May's Challenges

Alrighty, like I said with the last post.. Each month I'm going to lay out 3 'Challenges' for myself, coming from my 3 key areas of self-improvement: Mental, Physical, and Dietary. Yes dietary is kind of physical, but I'll do whatever I want, so there! :) They say if you do the same thing for 30 days straight it's likely to become habit.. so I figure my challenges well hopefully develop into new healthy habits by the end of each month. Now I know I wont be perfect, and honestly I can't handle the possible on-coming mental breakdown due to possible failure.. Hence why just 3 challenges a month.. baby steps. So.. Let's get it started!!

MAY CHALLENGES

Mental: 

The Challenge

I challenge myself to take all of my prescriptions 100% of time. 

I know this doesn't sound like a 'mental' one but I am on an anti-depressant as well, so it counts. I am horrible horrible horrible about taking meds regularly. I don't know why but I am.. And I was such a hypocrite to Matt because he too was horrible at remember to take ALLLLL his meds and I'd yell and yell at him for it. 

The Plan

I have daily pill caddys for both my AM and PM meds. I will keep these filled when they run out by refilling Sunday nights. 

Physical:

The Challenge

I challenge myself to take a walk every day, weather permitting. 

Nothing big, nothing major. 20 minutes, 45 minutes, whatever I can do. Just get out there and walk.. Not only will this be good for me, but Javion get's to ride his bike and the dog gets walked. Bubby needs an outlet for her energy and Javion absolutely loves riding his bike and spending time outside. I am teaching him and setting a good example as well. 

The Plan

Integrating a walk into our usual routine, in place of TV time. Typically we get home around 5, eat supper, and watch TV until 8:30. We will from now on go on a walk after supper Monday-Friday. Weekends we will try to get our walks in more in the morning times if possible. I will track these walks using a tracker on my phone and post to the best of my ability. 

Dietary:

The Challenge

I challenge myself to drink half my body weight in ounces of water, on a daily basis.

So here it is.. I've gained it all back and I'm back to 255lbs, Gosh that really sucked to type. But yes, sad but true I've regressed terribly. Getting back on topic, that means I will need to drink 128 ounces of water a day, which so happens to be exactly one gallon. By doing this I hope to make less room for pop, and of course all the other health benefits of drinking water. 

The Plan

I will measure and track all water drank. This will only count as plain water, or water infused/flavored with natural fruit. I will track my water consumption with a tracker on my phone and post to the best of my ability.

Change makes change

So, with all this clean eating there has been a lot of change in my house. My fridge is full of fruits and veggies and there isn't much junk food to be found. Obviously this has made a change in my son's live as well - but I never would have guess how well he'd take it. Just like with weight watchers, I've told Javion if he wants a snack he's always allowed to have a healthy snack. My crisper drawer (which is TOTALLY accessable to this 4 year old) is full of grapes, oranges, apples and carrots. And the tupperware of watermelon is within reach as well. All my son ever asks me for now is 'healthy snacks'. We're fighting over the watermelon when I get us a bowl full. He ate a bag of grapes in the span of 2 days. It's amazing! Also our fridge has that water in the door deal. and now all he drinks is water! Because he can get it himself.

Today he just warmed my heart.. as I was getting ready for work he came and asked what I was doing. I told him I was getting all my healthy snacks ready for work.. He then asked me fore baggie and he fixed himself a ziplock bag full of grapes and carrots to take the babysitter, for his healthy snack. "Mom see! Now you have YOUR healthy snack you take to work, and I have MY healthy snack I take to the babysitter!". 

It makes me feel like such a good Mom knowing I'm becoming a positive roll model for my son. I used to think all he wanted to do was munch on chips all day - but now I realize - He just wants to do what I'm doing. I could sit down and eat a family sized bag of chips in one sitting, no problem! And now we're fighting over watermelon and grapes. It feels SO GOOD to eat healthy and know that I'm doing whats best for our bodies. Looking forward to weigh in day!

