A post every six months???

Okay, so it's been six tiny months since I last posted- who really cares? Nobody reads this AND nobody knows about it so does it really matter that it's once in every six moons that I post? Nope.

So I'm dieting... I haven't really shared this with anyone, which is surprising. Normally I'm a sharer of everything that goes through my mind- which very well might be why I've come here to share: I can't share with every person I come into contact with, so why not send it out into the big world for some stranger to read that accidentally stumbled on this. This blog with such an awesome name... nevermind. So... right now "Inspiration for the Belly" is even MORE meaningful.

We started this 'diet' on Monday, May 23. I wasn't real hot on the idea, but Josh really wanted to and while I absolutely DID NOT want to stop eating every.single.thing.I.like I did want to fit into my pants better. (For example, I didn't want to NEED to take off my jeans as soon as I stepped foot into my home.) So we started with Slim Fast, which by the way.... not much "Inspiration for the belly".... ew. I lasted through that for one WHOLE meal, and then decided to move to calorie counting again- using Spark People again- and feeling sorry for myself.... again. :/ I hate dieting. I hate thinking about food constantly: what I'm going to eat, what I'd like to eat, what I would be eating if I weren't dieting, what skinny people can eat, how happy of a person I am being a fat person... etc. Pity Party City.

Guess what though! I'm doing GOOD! I have funky goals this time, and maybe that is part of it? I don't know... but while I think it would be super duper awesome to not have jiggly rolls, and not wish I didn't have the growth thingy that can't even be called a muffin top because it's more like a jelly roll sticking outside of my muffin holder.... it's disgusting is what it is. Anyway... I would love to not have that going on but I'm much happier thinking about not dieting for the rest of my life to get there, so I like to focus on my first goal... fitting into my huge sized jeans. After that is losing enough weight to be under a certain VERY LARGE poundage before our trip to Maui. It's still extremely overweight, but hey... it's something I haven't been since before I had the girl child and I would feel DANG good about myself if I reached it. After that, my goal is to be of a *decent* size for my 10 year reunion. My goal weight? No, but smaller than I am right now, smaller than what I will be in Hawaii, and just MAYBE somewhere near my goal weight. Ugh.... it seems like that will be a miserable life though....... I can't even imagine being someone that can notice a wrong turn on calories after only ONE day. That would take well, nevermind. First goal: fit into my humongous pants! :D

So, what does a humongous-sized pants wearer eat when they are dieting? Smaller amounts of their most favorite foods of course. Except Muddy Buddies. Those are prohibited. I've been drinking Coke, and coffee, eating potato chips, and ummmm, okay, so thats it for not-friendly-to-your-jelly-roll-losing-diet foods, but normally I give those types of things up completely. Just like every other time I'm hoping that this is the real thing... that I truly WILL lose the weight I want to lose, and start a new life on May 23, 2011. I feel different this time, different than ever before, but I keep reminding myself that I've felt different before, and it STILL didn't get me into the weight range I would like. Anyway, this time I'm not thinking of it as it's fine, I'm thinking of it as a necessary torture. I am NOT someone who thinks that torture is EVER okay-for the record- but when you're inflicting it on yourself to be a healthier you, then it's okay in my book. ;) I'm one of those people that likes to get sympathy, so saying that I'm being tortured is my lame way of trying to get it.

Soooooooo, on with the actual food. Sorry about all the jabbering- remember when I told you I hadn't shared this with the normal people I would share it with? Well... gotta ramble on and on and on and on and on to someone... sorry it's you, stranger who stumbled on my blog.

Tacos. I love them. I love them so much! Mmmmmm. I like them in the form of:

tostadas,
salad,
actual tacos with shells,
nachos,
burritos,
omelettes,
dip
soup
baked potatoes

.... as soon as I think of other ways for tacos, I will like them that way too. So far, it seems like a fair dinner and/or lunch choice when it comes to calories. The beef I buy is only 10% fat, so 4 ounces is still so small amount of calories for how filling it is that it's just an amazing choice, if I do say so myself. Avocado is my most favorite food second only to mangos, so they go perfect with my favorite dinner and or lunch... you see what I'm getting at? I like to eat 1/2 an avocado at dinner time with whatever my choice of taco is for the night. One night we did taco omelettes and they were amazingly low in calories:

Taco Omelette:

1 whole egg, 2 egg whites
sauteed bell pepper and onion
1/2 avocado
5 chopped grape tomatoes
1/2 green onion
tapatio
cheese

