some of the corn and red potatoes for dinner tonight. I used the red potatoes for a Weight Watchers recipe...Garlic Red Mashed potatoes. Very tasty! They are made with skim (or low fat milk) and fat free (or light) sour cream. And then I spice them up with garlic powder, onion salt (my family doesn't like actual onions in the potatoes), minced garlic, salt, pepper, and chives. I just spice them to taste.

I challenge you to visit a Market and try something that you've never had before or even just buy something that you normally buy from the grocery store and compare. I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised! :)

Could have been better...

A lot has happened in the past week. Last weekend we went on a mini vacation to Cleveland, OH, just the 2 of us, to see a Yankees baseball game. Vacation can be hard on a diet. Planning helps when going out of town. Making plans on what and where you are going to eat and planning on when and how you are going to get your exercise in. We did pretty well sticking to our plan.

When we got there the first day we drove downtown and walked around and site saw. We stuck to our eating plan well the 1st day by packing our lunch and not eating out during the drive. We told ourselves we were only going to eat out 1 meal and we did that for dinner. We went to a Mexican restaurant and splurged a little on our dinner choices. We also got a little walking in while walking around downtown.

We got up early on our first morning and utilized the exercise room and indoor pool they had at the hotel. We had planned on eating their continental breakfast at the hotel both mornings but it was kinda skimpy so we decided to go to a breakfast buffet where we ate more than we should of. The only good thing about breakfast was we got filled up at breakfast until dinner time. We went to the Cleveland Zoo during the day...which is huge and walked the whole park...it took us 4 hours. Great exercise! Then we went downtown and walked around and site saw some more and then went out to dinner before we went to the ball park. By eating dinner out before the baseball game we eliminated being hungry at the ballpark. Which saved on calories and money (since ballpark food is soo expensive!) We did eat out twice on that day (which wasn't part of our plan) but with all of our walking we did...we burned a lot of calories!

On our last morning there we ate a smaller breakfast and ate the continental breakfast at the hotel. We also did not stop for lunch on the way home, we ate the lunch we had packed in the car. So our trip was pretty successful dietwise...and we had a blast...that's important too!

I didn't get back to my normal routine until Thursday, when I went back to work and did my normal walking. I weighed in on Friday AM and only lost .2 lbs...which is better than gaining, but could have been better. So starting Friday I got right back on track and back to my routine. This weekend is the last weekend that my sister is staying with us. This will make it easier to stay on track with our healthy lifestyle. Not that we changed much with her being here but we did eat out a little more and probably didn't walk as much in the evenings as we would have. I wish we had been able to rub our healthy lifestyle off on her a little more but we tried... Hopefully something sunk in? :(

New things and realizations...

Well my sister made it right on time Saturday night. I don't think she's used to having all these good for you foods in the house. She's asked for us to get real Pepsi for her to drink (we only have diet soda, diet tea, fruit2O water, etc... She's also asked that we buy some foods for her that she likes.

My sister has never been heavier in my life than she is today. She eats a lot of snacks. I think she eats mostly when she's bored. Last night the food was 5 minutes from being done and she wanted a snack. I made her wait. I am hoping with all of my fingers and toes crossed that our healthy lifestyle will rub off on her. But so far its not looking hopefully. Of course it is still early in her trip.

Before she came she had also mentioned trying to stop smoking while she was here. I am really hoping so. She goes outside to smoke a lot! She said she smokes about a pack a day. Cigarette's are soo much more expensive in NY than TX. She already knows that we are not going to buy cigarette's for her. So we'll also see what happens with that.

It will be interesting to see if just a slight change in what she is eating will help her lose weight. She has no interest to go walking for fun... My lifestyle really has changed soo much...more than I realize sometimes. I used to be like that. Just veg out and eat whatever I wanted and however much I wanted. I feel soo much better now with only 38 lbs off. I can only imagine how I'll keep feeling as the weight melts away. I continue to get comments from coworkers asking how much I've lost. When I don't lose anything and just maintain for one week, I tend to get a little down on myself. When I get good comments from others that helps me feel better.

This weekend I've been studying for my Nutrition exam. I am learning soo much! It's soo interesting! I would suggest to anyone to take this class! Wish me luck on my exam!

Why I chose to blog about my weight loss journey...

My name is Martha and I am 30 years old. I have struggled with my weight all of my life. I have tried many different diets and supplements in the past to lose weight, including (but not limited to) Atkins, South beach diet, diet pills to suppress appetite, just eating low fat, etc... The one diet that has really worked well for me is Weight Watchers (WW). I have lost over 75 lbs before while following WW but gained it all back over time.

This picture on the left is a picture of me in February of 2010. I am currently back on the Weight Watchers diet. This time around feels different! I really feel like I am dedicated this time and trying to change some bad habits I have developed and make some new good habits. This time around I have been working on portion sizes and exercising more. I still allow myself some of my favorite foods but in moderation and try to stay fully aware of how much I am eating.

I started WW in March of 2010 and have lost a total of 31 lbs so far. This picture on the right was taken a few days ago on May 31st.

I started trying to lose weight because I was going to be in a wedding and I did not want to be in front of people the size I was. Since then, the wedding has been canceled. I started trying to losing weight because I was embarrassed to stand in front of other people...now, I want to lose weight for myself, because I feel better and healthier already and I want to continue to feel this way. I still have a long way to go but try not to set goals for myself. I take it one week at a time and celebrate my small accomplishments.

I chose to blog about my weight loss journey to share with other overweight people my struggles, challenges, triumphs, and experiences. I hope that what I learn will help others in their own journey's.