Brown-Rice bowl with Shrimp, Snow Peas, and Avocado

I'm always looking for great healthy dinner recipes and so I decided I'd share one of mine, mainly because Jessie commented on my post from two night ago asking for the recipe. And I'm only happy to share it because not only is it so easy to make, it's absolutely delicious!!
Ingredients:

• 1 cup long grain brown rice (not pictured)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 TBS rice vinegar
• 2 tsp light brown sugar
• 1 tbs oil
• 1 pound peeled, deveined shrimp
• 1/2 lb snow peas, trimmed & halved
• 1 piece fresh finger, peeled & cut into matchsticks
• 1 Haas Avocado, pitted & cut into chunks (not pictured)

1. Cook the rice
2. in a small bowl stir together the soy sauce, lemon juice, vinegar, & sugar until sugar is dissolved. Set it aside
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add shrimp, snow peas, & ginger; season with salt & pepper. Cook until shrimp is opaque throughout & snow peas are bright green 2-3 minutes.

4. Divide rice among four bowls. Top with shrimp mixture & avocado... Voila!!

ENJOY!!

I Made It

Yes it was a difficult day but I'm SO extremely proud of myself!! I did NOT want to work out but I knew how important it was to do today because I would be out drinking with friends. My goal was to do an hour on the elliptical & some strength training. I got on the elliptical and dreaded every second I was on it but I kept telling myself, just 5 more minutes, just 5 more minutes and before I knew it I got through an hour. That motivated me to get the strength training done too.

I also knew I needed a dinner waiting for me when I got home from drinking so I had prepared Salsa Chicken Breast in the crock pot. Very simple to make. All you need is a jar of Salsa, Chicken Breast & a Crock Pot Put the chicken breast in the Crock Pot & pour the salsa over it cover and cook it on low for 6 hours & right before you take it out top it with cheese, let it meltand voila... dinner is served with some brown rice So delicious!!

All in all I had a pretty good day! Only ended up having 3 beers like I planned which is a huge success in itself. Usually I'm drinking 7 or 8 and eating anything and everything in sight. My only tiny weakness today was this

but it's all good because it was a mini bar only about 50 calories or so!

Thanks for reading & all the support!

I Stayed Within My Calories But...

Today was one of those terrible days where absolutely nothing went right. One thing led to another and so on... Now usually, days like this would lead me to an eating frenzy where I would eat anything and everything in the house. But today because I've started on this new path of no yo yoing and reporting everything I do on here, I actually stayed within my allotted calories!!

Now just because I stayed within my calories doesn't mean I was healthy about it. My diet today pretty much consisted of
and
I had two of the soups. One for breakfast and one for lunch. Then some frozen pizza, chips & ice cream round out my day. And I didn't even get a workout in : (

Tomorrow will also be a real test. I will be out drinking with some of my girlfriends and I usually always end up drinking & eating too much. I need to stick to drinking only 2 or 3 beers & have something healthy waiting for me at home. I also need to get an hour on the elliptical before I go out.

Yummay Day

Looks like I made it through another successful day. Hopefully I can hang on for the rest of the evening without snacking. I'm usually like to munch on something while watching TV in the evenings but I can't today. Don't have any extra calories to use and I want to stick with my plan. Which means Dancing With The Stars will be watched snack-free

My workout for today was harder than I anticipated. I simply did NOT want to do it but I forced myself and felt better for it. Believe it or not it was the thought of me confessing on the blog that got me off the couch. I did the elliptical for 45 minutes... yeah me!!! My only weakness came around 3pm when I was craving something unhealthy and I ate this

Caramel popcorn I bought from the boy scouts the other day. So delicious!! Luckily I portioned them to 100 calorie size. This is a big step in the right direction. Usually I would've eaten the entire package. One of these days the girl and boy scouts will start selling something healthy.

For dinner I had Brown-Rice bowl with shrimp, snow peas and avocado!! So delicious!!!! Yummmay!!

Looks good doesn't it??

I'm surprised at how much blogging helps me stay on track. I can see how some of you get addicted to it. I hope to keep it up. Please feel free to comment & give suggestions on anything & everything :)

Feel extremely motivated

Had an amazing day yesterday. Got on the Elliptical and worked out for 45 minutes while listening to some great music. I have an Elliptical and Treadmill at home so I have absolutely NO excuse to skip a workout. I also ate really well and stayed within my calories. Isn't it amazing how you wake up feeling good and motivated when you did everything right the day before? I wish I could capture that feeling and remember it during a moment of weakness.

Today's been great so far. My grocery shopping has been finished and the house is stocked full of healthy foods. My favorite get is this 100 calories Arnold Select Sandwich Thins

I've already used it for breakfast and lunch. My other favorite get is Crush Diet soda. I know soda's not all that great for me but it's my one guilty pleasure. I'm surprised though, usually diet soda has 0 calories but this Crush Diet soda has 25 calories and 5 grams of sugar... boo!! But it's all good, I won't drink too many of them in one day

Still haven't worked out yet! Plan on doing 45 minutes on the elliptical again!! Will blog some more tonight after dinner and let you know if I'm stayed on plan and had another successful day!!

Rock Bottom

I've decided it's time to start a blog about my weight loss journey. At my lowest I was 102 lbs back in 2006 and now I weight in at 142 or 143. Don't really know because I've actually been scared to step on the scale. Not that being 142 instead of 143 makes a difference. And I guess I should explain I'm only 5 feet so my healthy weight is anywhere from 100-125 lbs. I've been trying to lose weight for as long as I can remember, jumping from one fad diet to another. It's time to put a stop to all the yo yoing in my life and stick to a healthy, slow but steady eating and workout regimen. I need to forget the quick fixes and realize weight loss is a long and slow process. It's all about consistency.

You may be wondering what my plan is. Well it's really quite simple. I'm going to track my calories... every single thing that goes in my mouth will be tracked on an Excel spreadsheet. I will also start this week by doing 6 hours of cardio. Which means I will work out 1 hour per day for 6 weeks taking 1 day off to rest. I know this seems like an huge, unrealistic goal but I'm certain I can do it. I have all the time in the world & it's not like exercise is new to me. I used to be a fitness manager at a gym for crying out loud. I used to teach up to 3 exercise classes a day & not sweat it. So I know I can do this. I used to be in incredible shape and I want to get there again.

I also want to fit into my clothes again. My wake up call was when my 'fat' jeans got a tear in the middle thigh area because of my thighs rubbing together. Makes me sad just thinking about it. I need to get new clothes but I refuse to because I know I can lose the weight. I have tons of clothes from my skinny days that I'm hoping to get back into. I think 6 months is a realistic time frame to get back to a healthy weight. What do you think? Should I break down and get new clothes?

Any support it appreciated... thanks for reading and I hope you follow me on this journey