12-week transformation...day nineteen

This was my prayer this morning...and all day really. Such a a beautiful song by Hillsong United. If you can, take a listen to it...it's called "Oceans".

Breakfast
Pretty standard morning for me...made a french vanilla shake and am pretty sure I drank it in record time. For some reason I was really hungry this morning.

Morning Snack
It was overcast this morning here in Orange County, CA and I was so happy to have to some (California) winter weather. And sipping on a warm calorie burn cappuccino just made it all the better.

Lunch
So my family went and got mexican food for lunch and I was all like..."I want a treat too!" So I went to chipotle and ordered a steak salad. So good! :)

Afternoon Snack
Mixed Berry Crunch Cereal!!! This is my favorite snack of all time...at least right now anyways. It tastes kind of like fruit loops...but way better for you! ;)

Dinner
For dinner I whipped up a peanut butter milkshake and drank it while getting ready for church. I also forgot to take a picture.

Dessert
During church I snacked on a cinnamon roll crunch bar. It is so good and satisfying.

Also, almost forgot! Today was a weigh-in day! I weighed in at 139.6! Finally back in the 130's! It took about a month to undo all the damage I did at Christmastime.

Well, that is all I have for now! And don't forget! February 14, 2014 is my launch date for my new website...Pretty in Pink Peonies!

xoxo,
Toni

day forty-two...thanksgiving road trip day two

Today was full of driving and adventure. I took this picture above when we took a little walk to a natural hot spring that just bubbles up from the ground. It is amazing how hot that water can be even though it was about 40 degrees outside.

Breakfast
I woke up around 9am this morning and made myself a vanilla pumpkin shake. I just mixed some pumpkin flavor drops with a french vanilla shake packet. Thought the pumpkin was appropriate being Thanksgiving and all.

After breakfast we were on the road to do some exploring. My dad wanted to show us some mines, but there was just too much snow to make the trek. So instead we walked around and took some pictures.

As soon as we got to the hiking site, the sweetest "guard" dog came right up to us and joined us on our walk. He was sort of like our guide, I suppose. You think the snow would bother him, but this little guy just loved it.

After walking around, we crossed a half frozen creek and found an area to relax near the creek. There was a giant spot of fresh powdery snow, so I decided to make a snow angel. Why not, right? And in case you were wondering, yes, it was extremely cold and uncomfortable, but I definitely don't regret it.

Morning Snack
Once we got back in the car, we traveled back to check out of our hotel and started driving towards Mammoth. On the way, I ate some brown sugar cereal crunch along with a bottle of water

We stopped along the way to Mammoth to check out some natural hot springs and ran into this creek called hot creek. It is basically a scalding hot creek of water. It was really neat to see actually. The water is heated by some volcanic matter under the earth...I don't really understand how it works. All I know is that the air is freezing, but the creek still remains piping hot. Simply amazing. Those really blue pools are just some of the hot springs.

We hiked down a trail and was able to touch the water, but couldn't get too close at times because it was blocked off. I guess the water is too hot to touch. Walking back, we found this giant rock on a hill, so my dad decided he wanted to take a picture of me sitting on it. He is quite the photographer, isn't he?

Lunch
We finally made it to Mammoth when I ate my lunch for the day. I ate a s'mores crunch bar while we looked around.

We then decided to head back up north to check out what was up there. We found out that there is nothing really past Mammoth. But we did find this gorgeous, giant lake. It was lightly iced over and just a beautiful sight to see.

Afternoon Snack
After getting tired of seeing nothing, we decided to head back to Mammoth where we got a hotel room for the night. My parents then grabbed some dinner while I heated up my dinner in the microwave (thankfully provided in the room). I ate the green bean casserole I made yesterday...such a delicious Thanksgiving meal! And even after sitting around for a day, it still tasted pretty good! Click here for the recipe.

Dinner
After we ate our Thanksgiving meal, we headed out to see a movie. I heated up a calorie burn cappuccino and brought it with me to drink about 30 minutes into the movie. I tried to make it scalding hot so by the time I drank it, it would be drinkable hot...but...it cooled down to a more of a warm temperature. Not my favorite temp, but still delicious! I wasn't able to snap a picture because...well, it was dark in the theater.

