Good, Good, Good, Good, BAD! It's like Duck Duck Goose only not as fun...grrrr!

I do so well.  Then I screw up!  Sound familiar?  I know I'm not alone.  I know this happens to everyone on similar journeys.  But it's still so frustrating!

I'll stay on plan for days...many days...then BOOM!  I take a flying leap off the wagon!  Sometimes it's emotional or stress-induced.  Sometimes it's a temptation I just couldn't resist.  Sometimes I seriously think I just say "to heck with it all!" and I eat the chocolate bar, forgo the 5 am workout for extra sleep, and chase down my misery with some chips.

It's really quite pathetic.  Because even as I'm opening the 3 Muskateers bar, which I erroneously convince myself is a healthier option than other candy bars as I am a sucker for all advertising campaigns, I know I'll regret eating it.  I know I'll feel guilty.  I know I'll be so angry with myself when I step on the scale and my weight is up or at best, not down.  

But I convince myself that I don't care.  I want chocolate.  I guess sometimes I want that immediate gratification even more than I want my ultimate happiness.  So apparently I value chocolate more than me.   Am I the only one???

The bright side is this...I now stop there.  I have that bad day and then I go back to Good Tara the next.  I guess that's all part of life, right?  I mean sometimes I seriously NEED chocolate, or ice cream, or salt and vinegar chips.  If I deny myself these things forever...not only would I be miserable but so would every person who ever comes in contact with me!

I've been under a lot of stress lately.  A lot!  Exercise helps me tremendously.  Staying with my eating plan does too.  But maybe I need an occasional "the heck with it" day to keep myself grounded.  Maybe we all do.

Here's a yummy, protein-packed recipe that's great for quick breakfasts:

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray muffin tins with cooking spray.  Fill 2/3 full with scrambled eggs, liquid egg whites, veggies, and a sprinkle of reduced fat cheese.  You could also add crumbled turkey sausage, chopped turkey bacon, or even line the tin with the bacon and add a whole egg!

Bake for about 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Each egg muffin is approximately 1 ppv if veggie and 1.5 ppv if it has meat.  The bacon wrapped whole egg version would be 2.5 ppv.

Allow them to cool and portion it baggies to grab from the fridge, heat up or add to a whole grain English muffin!  Yummmmm!

And another favorite, protein-packed goodie...

Chocolate Banana Smoothie:

In a blender, mix 1 ripened banana, 3/4 cup on unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 cup of nonfat plain Greek yogurt, 2 T of unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 t vanilla extract, 1 T Splenda or sugar (optional), and 15 ice cubes.

Enjoy!!! 2 ppv!!!!  Like a Frosty, without the guilt...

But if you're having a "the heck with it day", tell the guilt to shut it's mouth.  We all have bad days...just aim for more good ones!!

Send me your ideas!

You all know I'm a HUGE fan of Weight Watchers.  It's so doable!

You also know I had GREAT success with the Advocare 24 Day Challenge and that I think it's a phenomenal plateau-breaker and kick start to a healthy lifestyle.

I've tried some pretty crazy diets, pills, potions and plans in the past.  There are sooooooooo many out there!  It's a multi-million dollar industry for a reason.  So many of us are hoping, praying, dreaming that one day someone will just tell us that eating ice cream will make us skinny!  Lol!  Not gonna happen folks!

BUT...what if there are things that work...even if they are only temporary or a kick start or the boost you need.  What if it's enough to get you back in those jeans.  You know, the ones you claim " the dryer shrunk" that you have to lie on your bed, hold your breath, and use pliers to button!

What if one of these things worked?

What if someone, like yours truly, tried them and could review them for you?

What do YOU want to know about?  What have YOU seen or heard of and were wondering if it would work?

I'd like to try out some of these ideas, plans, products, programs etc.  I'll give them my all and let you know what I honestly think.

Soooo....what would you like to see reviewed?