Zucchini Lasanga

So, on the hunt for low carb food, aaand still have a massive amount of zucchini to get rid of. Pinterest has been amazing, and I've found many recipes that substitute pasta for zucchini! So tonight I made zucchini lasagna.. and to my AMAZEMENT it was only 3 Points+ a serving. 3!!! Insane! Now as you'll see in the recipe, there isn't much cheese. I'm really not a cheese-lover as I'm lactose intolerant.. so I don't miss it much. However you can add more, just mind, it will be more points! I had my bff over tonight and we both had one serving thinking we'd be back for more, but we were stuffed! Granted we also served it with some garlic bread that I made using light low-fat English muffins, which ended up being 4 points+ each, which was well worth it!

Now, I used a mandolin to slice my zucchini. Also the zucchini that I have are HUGE.. and I feel like the centers are way too soft and seedy - I just don't like that texture. So I scooped them out and sliced only  the hard fleshy parts. Also you'll notice I did half and half on the cheese. Really, that's all the cheese I had in the house... haha! I'm not sure if it would have been less point value to use all fat free, but it was good regardless.. and I mean.. it's 3 points! COME ON! When you make it, it doesn't seem 'wet' enough. But salting the zucchini help it to release it's water content and creates more liquid while cooking.

Zucchini Lasagna
12 Servings  3 Points+ each

 

• 1 Large Zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1lb ground turkey
• 4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 TB minced garlic
• 1/2 cup pasta sauce
• 1 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup fat free mozzarella cheese
• 3 TB graded Parmesan Cheese
• 2 tsp Italian seasonings
• Salt and Pepper

Brown turkey meat in large skillet. Once browned, add tomatoes, garlic and Italian seasonings. Allow to cook until tomatoes are cooked down. Add pasta sauce and take off of heat. Lay down first layer of zucchini in a casserole dish and lightly salt and pepper. Add 1/3 of the meat/sauce mixture. Top with 1/3 of the mozzarella cheeses, and sprinkle with 1TB of Parmesan cheese. Add next layer of zucchini, and season with salt and pepper. Repeat layer. Add last layer of zucchini and repeat the process. Bake, covered with aluminum foil, at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15. Let cool a bit before cutting and serving.

Chinese Fix..

I love Chinese food. I could eat it every single day. Garlic Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Fried Rice, Crab Ragoons.. I love them ALL. Well we all know how unhealthy take-out it! I've been looking up some recipes and experimenting on my own. Tonight I made some pretty tasty Orange Chicken. The original recipe said it was only 4 points+ a recipe, but mine didn't go quite that low. The recipe called for cornstarch, but I was out and subbed flour. If you have cornstarch, use that instead! Makes a much glossier and better textured sauce. I also added zucchini and green onions which seemed to increase the point value, which I'm okay with! I served with brown rice. I also promise to start taking better food pictures.. haha!

Skinny Orange Chicken

Serves 5 - 6 WW Points+ per serving

 

• 1.5lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small pieces
• 2 cups zucchini, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup of orange juice (I use Trop50)
• 2TB honey
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 4 TB flour (or 3TB cornstarch)
• 1 TB orange zest
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 2 mandarin oranges

    Saute chicken in a non-stick pan, stirring occasionally. Once chicken is browned, add zucchini and place lid on pan to allow to steam. Continue stirring occasionally. Mix rest of ingredients besides onions and oranges in a pot. Place on medium heat and allow to thicken, stirring occasionally. Once sauce is thickened add to the chicken and zucchini. Add onions and oranges. Serve with brown rice. 

 

 

Ashley's Zucchini Casserole

     I've recently come into the possession of a LARGE amount of LARGE zucchini.. So starting to try to come up with some healthy things to make! Tonight I literally threw together some random things I had lying around that I thought sounded good and went with it. The results were DELICIOUS! And filling! And its THREE Weight watchers points a serving. THREE!! The whole casserole was 11 but I was full after only eating a quarter of it.

Ashley's Zucchini Casserole

Serves 4. 3 WW Points+ per serving

• 1 large zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1 can stewed tomatoes
• 4oz cooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, shredded
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese
• seasoning salt

       


 Layer zucchini at the bottom of a small casserole dish. Sprinkle with seasoning salt. top with a third of the tomatoes, a third of the chicken, and a third of the cheese. Add second layer of zucchini and repeat the process. Top with the last layer of zucchini, tomatoes, chicken and cheese. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.