Dessert
We came back to the hotel room right after the movie and I made my last meal of the day. I blended up a peanut butter milkshake and enjoyed every last sip. Great ending to my Thanksgiving day. And you know, it feels pretty great going to bed slightly hungry on the most food-centered day of the year.

Well, I am off to bed. I hope your Thanksgiving was a blessed one!

xoxo,
Toni

green bean casserole

Want to eat a green bean casserole but skip out on all the fat and unnecessary calories? Well, than this recipe is just for you...and me ;)

Thanksgiving is coming up and I wanted to eat something that was still "Thanksgiving" and a green bean casserole just made sense. So if you still want to partake in a Thanksgiving meal or if you need a comfort food classic any day of the week, just follow this recipe. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Step One
Gather your ingredients. You will need:

1/4 cup egg beaters
1 1/2 cups green beans (washed and trimmed)
4.5 oz low fat cottage cheese (I just looked for the one with the lowest carbs and fat)
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
1/2 tbsp light butter

 
Step Two
Put all your ingredients in a bowl, except the shredded cheese and parmesan cheese. Then mix them all together until the green beans are coated evenly.

Step Three
Pour the mixture into a greased glass baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Step Four 
After that, sprinkle the cheese and parmesan cheese on top and bake for another 20 minutes. 

Step Five
Take out of the oven and cool for a few minutes...then dig in!

This entire meal counts as 1 Lean and Green meal with 2 1/2 Condiments and 1/2 Healthy Fat  

 
Enjoy! And Happy Thanksgiving!!!

xoxo,
Toni

day thirty-eight...not enough time in the day

So in case you were wondering, Hunger Games: Catching Fire was really good. My friends, Kiera and Caleb and I went to see it last night. Caleb took this picture of us...we were trying to do the district 12 salute with a straight face, but just couldn't stop smiling and laughing. I almost did it, but failed. Oh well. We all had a fun night.

As a result of getting in late last night, I slept in this morning. By doing so I got a late start on my eating for the day. I didn't want to stay up really late just to get my 5 meals and 1 lean and green meal in, so I called my health coach and thankfully, she gave me a solution. She told me to eat my last two meals of the night together. Genius!

This is why I love the Take Shape for Life program. Without my health coach, I would have stayed up super late just to eat and go to bed or would have skipped my last meal of the day. So thankful for you, Charlotte! Thank you!

Breakfast
Like I mentioned earlier, I slept in this morning, so I had my first meal of the day around 10:30am. I spent the night at a friend's house so I just had a lemon meringue crunch bar, making it easy.

Afternoon Snack
I ate again after church, which was around 2pm. My eating times were all off today. I had the mixed berry crunch cereal.

Dinner
For my dinner, I made myself a veggie burger with mozzarella cheese and green bean "fries". This was actually really good and a nice change-up from my normal salad.

Dessert #1
Right before leaving for Sunday night church, I heated up a blueberry muffin and ate it in the car. It kind of overflowed in the microwave...still edible though.

Dessert #2
So I still had two more meals to eat before the end of the day and I didn't want to stay up until midnight just to eat. This is when I called my health coach and she told me to just eat the last two meals at the same time. So I made a coffee milkshake and a chocolate chip soft bake. I accidentally added warm water to the chocolate chip soft bake mix rather than cold, so the chocolate chips melted, making the cookie look dark brown. :P This was actually a really yummy pairing!

Well, that is all I have for today! Talk to you tomorrow!

xoxo,
Toni

day thirty-six...friday favs and week five weigh-in

Is it just me or are you a little anxious on your weigh-in day? I just keep thinking...well, I did everything I could, so let's see what happens. Well, I will tell you what happened this morning...not now, but in a little bit. :)

So today I am eating all my favorite meals. It's Friday...and, I had a good weigh in, so why not?

