day thirty-seven...from the rising to the setting sun

So today I watched the sun rise and the sun set...meaning I have been up since 5am. Today we had a warehouse sale at my church and it was crazy busy all day long. My mom and I were non-stop from about 8am to 3pm. It was tough, but fun. Despite all the madness going on, I still managed to eat all of my Medifast meals and my lean and green meal for the day. There were times when I had to sneak a bite in between helping customers, but it all worked out.

Breakfast
I ate breakfast around 6am. I wasn't all that hungry, but I knew I had to eat. So I made myself a quick chocolate chip pancake muffin to take with me and eat on the go.

Morning Snack
For my morning snack, I had a strawberry shake. I totally spaced and forgot to take a picture of it. It was right when we opened the sale and things were crazy. I was only able to take sips in between helping customers.

Lunch
We were still busy at lunch, but I was able to sneak in a time to make a chai latte. I just added some hot water and stirred. It was perfect to have a drink at this point...a lot easier to drink than eat. ;)

Thought I would share a cute picture from the sale...this is The Bear Hug Band! It was so precious to see the kids dancing around to the music while their parents shopped. So, many thanks to The Bear Hug Band! I am sure the parents thank you too for keeping their children occupied while they got some shopping done distraction free. ;)

Afternoon Snack
As we were nearing the end of the sale, things were slowing down and I was able to eat a chocolate crunch bar. Once again though, I was eating it intermittently while helping people. But it all worked out. There were only a couple times people caught me with my mouth full. Whoops!

Afternoon Snack #2
I ate my second snack while cleaning up. I was so hungry I just devoured my bag of cheese pizza bites. By the time I was more than halfway through the bag I realized I didn't snap a picture of it! I am just all off today. Oh well...next time.

Dinner
I had my lean and green meal for dinner...and my goodness it was delicious! I was thinking of something for Thanksgiving that I could make that was TSFL approved. Now, I don't like turkey (I know I am weird), so I thought...what else goes with Thanksgiving dinner? Well, casserole does! So I made a broccoli and cheese casserole. This is one of the best things I have ever eaten! Click here for the recipe. This is comfort food at its finest.

Well, I am off to drink an espresso because it is going to be a late night for me. My friends and I are going to watch the Hunger Games: Catching Fire. So excited!

 Have a good night, my friends!

xoxo,
Toni

day twenty-three...a girl's night in

Tonight I threw a girl's night in party...I made a ton of food, and guess what? I didn't even have one lick of it! That is such a huge success for me! I know I took a risk by cooking, but I felt confident knowing I wouldn't eat any of it. My parents were also there for a bit and ate what I made. They said it turned out pretty good, so I didn't even have to try the food.

The only thing I will say is that you need to really think about it before you throw a party or cook a big meal. Why? Well, you don't want to stumble yourself. I could not have done this two weeks ago without eating something. So, don't rush anything. Stop and think. Ask the Lord to be with you...it will all turn out okay.

Breakfast
I was able to sleep in this morning...it was soooo nice! But with that said, I got a late start on my eating. So I made a calorie burn cappuccino just to get me started with the day. It was perfect!

Lunch
I went to Starbucks for a bit and when I returned home, I ate my lunch. I tried out these new boca brand meatless crumbles and topped my romaine salad with them. I wasn't the biggest fan of them, but they weren't bad either. I miss the meatballs from Trader Joe's, they are still out of them.

Afternoon Snack #1
I don't know what it was about this bag of pretzels, but they were so good! Like, better than usual. I don't know...maybe I am just getting used to all the odd tastes in some of the food. ;)

Afternoon Snack #2
I had a little time to kill before my guests started arriving, so I thought I would attempt to make waffles using the pancake mix. And it totally worked! All I did was mix the pancake packet with a dash of cinnamon and 4 tablespoons of water. I then let it sit for about 5 minutes to thicken up a bit. I poured the mix into the waffle maker and voila! Waffles! I have actually never made waffles before, so this was a first on many levels. I am just thankful it turned out.



Dinner
At this point, some of my friends had started to arrive along with my parents, so I began making the appetizers for them to munch on while dinner was cooking. While I was doing that, I began munching on a caramel crunch bar. It kept my mouth busy and also helped me not want to pop some food into my mouth...intentionally or unintentionally.

Dessert
After dinner was eaten, I made the girls my top secret chocolate molten lava cakes. And while they were eating those, I decided to eat my dessert as well. So I microwaved a blueberry soft bake and ate with everyone else. And you know what, never once did I feel like I was being left out or wishing I could eat what they were eating. I was content the entire night. And never once did the girls question my not eating the food I was making. They all know about my plan and supported me last night 100%. I love my friends dearly...it is good to have friends who love and care about you when you are on this journey.

Overall, it was a fun night of food and fellowship and watching these two cuties...

I pray your Sunday is a blessed one!

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