day forty-nine...I am His, and He is mine

I never doubt that I am a child of God, but reading quotes like these just seem to encourage me. Now, I may not doubt this, but maybe you are. Perhaps you think God doesn't care about you...that He has forgotten about you. Let me tell you that He hasn't. Sometimes we have to go through a hard patch in our lives, but He is always there...walking right beside you. God is there in the good and bad times.

Don't fear, my friend. God is there. He will sustain you. He will help you. All you have to do is trust in Him and know He will come through. The night may be tough, but joy will come in the morning.

Remember that today.

Breakfast
I made a strawberry shake this morning. And judging by the picture, you can probably figure out that I added a tad too much ice. It was still fairly good though.

Morning Snack
I made the most delicious apple cinnamon oatmeal muffin today! Just microwaved it in the microwave but cut the time by 20 seconds and it came out so moist! Pairing this with a cup of coffee would be the perfect Christmas treat.

Lunch
I wanted to keep it light for lunch because I wasn't feeling all that well. So I made a salad using the rest of the romaine I had in the fridge and topped it with a vegetable burger and some light Italian dressing. Simple and light.

Afternoon Snack
Still feeling a tad stomach sick, so I picked a small snack. I had some honey mustard pretzel bites because there are fewer in the bag than all the other snacks. :) Worked like a charm.

Workout
Ran again today. Same as Monday...but shortened my time by 2 minutes! It's weird how much I actually enjoy running now.

Dinner
After I got home from running, I jumped in the shower and then made myself a java chip frappuccino (I mixed together a chocolate chip soft bake packet with a packet of via and some ice and water). I had a dear friend and neighbor come over and pretty much give me the best facial of my life while I drank this delicious new favorite drink. Plus, my skin is so soft! I love it!!! Check out the products I used...they are all from the dead sea!

Dessert
After my mini facial, I cleaned up my room and just had a peaceful and relaxing evening. Around 9pm I ate a lemon meringue crunch bar and then called it a night. I was tired for some reason, so when I had the opportunity to go to bed early, I took it. Tomorrow is a weigh-in day...I need the sleep.

Good night friends! PS...I have a huge surprise for you all tomorrow, so don't miss it! :D

xoxo,
Toni

day eleven...the Father's warmth

the view from the middle of my street this morning

Have you ever had one of those mornings when you wake up and just want to stay in bed all day long? That was me this morning. My alarm went off and I immediately felt the chill overcome my body as I began to get out of my bed. I stood for a moment and hopped right back under my covers just so I could feel the warmth once more. I did not want to leave—I knew that as soon as I did, I would be cold and uncomfortable.

This is the way I should be with the Lord. He keeps me warm and happy as He wraps His arms around me. I never want to leave His presence, and I know that as soon as I do, my life will become stale, cold, and uncomfortable. Now, I can prolong this misery, or I can jump right back into His open arms as He begins to warm me up once again. God will always be there for me—whether I am walking with Him or if I have strayed. He is there. Arms open wide, just waiting for me to return.

Just think about that as you go about your day today. Stay in the Father's warmth.

Now, I totally spaced this morning and didn't get a picture of my breakfast or morning snack, but I became more diligent as the day went on. :)
But for the record, I had a mocha shake for breakfast and a peanut butter crunch bar for my morning snack. Both delicious!

Lunch: Meatless Meatball Salad

These meatless meatballs from Trader Joe's are amazing. You simply bake them for ten minutes and they come out crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. It paired very well with some romaine lettuce and Italian dressing.

Medifast Lean and Green Breakdown:
Lean: meatless meatballs
Green: romaine lettuce
Healthy Fat: Italian dressing

Afternoon Snack: BBQ Bites

These are still not my favorite, but I am eating them anyways because I did buy them—and no food will go to waste on this program. So I sucked it up and ate them. But hey, it kept me satisfied for the next couple hours.

As I got home from work, the chill began to creep through my thick sweater. And what better way to warm up after a rainy day than to eat hot and steamy comfort food. So I pulled out the perfect Medifast meal...mac and cheese.

Dinner: Macaroni and Cheese

Mac and cheese isn't that pretty to photograph, but I tried and will get better over time. But anyways, it tasted way better than it looked and it hit the spot. Dinner perfected.

And of course, I go in the complete opposite direction for dessert and make myself an icy cold peanut butter milkshake. I have to admit, these milkshakes are becoming one of my absolute favorite things to eat. It tricks my mind into thinking I am drinking a calorie filled milkshake, when in reality, it is just my Medifast soft serve blended with some water and ice. Love it!