There are days when you just need to "splurge"...in a healthy way, of course...and today is that day. All my splurge foods are of the Medifast kind, but they are all my favorites. It's Friday favorites day! Who knows...maybe I will do this every Friday.

Breakfast
This morning I had a vanilla pumpkin shake. How exactly did I do that? Well, I mixed the vanilla shake mix with some capella pumpkin drops. Every sip tasted like fall...and Thanksgiving! Can you believe Thanksgiving is in less than a week?! So crazy! How is this my favorite? Well...I love the vanilla shakes, but as you may have remembered, pumpkin is my all time favorite fall flavor. So making a pumpkin shake that I can actually have is like a dream come true!

Morning Snack
My favorite morning snack is the calorie burn cappuccino. It has the perfect amount of sweetness and leaves you feeling full for the rest of the morning. Words cannot explain how delicoius and creamy this cappuccino was today. I could literally have this every single morning...maybe I should... ;) PS...isn't that cup just the cutest! I got it from Starbucks...here is the link to buy it...but it looks like it may be sold out right now.

Lunch
I went out to lunch today with some dear friends. It was a sweet time of fellowship and much needed girl time. :) I went to GreenLeaf Chopshop and ordered the "build your own hot entree". Basically you get a piece of meat with a choice of two sides. For my meat, I went with the flat iron steak. I don't think I have had red meat since starting the Take Shape For Life program, so I thought I would "splurge". Steak is one of my all-time favorite meats. For my two sides, I ordered the Tuscan kale salad (basically just kale, shaved pecorino romano, lemon juice, and olive oil),  and the green beans and shallots. Everything was so delicious! The meat just melted in my mouth. Definitely a special treat for today.

If you are ever in the Costa Mesa area, I would highly suggest you try this place out. Click here to find a location near you. I went to the one at SOCO...just fyi. :)

Afternoon Snack
So continuing with my Friday favorites theme, I decided to eat my favorite snack...the brown sugar cereal crunch. These always remind me of french toast for some reason. I have mentioned before how much I enjoy cereal, so these satisfy my craving completely.

Look at this sky! So gorgeous seeing this driving home from work.

Dinner
After coming home from work, I was going to have a smores crunch bar, but I decided to make myself a milkshake instead. A peanut butter one to be exact. My favorite dessert turned dinner ever!

Dessert
On my way to church I ate a s'mores crunch bar. It was quick and easy to eat. It also ended my night with a smile...this is my favorite bar, so of course I smiled in delight. :) I cut it into little pieces so it would be easier to eat during church.

Weight Update
Okay, so you ready for my weigh-in news? Well...I lost another three pounds! I was shocked when I saw the number on the scale. I actually weighed myself three more times...just to make sure. So as of this morning, my weight is 147.2. It seems so surreal that I have lost 19 pounds in only five weeks! Take Shape For Life is the best thing that has ever happened to me...besides being saved and going to Heaven. ;)

I highly encourage you to look into this program. Start now or after the holidays, just do it! I am a living example that if you follow the program, you will lose weight. It's that simple. And I honestly don't work out all that much and I am still losing weight. What do you have to lose trying it?

xoxo,
Toni

day nineteen...the wonder of it all

I took this photo at Pirates Cove, Corona Del Mar, in August 2013

I woke up this morning singing the hymn entitled, Wonder of it All. How wonderful it is that God saved us. He created us perfectly in His image.

Here are the lyrics to the hymn. Just meditate on the Lord while you read each word and really know in your heart that everything—whether good or bad—is wonderful. Why? Because God is in the center of it all. And when God is in the center, it will surely turn out wonderful.