Here is a very basic and quickly (as I type) brainstormed list:

-Special K diet...u know, eat cereal

and other Special K products 2 meals a day and lose...

-Clean Eating by Tosca Reno (body builder lady)

-Dukan Diet (French Doctor who likes meat but not as much as Atkins, lol)

-Body shrinking wraps (It Works is one product.  They claim to cause you to lose inches in hours...I've read some positive reviews and actually know a person or two who have tried this...wondering if "It" really "Works"!

-Beachbody/Shakeology

-running...should I, could I run enough to lose and or see a difference?  Run Forest Run!!!

-Ali...that would be a big one...this pill has some people running to the bathroom from what I've heard.  But I don't typically have much GI involvement do maybe I'd be alright...

-What else???  What are you wondering about?

Comment here or on Facebook!!!  Let me know what you think or would love to see.  It could be eye opening...and hysterical!

PS---I added a few Advocare products back into my plan.  I'm tracking my progress and will give you an update after 2 solid weeks.  But...so far so good!

If anyone wants more info on Advocare, you know where to find me :-)

Hello friend, it's been a while!!!

The above title could apply to the fact that I haven't posted in over 2 weeks or it could apply to THIS...

Can you read that through the dust on my scale?  Can you see those numbers? Never mind the fact that I should clean more.  If you can't see it...that first number is a 1!!!  Not a 2, nope-definitely not a 2!!!  That reads 199.4!!!

Hello 100's!!!!!!! 

So I'm saying hello to a very old friend, haven't hung out with the 100's in about 23 years!!!  It sure has been a while.  NOW DON'T GO ANYWHERE!!!

I'm thrilled that I'm there.  But I'm still not done.  There's a lot more healthiness and work to come.  I'm not safe in ANY way. One of my kids could eat a French fry and I'll gain the half poundthat'd put me back in the 2's.  Lol!

I'm shooting for around 15 more pounds.  That should keep me safe :-).  I still love food.  I still love to cook and bake and eat and drink ;-)!  I still need "cheat nights" and vacations.  So I still need to lose.  

I truly am thrilled with how far I've come.  Especially when I think back to my 300+ days.  I could stay this size forever and be happy.  I'm eating right...and still eating well.  I'm hitting the gym 4-5 mornings a week.  But not overdoing it.  I use the elliptical.  I use the machines.  I push myself but I'm not a crazy muscle head or neurotic fitness wacko!  I don't have time for that!!

So what do I do at the gym?  Here's a typical 5 day week...

M-W-F: I use my Couch to 5K app (This is about 30-35 minutes of alternating walking and jogging.  It gradually increases the jogging times, getting you to a full 5K in just 9 weeks.  You follow it just 3 days a week.  It starts off very slowly.  Im in week 6 now.)  I do this on the elliptical.  I'm not a fan of running outdoors yet.  Treadmills bore me and you tend to burn more calories on an elliptical so I figure it's got to be better overall.

I then use approximately 10 machines at Planet Fitness.  5 are for my arms...their jiggle alone should count as cardio ;-)! I alternate the others, choosing some for abs and some for legs/butt.  I typically do 2 sets of 12 and 1 set of 8 at a higher weight on each machine.  The weight you set it at should get you to exhaustion by #10-12.  At the higher weight, I'm making ugly faces by 6!!!  That's good...ugly faces mean it's working!!  Haha! 

Total time there...1 hour.

T-TH:  I set the elliptical on "Random".  That means it'll simulate hills and valleys. I've been increasing the level.  I'm up to a 10 (intensity).  I typically move at a speed of about 5.5-6.0 mph for 45 minutes.  Sometimes I go backwards for my 5 minute cool down.  I think it works my big butt a bit more.

That's it.  I take Saturday and Sunday off.  