Dessert: Peanut Butter Milkshake

Well, that is it for today! I am off to bed and ready to see what awaits me tomorrow.

xoxo,
Toni

day six...you need to heed in order to succeed

When the Word of God is telling you something, you better listen up and do it. Take heed to what the Lord is saying to you. Last night the Lord spoke to me greatly through Pastor Chuck's Wisdom for Today Devotional. It was all about Jesus taking the victory on the cross to defeat satan so that we can in turn have victory.

In case you can't read it, it says, " His [Jesus'] victory means we can know victory. Though Satan will never stop trying to tempt you away from God, you can stand against that temptation and know the glorious victory of Jesus Christ."

Then this morning I received an email from my Medifast health coach, Charlotte, and she sent me another little Word from the Lord and it was all about standing fast. There was that word again: stand. You think the Lord is trying to tell me something? I need to be ready to stand in any situation. Whether it is about the Word of God or even about my diet, I...no we, must remain standing.

It is when you take heed to the Word and those helping you that you will succeed.

After waking up this morning and remembering all that the Lord spoke to me about the night before, I was ready to begin my day. For breakfast I had a delicious ice blended mocha shake. It was nothing special, I just took the Medifast mocha powder and blended it with one cup of water and one cup of ice. Simple perfection.

 

Next up for my morning snack, I ate some cinnamon pretzels. Still on the fence about this one, but I think I am beginning to like them more and more. My taste buds are finally adjusting to how the Medifast food tastes and how it is way better than "normal" processed junk food. Hopefully, one day I will just despise the taste of fast and fat food.

 

Doesn't that pretzel picture just look extra fall-like? I don't know...I think it does and I like it. Lunch was pretty boring and simple, but I like it. I have come to realize that cooking different and new recipes can oftentimes get me into trouble food wise. I tend to go all out and that will not help me when I am on this program. I think for right now I need to be repetitive and simple. So I stuck with my original ground turkey salad lunch. And for some reason, it smelled and tasted just like Taco Bell. I know, totally weird, right? But it was actually really tasty! And way better than Taco Bell...just sayin'.

Medifast Lean and Green Breakdown:

1 lean: 5 ounces of ground turkey

3 greens: 3 cups of romaine lettuce

1 healthy fat: 2 tablespoons of light Italian dressing

For my afternoon snack I decided to go and try the BBQ Bites once again. The verdict? Still not a fan. I don't know what it is about these, but they just don't taste that good to me. I may be crazy. But I still ate them, so I guess they aren't the worst thing ever. 

I had to rush dinner, unfortunately, so I could make it to church on time, but it was pretty good. I made the mac & cheese again and I think I made it right this time! Woohoo! For some reason, there were some tiny chunks in it last time because I didn't stir enough. But this time, I stirred like crazy and enjoyed a nice hot bowl of creamy, chunk-free mac and cheese.

After church, I came home and had my dessert. I have said this before, but I just love all of the bars. Tonight I had the cinnamon roll bar again and enjoyed every bite. When I have to order more meals for next month, you better be sure I will be buying more bars (and shakes).

So there you have it! Day six, complete! I cannot believe I have almost hit a week! Keep posted because I am going to share a little secret with you all tomorrow or on Friday. :)

xoxo,

Toni

day three...my food is the will of God

Can't believe it's already the end of day three! Hasn't really even felt like I'm on a diet due to the fact that I'm like eating all day! I love it.

So as I was reading my morning devo it was talking about how my food should be the will of God. That spoke mountains to me. I shouldn't be so concerned with earthly food that will just cause me to become hungry again, but I should be filling myself with the word of God and following the call The Lord has for me. 

The devo is taken from The Daily Light. 

Ok, as for my food today, I made myself the Medifast spiced pancakes for breakfast. They were...not bad. I most definitely prefer the real pancakes, but these were pretty satisfying for being "diet food".

After breakfast I went to church and was a tad late on eating my next meal. Since it was lunchtime, I decided to eat my lean and green meal. So for lunch I had ground turkey "tacos" with grilled onions and asparagus "fries" on the side. 

Then for my first afternoon snack I had some BBQ bites. These didn't taste as good as they sounded, but were still pretty good. 

Moving on to my next afternoon snack, which I ate after my hour and 20 minute walk (totally forgot to take pictures), I had a peanut butter crunch bar. This was pretty good and tasted similar to a crunchy protein bar. It also had chocolate on it which just makes everything taste better. ;)

After church I had dinner, which consisted of a nice hot bowl of apple cinnamon oatmeal. The taste was a tad off, but it wasn't all that bad. But next time it may make a muffin out of it instead. Recipe to come later ;)

And then right before going to bed I had a wonderful dessert. It was another frozen yogurt type dessert, but this time it was mocha flavored rather than peanut butter. And I totally put a filter on the photo because the original one didn't look great at all. Bad lighting...or just a bad photographer ;)

So overall it was a great day! I'm excited to see what this next week has in store for me.

xoxo,

Toni