Shedding the PoundsThree friends on a path to lose weight!

This weekend I decided to start the southbeach diet. I needed something to help me get rid of all these cravings for sugar and junk food. Basically the diet has three phases. The first phase lasts two weeks and eliminates bread, potatoes, fruits, sugars, and other high carb, high sugar foods. In two days I’ve lost 4 pounds and I feel really good. I’m hoping that using this diet I will be able to control my cravings for donuts, muffins, biscuits, etc and learn to eat foods with good carbs and eat healthier.

I also started a new job recently so I haven’t been able to exercise as much I was before. So it’s going to take some time for me to get used to my busy schedule and figure out better things to eat and hopefully I’ll keep seeing the weight go down.

YAY!!!! 42 pounds lost!!  I figured I am a quarter of the way to my weight loss goal.  Yay me!!  I went down 2 pant sized and am now in 22’s.  I had been in 26’s since high school, so well over 10 years.  This is the smallest I’ve been in over a decade.  Feels good.

I recently discovered hummus and decided to make a wrap with it and it turned out so good! I like to buy the Mission Garden Spinach Herb tortillas, I get them from Walmart, and they have different varieties but I’ve found the spinach one to be the best. I also like to buy the Sabra brand of hummus, the garlic one is my favorite, but the classic one works well on this wrap too.

Garden Spinach Chicken Wrap
1 Mission Garden Spinach Herb tortilla
1 small boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 medium lettuce leaf
4-5 spinach leaves
3 slices of tomato
3 slices of red onion
2 tablespoons of hummus
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Sprinkle of Cookies seasoning or other seasoning desired

Cut the chicken breast into thin strips. Heat a small frying pan with the olive oil and place chicken breast strips in the pan to cook. Sprinkle desired seasoning on the chicken and continue cooking and turning the chicken until cooked all the way through. Lay chicken strips on a paper towel to dry and cool a bit. Warm up the tortilla in the microwave for 30 seconds to become pliable. Lay tortilla on a plate and spread hummus on it. Place lettuce, chicken strips, spinach leaves, tomato slices, and onion slices on the tortilla. Fold two opposite ends over about an inch and then starting from one of the unfolded ends, roll the tortilla tightly into a wrap. Enjoy!

Serving Size: 1 wrap
Calories: 357
Fat: 8g
Sodium: 742mg
Carbs: 47g
Fiber: 6g
Sugars: 2g
Protein: 23.5g

I bought the new Hungry Girl 1-2-3 cookbook the other day and last night tried this recipe for chicken taquitos and they were so yummy! The recipe called for canned chicken but I substituted fresh cooked chicken breast because I don’t care for the canned version.

Hungry Girl Exploding Chicken Taquitos
8 small corn tortillas
1 small boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked
1/2 cup salsa
1/3 cup shredded fat free cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp dry taco seasoning mix
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the chicken and salsa and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Remove chicken mixture from the fridge. Add cheese and taco seasoning and mix to combine.

Dampen two paper towels and place tortillas between them. Microwave for about a minute until tortillas are warm and pliable.

Take one tortilla and spray both sides with cooking spray. Spoon about 2 heaping tablespoons of chicken filling onto tortilla. Spread evenly across tortilla and roll tortilla up tightly, securing with toothpicks and place seam-side down on a greased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.

Bake for 14-16 minutes until crispy. If desired, you can use enchilada sauce, salsa, or sour cream to dip them in.

Serving Size: 2 taquitos
Calories: 197
Fat: 2.5g
Sodium: 594mg
Carbs: 22.5g
Fiber: 3g
Sugars: 2g
Protein: 20.5g

Wow it’s been so long since I’ve posted here. Been chugging along slowly, the weight loss has been minimal but I’m confident I can keep with it. This isn’t just a diet where I’m wanting to lose a lot of weight quickly, this is a lifestyle change for me. A huge part of it is a learning process. Learning different ways to exercise, learning about nutrition and how to eat properly, and learning what works for me. I don’t just want to lose weight, I want to learn to live healthy and continue to be healthy for the rest of my life. So for the ELWC I haven’t lost a ton of weight like I initially planned to, but I’ve lost some weight and inches, and I’ve gone down three sizes in clothing! I’m now down to a size 18 and it feels so great! The other day I had put on a pair of jeans and throughout the day kept wondering why they were loose and baggy and later when I took them off I realized they were a size 20 lol. So I gathered up all of my 20s & 22s and put them in the back of my closet so I don’t make that same mistake again.

I want to try to liven up this blog a bit and post more, so I’m going to be posting tips and recipes and other things I find along the way. Hopefully they’ll help anyone else trying to lose weight and become healthier.