How about eating?  Here's what yesterday looked like:

B-peanut butter and banana wrap...2T of Better than Peanut Butter, 1/2 banana, Joseph's Lavash bread wrap. (4 points+)

Snack-1 cup of blueberries, 1&1/4 cup of kix cereal, dry (3 points +)

L- 2 cups of homemade turkey sausage minestrone soup, mango pieces, raw carrots and celery, caramel rice cake

 (6 points+)

Snack- single serve bag of microwave popcorn, watermelon. (3 points +)

Snack- babybel cheese and 16 slices of turkey pepperoni (2 points +)...I snacked on this while cooking because I was STARVING!

D- Portobello Parmesan with spaghetti squash and Sneaky Simple Bolognese...recipe to follow!  (6 points+) And about 1/2 cup of the kids' regular pasta...had to taste it to make sure it wasn't too hot or poisonous!  (3 points +)

Snack- Skinny Cow Caramel Pretzel Ice Cream Bar...OMGoodness, soooo good! (4 points +)

Total: 31 points +

My target is 32.  But I typically leave a point, if I have it leftover, just in case something homemade was a smidge higher than calculated.  For example: what if my bowl of soup had a few more pieces of sausage than usual in it...etc.  Of course, had I needed that point at snack time I would've used it.  WW is flexible enough for that.  

Sneaky Simple Bolognese was a thrown together recipe.  Don't tell the kids about the veggies I sneaked in!!

After I puréed the zucchini, 2 carrots, 1 celery, 2 cups of raw spinach, 1/2 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, basil and 1 can of diced tomatoes, it looked like this...

I folded that into my crockpot with 2 large jars of Classico Tomato Basil sauce, 1/2 cup of parmesan and 1 lb of 93% lean ground beef, raw but broken up.  Cooked it on low all day...

Served it on pasta for the kids and spaghetti squash for Matt and I.  Patrick ( my 10 year old had some spaghetti squash too).  It was a hit, simple, ready when we got home.  Nice!!

Pictured above are 3 of my 4 and a friend...they weren't at all suspicious ;-)!

Here was my plate:

 To make the mushroom I just layered on some sauce and 1/4 cup of fat free shredded mozzarella and baked them at 350 for about 15 minutes.  Each mushroom was 2 points +.

Not bad, huh?

In my honest opinion, counting WW points has become a way of life for me.  It keeps me on track.  It's flexible enough to allow for slip ups, special occasions, cake, pizza, beer and wine.  That's all life.

HOWEVER...I am only down 2.5 lbs in the past 2 months since I completed the Advocare 24 Day Challenge.  I'm pretty sure I'm down 5-7 more inches.  I'll measure again tomorrow.  But that's what I noticed when I measured a couple weeks ago.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm impressed that I kept off my challenge weight and even added to that loss.  I was skeptical and wondered what would happen once I stopped all the supplements.

As I stated before, I'm thrilled to be in the 1's.  I'm ecstatic to be wearing 14s and 12s!  

BUT...can I really be at another plateau so soon?  Remember, that was why I did the challenge!  2 months of WW, staying (mostly) within my points and exercising seems like it should warrant more than 2.5 pounds....grrrrrrrr!

Sooooo, as part of my big weight loss experiment I'll move on to phase 3.  Or is it 4?  Who knows?

For this next month I plan to continue following WW plus reintroducing the 2 most popular Advocare supplements, Spark and Catalyst.  Spark was the energy boosting drink, Catalyst was the pill that allows you to maintain muscle while losing fat.  I REALLY missed my Spark so this should be easy.

These are the 2 supplements that many former challengers continue taking for added results.  I'm hoping it'll give me a little boost.  A month's time will tell I guess!!

Any suggestions for what I should try the following month?  Seriously!  I'm willing to test out just about any diet, eating plan, fitness regime...I'd even consider trying those Body Wraps that you stick on with Saran Wrap and they claim to make you lose inches!!  I'm willing to test it and review it...just suggest it!  Lol!  A FB friend is having a Body Wrap Party...wonder if I can get a discount for reviewing it here?  Stacey?  Are you reading this?  Lol!

Thanks for reading!!!!