Week 9 Results... and how to be COOL!

I lost 5 pounds this week!! That's a total of 40 pounds lost! (I almost can't believe this!)

My man is down 3 pounds for a total of 45 pounds lost!

I tried a new veggie recipe this week! I found this in a mag at the Dr. office and it looked good.

(This is actually double the recipe - you can half this to try it on a smaller scale)

Sauteed Cauliflower & Grape Tomatoes:

4 T. real bacon bits

4 T. extra virgin olive oil (divided)

1 medium head cauliflower CHOPPED (about 8 cups)

4 T. water

4 T. red-wine vinegar

2 Cups grape tomatoes, halved

4 T. chopped fresh parsley

2 T minced garlic

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. freshly ground pepper

Add 2 T oil to pan & heat up on medium heat. Add cauliflower, cover and cook stirring occasionally, for 6-8 minutes. Add water and vinegar, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and tender and the liquid has evaporated, about 6 minutes more.

Add the remaining 2 T oil, tomatoes, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the garlic is soft, about 3 minutes more. Serve the sauteed cauliflower with the bacon bits on top.

Each cup of this is: 124 calories, 9 g. fat, 4 g. protein, & 3 g. fiber.

The cauliflower dish is quite tasty. The tomatoes give it a "zing". My hubby enjoyed them too. A nice change from the salads. I had it with chicken and the next night with Boca burger and some Ranch dressing on top.

My coach clued me onto this dish using the pre-cooked beef strips from Costco and fresh broccoli. You heat up the strips over the stove and add some "Newmans own low-fat sesame ginger" dressing. I also mixed my broccoli in the dressing after I steamed them, for a delicious Beef and Broccoli dinner!

HOW TO BE COOL!!

Okay, I noticed right away at a Medifast convention I went to with my man and my coach before we started that everyone and their dog had a water bottle! (That is if they had a dog, it would have had a water bottle too!)

I learned pretty quickly that carrying a water bottle everywhere is COOL! Healthy, active, happy people seem to have water bottles and drink from them all the time. So I got on the band wagon right away.

We have shied away from buying the plastic water bottles and have converted several "Sobe" glass drink bottles into our "at home" water bottles. The glass is easy to stick in the DW after a couple uses so they're easier to keep clean. We have a whole shelf in our fridge just for all our glass water bottles!! (Our kids use them too).

And I LOVE these plastic ones from Costco. There is no lid to unscrew, you can just pull the trigger and the spout opens and you drink! It doesn't leak (which other water bottles I bought have) and it has a clip on it. Total winner for us. We bought two packs of them (3 come in a pack) so we can always have one ready to grab and my hubby keeps one in his car and one at work.

Meet Gloria.... Gloria is my purse! Yes, I name my purses... mostly because I started once with my kids and now whenever I get a new purse they require me to name it. It makes it easy to ask them to "get Gloria for me", or "hold on to Gloria please".

Anyway... I picked Gloria out at Fred Meyer when I was shopping with a friend. I was going to pick a pink version of this purse, but my friend (who knew about my upcoming lifestyle change) said I should pick orange because it's "NEW" like the NEW ME I am creating! I LOVE that!! And the orange made it look glorious (thus she became Gloria).

And I was THRILLED to see how my water bottle fit in Gloria's pocket... the clip perfectly at the right size to snap into the o-ring of the handle. Sweetness! I makes it SO easy to take my water everywhere!! (Now, I can be cool too!)

I want to end this post with just a quick SHOUT OUT for my coach! My hubby's medifast order got damaged on it's route to our house and thus his food shipment was put off for another week. We were running out of bars. When I told this to my SUPER COOL and FABULOUS coach, she immediately ran over some boxes of bars from her own food supply! That meant SO much to us. She also gives me so many food ideas and is just SO positive. Besides the fact that she is my coach, she is also the kindest friend who is so encouraging and generous! I feel SO THANKFUL that I saw her when I did (having lost her 100+ pounds) and was introduced to this program that is changing me and my husbands lives! You will always have my love and admiration, Latrease!!!

Hitting a MILESTONE

We hit a MILESTONE for our WEEK 4.

I lost 3 pounds for a total of 21 pounds lost!

My hubby lost 5 pounds for a total of 22 pounds lost!

We both have reached the milestone of losing 20 pounds!! This is where I usually stop losing or end up slowly fizzling out of my lifestyle change, or cheating and rationalizing that I'm not... BUT NOT THIS TIME - I'm just getting started baby!

Today was awesome because my husband was able to wear a jacket that didn't fit him before. He's been wearing this fleece vest for a warmth the last two winters because he outgrew all his coats and jackets. He also commented to me that it's much easier to tie his shoes. He used to have to hold his breath and lunge for it with gusto even get to his laces. Makes me realize how much we can take for granted. I wore a skirt today and it did seem a little loser around the waist. Hmmm... I could get used to this. I feel much better than I have but I am anxious to feel more thinner and to see some more noticeable differences in my appearance.

("Patience..." I tell myself).

I LOVE that I have a coach who has a sincere interest in my success. This is the BEST program for me.

Here is one of my lean and greens this week. It's the pre-cooked beef strips from Costco with... (act surprised now) sauteed peppers and mushrooms! So yummy. No, those are NOT real olives, just part of the plates decorations.

Tonight we tried a totally new L&G. I browned a pound of lean ground turkey and added some taco seasoning (watching the carbs), and 1/2 cup of canned tomatoes and let it simmer. Then I portioned out about 4 ounces (instead of 6) and then I put it on a couple lettuce leafs like so.

Then I added 2 ounces of low fat CHEESE!!

(cheese counts as the rest of my protein)

Then I topped it with some tomatoes and peppers and VOILA!!

My hubby ate it with a fork but I rolled them up like tacos. They were SOOO good. I think we'll have this again tomorrow.

My message for this week is:

BE STRONG and think of the END RESULT!!