Success Breeds Success

Weigh-in this weekend was awesome!  I'm down another 2 pounds for a total of 15.8 pounds since January 8th.  That leaves me with 64.2 pounds left to lose to hit goal.  I'm at 194.6, which is almost pre-Jamaica weight.  The morning my husband and I left for Jamaica last September, I weighed 193.  I gained 6 pounds while we were on vacation, and by Christmas had gained 20!  My next goal is to be back at pre-Jamaica weight, then after that it's my 10%, which is 189.4. 

It still amazes me how good news on the scale can give so much motivation to keep doing well.  When I have a good weigh-in, I want to stay on plan, eat the right foos, make sure I drink my water, and earn as many activity points as I can.  But when I have a bad week on the scale, it's so much easier to eat over my points and lay on the couch like a blob.  It seems to me, in the logical side of my brain at least, that it would be just the opposite.  But I'll take it.

My fantastic weigh-in yesterday gave me the motivation to go out and run today.  The August 5k training has officially started!  My mom was wonderful enough to buy me some new running shoes yesterday and I had to go try them out.  I managed to get all the way through week 1, day 1 on my C25K app.  You have no idea how excited and proud of myself I am.  Normally it takes me 2 to 3 tries before I can get all the way through day 1.  Granted, my legs aren't feeling too well now, but it's a good kind of pain.  A lot of it, at least for me, is mind over matter.  I just have to keep telling myself that I can do it, even if I feel like I can't.  I actually danced a little jig at the park when I finished the last run.  A guy who was sitting at a picnic table gave me a really weird look. 

Oh, we tried a new recipe last night.  I'm a big fan of King Ranch Chicken.  Normally, I would have made it with flour tortilla's, cream of chicken soup, salsa, lots of cheese, chicken, and then eaten it like a dip with tortilla chips.  Well, I found a healthified version on http://www.eatingwell.com/.  It's a little labor intensive, but can easily be sped up by buying already chopped veggies, and a fresh rotisserie chicken.  It took me about 40 minutes to get put together and into the oven.  It turned out really good.

Ingerdients

• 1 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup nonfat milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
• 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 4-ounce can green chiles, drained
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, or parsley
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons canola or olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 red or green bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups diced coked skinless chicken
• 10 corn tortillas, cut into quarters
• 1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar Cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Bring broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan.  Whisk milk and flour in a small bowl until smooth.  Add to the brotha nd cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and smoot, about 3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in yogurt, tomatoes, chiles, cilantro, chili powder, oregano, and cumin.  Season with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in a large nontick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender-crisp, about 3 minutes.
4. Line the bottom of a shallow 3-quart baking dish with half the tortillas.  Top with half the chicken and half the onion mixture.  Spoon half of the sauce evenly over the top.  Repeat layers with remaining tortillas, chicken, onion mixture, and sauce.  Sprinkle with Cheddar.  Bake until bubbly, 25-30 minutes.

Serving Size: approximately 1 cup
301 calories, 5g fat, 38g carbs, 25g protein, 6g fiber
7 points plus per serving