There's the wonder at sunset at evening

The wondrous sunrise I see

But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul

Is the wonder that God loves me

The wonder of it all

The wonder of it all 

Just to think that God loves me

Oh the wonder of it all 

The wonder of it all  

Just to think that God loves me

There's the wonder of spring time and harvest

The sky, the stars, the sun

But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul

Is the wonder that's only begun

The wonder of it all

The wonder of it all 

Just to think that God loves me

Oh the wonder of it all 

The wonder of it all  

Just to think that God loves me

Breakfast
Since I woke up singing such a beautiful hymn, I was in a very good mood to say the least. And the calorie burn cappuccino only made my morning better...until I burned my entire mouth. PS...don't you love the new red cups from Starbucks! I haven't liked the past couple designs, but this year it is very sophisticated and...well...just cute! :)

Morning Snack
As always, the cappuccino kept me quite full, so I had an apple cinnamon oatmeal muffin...made in a mug. I think I microwaved it just a tad too long because it was a little dry. But other than that, I loved it. Notice my Christmas fox mug? I am busting out the Christmas stuff early! I love Christmas! You will see that soon enough.

Lunch
I almost made another pizza burger salad, but had some green beans to eat before they went bad. So I made a pizza burger with green bean "fries" and marinara as dipping sauce. Delish!

Afternoon Snack
Pretzels were on the menu for this afternoon. I didn't reorder them on my next order (which shipped out today!) but maybe I will next time. I am beginning to like them...as I am running out of them. Go figure.

Dinner
I had to eat on the go tonight and so I took a picture in the back of my car. Surprised it didn't come out blurry!

Dessert
Dessert totally hit the spot tonight. I ate it in the middle of church, and it was perfect! It didn't make crunching sounds like last week, so that was a plus!

That's all I have for today! May your day be extra blessed and remember what is the wonder of it all!

xoxo,
Toni

day fifteen...week two weigh in

Today was pretty slow and uneventful. I started out the day by weighing myself right after I woke up... and guess what?! I lost another 4.2 pounds! So crazy to think I am losing weight by eating pancakes and chocolate. So this brings my total weight lost to 11.6 pounds. It has only been two weeks and I have already lost 11 and 1/2 pounds! This program is beyond great...you convinced yet? Well, hopefully I will have you convinced in a few more weeks after I have lost even more weight.

I have also decided to do monthly photos and measurement check in's rather than weekly or biweekly. So in two more weeks I will be updating you all on how I look...unless you see me at church or work or something...then you already know. ;)

Breakfast
I started off the morning with a nice hot cup of Medifast calorie burn cappuccino. I used a milk frother to mix the powder and water, and it turned out creamy and smooth—no chunks. Yay!

Morning Snack

So...I tried something new again with the oatmeal. Instead of cookies, I made a muffin. It was so easy too. I simply added 1/4 cup of water and mixed it in a mug. I then microwaved it for 1 minute and 30 seconds. After that I took the muffin out of the mug and flipped it and microwaved it yet again for another 30 seconds to dry it out a bit. It was so good! I am excited to see what else I can do. :)

Lunch
Lunch was amazing. All I did was toss some fresh green beans with a little bit of olive oil and seasonings and bake them for about 25 minutes. And on the side I had some meatballs. Such a perfect and balanced meal...not to mention delicious.

Medifast Lean and Green Breakdown:
lean: 6 meatballs
green: 1 1/2 cups of green beans
healthy fat: 1 teaspoon of olive oil

Afternoon Snack
Lunch kept me fairly full, but I was pretty excited for my afternoon snack. I had some brown sugar cereal. This is one of my favorites. Even before I went on the Medifast program I loved to eat cereal (most of the time I would binge on it), so this snack is perfect for me.

Dinner
It's weird to call a snack "dinner", but oh well...it is what it is. So for dinner I had a peanut butter crunch bar. Another one of my favorites. It actually tastes like an old protein bar I used to eat back in the binging days...but this one is way better for me...and honestly tastes better too.

Dessert
To end the day, I had a chocolate chip cookie soft bake. Now that I look back on my day, it was full of sweet foods...hmmmm...oh well. Tomorrow is a new day full of different foods. I microwaved the soft bake in a larger bowl just for fun...made a bigger, yet flatter cookie, which I liked. I know the picture makes it look kinda gross, but I promise you it was delicious!

Well, that is it for today. Just remember to hold fast to the Word of God and don't lose hope when things look grim...God is always in control!

xoxo,
Toni