I could have actually gone without the cheese and would have saved myself about 90 calories. I'm definitely taking that route tomorrow! I might make me a smaller version of this for breakfast.... hm. (We're going on a hike tomorrow where I plan on burning 1000 calories, so it would be good to have a hearty breakfast.) Mmmmm! Tonight we had the same thing, minus the eggs, minus the cheese, adding sour cream, green taco sauce and smushed up Tapatio Doritos for a Taco salad. Forgot to add that to my list. Gonna add it now. :)

I think the only thing I like more than taco something for lunch is chicken sandwich. Mmmmm. I found these ridiculous bagels that are only 1/2 of the bagel, 110 calories, and "Everything" flavored. Sooooo good when talking about other diet-friendly breads. I like the oniony flavor at lunch time. Anyway I pile romaine lettuce on them and chop up chicken, put the scantest amount of mayo I can get on without feeling guilty for not counting it in my calorie tracker and then some Janes Crazy Mixed Up Salt. That's the only way you can have a chicken sandwich.... thank you very much Grandma Kathryn for that yummy lesson! :D Of course, I'd prefer a little more mayo, and it to be on WHITE bread, but whatever. Funny.... I think that's the only sandwich I'd prefer on white bread.

Today we had egg salad sandwiches on these terrible 100 calorie diet breads that Josh thought were "good" but I thought were like cardboard. Yuck-y! It's my plan to use romaine lettuce as my bread from this point on unless I can find the ridiculous half bagel things again. Those were "good".

Okay... I guess I was going to save the best news for last. I checked my weight on Thursday morning and I had lost a total of 7 pounds already. I think this can be attributed to my new lower amounts of coffee in the am, with less soda, and more water. And of course the DRASTIC change in my calorie intake. I don't expect to ever lose this much again in one week, unless I get the stomach flu, but I'm happy it happened, and welcome it anytime it wants to visit me again. :D It was extremely motivational, and JUST what I needed to keep up the torture. Maybe I'll see you again in 6 months?

Loving the Vegetable ___

Alright, so I'm really bored on winter break from school, and since I'm feeling obligated to at least cook dinner for my wonderful husband who works A LOT I thought that the two could go together, and I could create a blog about what I'm cooking.

This isn't the first time I've cooked, I enjoy cooking, and I think of myself as a good cook. Chef? No. Foodie? No. Great cook? Uh, I'm afraid to sound too full of myself, and have far too many flops. Good cook it is. :)

So, last night I made vegetable soup. Inspiring, yes? No, not really, but I'm proud of myself nonetheless because it was dinner, it was something that my kids like (or so I thought) and it wasn't Macaroni and Cheese, Pizza or eating out. The kids didn't like it, so that was a flop, but I can't be sure that they actually tried it either. If you ask me, it was just a little chunkier than the junk I buy in the can for them. (That by the way- I feel very guilty for feeding them, but they like it, and it's easy.... what more can I say?) Oh, and I was proud of this meal because we had everything in our fridge for it and it's not a meal that I planned for. Oh! And I *thought* we had nothing in the house to eat. ;)

Okay, so the vegetable soup, that was very generic, but super yummy for lunch today with some saltines....

Large can of diced tomatoes
1/2 can water
can of green beans, drained
some baby carrots chopped
2 stalks of celery
1 large white onion
1 can drained, rinsed light red kidney beans
3 bouillion cubes... what kind? I don't have a clue... maybe chicken?
salt and pepper

While I was making the above generic vegetable soup, Josh came in and looked at what I was stirring and asked what was for dinner. I joked and said, "Lasagna, what does it look like? Vegetable soup." He reminded me that the last time that I made lasagna, the sauce looked similar. In my defense, I would NEVER put green beans in lasagna, but in his, that sauce WAS soupy and WAS filled with vegis. And was SOOOOOO good!

So guess what we're having tonight!

Vegetable Lasagna, or so that was the plan. Now I'm thinking more along the lines of vegetable spaghetti, but I haven't decided for sure. Well, lasagna is out of the question because all I have is manicotti noodles.... which just isn't an option. (I've known this all day but just realized what a manicotti noodle looks like) Okay, so that's answered.... vegetable spaghetti it is. :) So, as I was making the sauce today I was wondering if I had forgotten anything.... one more reason to start a food blog. :D

Vegetable Lasagna/Spaghetti Sauce

1 large can tomato sauce
1 white onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt & pepper to taste
italian seasoning....??? no clue how much
chopped carrots
chopped cauliflower (broccoli is REALLY good, not sure about the cauliflower)
chopped spinach, drained

My plan is to continue with this saving recipe thing because there are far too many things that I've altogether forgotten I've ever made until a smart-allicky comment from my husband. :)