SparkPeople can be addicting!

So I guess it's no secret with all my Facebook and Twitter posts lately, that I am back on the weight loss bandwagon. I have been eating better for over a month now (I fell off my weight loss journey at the end of summer... WHAT? Maybe I was just hibernating for the winter??? Okay so maybe I got lazy! I worked so hard the last year and have lost ALOT of weight! I have about 30 pounds more to go, and like most people, I set my goal to start my weight loss journey again at the start of this new year.

I started off with eating better and have now started working out again. I am not going to lie, it's been harder this time around. I have a major sweet tooth and it usually hits me at night. I have done good the last few nights but I can not tell you how badly I want to go to 7-11 and get one of their hot cocoa's! One of my most favorite drinks and probably packed with lots of cals!

One thing that I know from past dieting (okay dieting is the wrong word here, I like lifestyle change because I hate diet food and I am basically just eating better, eating organic and natural foods, cutting out most sugars, preservatives, etc. Eating the way we should all be eating (fast food is EVIL!!!) is that Sparkpeople really helped me stay on track with my goals. I find that if I clock in my calories for each meal or snack I tend to stay on track or within my goal for the day. Same goes for workouts, I do more when I clock it all in. It also becomes super addicting, which is a good thing because then I see results!

I have a confession to make. In the 4 1/2 months at I stopped my weight loss journey, I gained 10 pounds back. I know 10 pounds is not to bad, but it is 10 pounds I now have to work to get off. Again it's been hard!

I wanted to share with you my sparkpeople report for today to show you a little of what I do to help me get through this journey :) As you can see I stayed below some of my daily goals and went above my goals as well with both food and working out (click on them to make them bigger, if you can't see them from here).

Workouts-

Food log-

So this is what I have been doing. I change it up from day to day, but as you can see, I am trying again. I hope to get those last 30 pounds off by this summer! I would love to wear shorts and a tank top without feeling like I am going to burn people's retina's with my hideousness! I will be sharing one of my favorite morning breakfast treats in my next posts. Super easy and great for those that like to workout in the morning.

Okay I am off to watch Being Human (new syfy show that I LOVE! Has all the great supernatural stuff I love!) Nightie night!

Nikki

My French Toast and Turkey Bacon Tutorial

I was woken up this morning to my whole family in my bed asking me to make them all breakfast this morning. Being the good mommy and wifey I am, I accepted :) What's on the menu? They requested French toast and turkey bacon. I decided to take you all along for the ride...

I started off with the bacon. We pretty much only eat chicken or turkey in our house when it comes to "meat" foods; so we eat turkey bacon on the rare occasion when we do eat bacon.

I love the Jennie-O turkey products.

I add about 5 piece in the pan at a time at medium heat and flip them every two minutes or so, until they are browned. I take them off a bit early (when they move around and are not stiff like normal pig bacon.) Turkey bacon tends to burn faster if you don't take it out of the pan about 7-8 minutes after flipping it on both sides a few times.

Now moving onto the french toast. I have no idea where I picked up making french toast, but this is the way I have always done it. We buy the Texas sized bread for those really fluffy big pieces of french toast. I start off by breaking 9 eggs (9 eggs is enough to feed our family of 5, you may need more or less depending on how many people you have in your family) into my glass measuring cup (the cup makes it easier to mix everything together), I add about 1/4 of a cup of milk into it. I add one tablespoon of cinnamon and one tablespoon of sugar into the mix and stir it around. Next I pour the mix into a large pan so I can tip the bread into it (it's flat).

Next I add the bread to the mix and swoosh it around, flip it over and do the same. I then pick it up with tongs and hold it over the pan to drip a little. You want to make sure you cover the whole piece of bread.

Now I add it to the heated pan (on medium high) I cook each side for about 3 1/2 minutes, or until golden brown on each side.

I then use the tongs to pick it up and hold each side into the pan to cook all the sides and corners which still have the wet mix on it.

 When it is done cooking, just add it to your plate, add a touch more cinnamon to it, add some powdered sugar on top and you are done!

I always clean as I cook, so the mess was cleaned up a few minutes after everyone finished, so now that I have the kitchen cleaned again, it is time for me to go start the many loads of laundry I need to get done (YUCK! lol). Then I have my office to clean and Bella's room. I know boring but Sunday's are usually my BIG deep cleaning days, so I better go get back to it! Hope you are all having a great weekend!

TTYS,
Nikki

Listening to "Donell Jones"- All about the sex,  while writing this post.

So not happy...

This is me, tonight, sitting here in my office with a million things on my mind and to do before Monday, but feeling so overwhelmed with everything lately! I am finally reaching the point where I just want to run and hide, curl up in my blanket on my bed and not come out! I'm depressed! Yep, everything makes me mad or irritated. I can't find peace or a happy place. I find myself waking up in the morning just dreading the day. It's this year "2010" it has sucked so bad for our family. It started out with my FIL's funeral, this was a tough time for our whole family at the beginning of the year, and it seems from there, things just went down hill all year long. We have been struggling hard, and it seems like one thing after another kept hitting our family. I would like to say it made us stronger, but then I would not be here making this post and feeling so unhappy right now. I am tired of feeling all the pressure of what is expected of me, only to have others put me down or look down on me.

I feel like I am over looked, taken advantage of... used! When I voice my opinion to let others know how I feel, I only feel ignored in return, unseen, not there... or like I put my foot in my mouth! I just want to hide, get away from this year...

I wish I could do this for the next two weeks, until 2011 comes, maybe bringing with it a new start, a new year of better things for us. But I have my doubts, so here I sit.....

Depressed, and feeling pessimistic about this new year coming. I wear this face alot lately, I am starting to think I will forever have furrows indented into my forehead and between my eyes...

I leave you with this, so I can get back to my office, with the million things I need to get done...

Nikki

Unusual You, a Novel by Natasha Neagle

I wanted to share this Book trailer with you. A very sweet friend "Nat" wrote this amazing novel! I found Nat a little over a year and a half ago on You tube. She would do these BlogTV chats and we would all talk about a bunch of things, but one thing that stood out was how much we both loved books, most of the same ones! I soon found out that she was starting a novel. She would run things by us from time to time.

A few months back Nat read one of her first Prologue's to us in chat. This is where I fell in love with this novel! After listening to it, it left me wanting to read more of this story, I wanted to know more about the characters. You can imagine how excited and honored I was when Nat asked me to be one of her critique partners! In the last few months, I have watched this novel mold into a masterpiece! This trailer is just a little sneak peek into this amazing novel! I can not wait to see this book in print! Check it out!

Nikki

Melinda's Closet, Tuesday's clothing finds

Okay, so I lagged on getting these up, but I hope this makes up for it, if you are wondering what Melinda's Closet is, here is my post about it featuring one of my FAVE stores Mod Cloth. This weeks store is " Forever21 ". I have shopped at this store for years! LOVE it!

This was just a few of the things I loved this month at Forever21 :)

Nikki