12-week transformation...day twenty-two

This was my exact face as my alarm went off this morning. The weekend went by way to fast...I was not ready for Monday.

...Little Peggy just gets me...

Breakfast
It's still a good morning even though it is Monday. Made a mocha shake this morning with added instant coffee for an extra flavor punch.

Morning Snack
I am guilty of not drinking enough water lately...it's even making my face a tad puffy! I know it and I know I need to change that. So this morning I have been drinking water like crazy, which has made me feel full...so by the time my snack time came around, I wasn't really hungry. But don't get me wrong...I still had a chai latte.

Lunch
There are times when I just want to yell, "LUNCHTIME!!!" But, I practice self control and do not let out that yell. I am sure my co-workers are very thankful I can resist. Anyways, today for lunch, I had a steak chopped salad from Rubios. I had to get my oil changed during my lunch hour, so I wasn't able to go home and grab lunch.

Afternoon Snack
Due to me working out after work, I ate my snack about an hour beforehand. I ate some chili nacho cheese puffs along with a ton of more water. Water, water, water...all day long!

Workout
I did my normal 2.18 mile run tonight after work. Felt good...well, after I am done, I feel good. During...well, that's another story. But, I did it!

Dinner
Once I got back from my run, I made a chocolate chip pancake and drizzled it with some medifast sugar free syrup. Yum! I love breakfast for dinner!



Dessert
To finish off the night, I ate a smores crunch bar. Perfect ending to quite a busy day. Sorry...forgot a to snap a photo.

Well, you made it through Monday! I pray your Tuesday is a good one! Mine is going to be...I will tell you all about it tomorrow. :)

xoxo,
Toni

day sixty-four...making progress

It has been a good morning...the weigh in...excited news! But...I will get back to that later. First, let's talk about my day and what I ate.

Breakfast
Woke up this morning with a smile on my face ready to face whatever the day had for me. I made myself an eggnog shake and headed into work. Today was our inventory day. Basically we count all the inventory in our warehouse. It was quick though, only took us about 30 minutes...I would say that's a record.

Morning Snack
I was hungry by the time my morning snack came around so I opted to make a chai latte and sipped on that for a good 45 minutes. It's amazing to me how much those drinks fill me up and keep me full!

Lunch
I was out and about doing errands at lunch so I decided to treat myself today and went to chipotle. I got a salad with steak, fajita veggies, and pico de gallo salsa. This has to be my favorite going out meal. So good!

Afternoon Snack
Lunch held me over for sure. But I did end up having some coffee with my afternoon snack. I sipped on some coffee first and then opened up and ate a bag of the mixed berry cereal crunch. Perfect afternoon snack.

Dinner
I had dessert for dinner today. Why not, right? I made a peanut butter milkshake using the peanut butter soft serve. I haven't made myself one of these milkshakes in a while, so it was a nice treat.

Now, I have to tell you...I spoke in front of my college group tonight! I was asked to give a word of encouragement before the study, and so I did! I was really nervous, but the Lord totally worked through me. It was a great feeling to be used by the Lord...despite my heart beating a million times an minute and my palms getting all sweaty. Oh well, God knows what He is doing, and He has a special plan for each and every one of us. Tonight is a night I will never forget.

Dessert
When it was time to eat my dessert, I was in the middle of church. But, I thought ahead and cut up a cinnamon roll crunch bar and brought it with me. I discreetly snacked on it while listening to the message. :)

And now...the moment you have all been waiting for! Okay...so last week I was 141.6 and I kept thinking all week that I just want to be in the 130's for Christmas. And as of this morning I am 138.0! I couldn't believe it! I don't even remember the last time I was in the 130's. God is so good and gracious. I could not have done it without Him.

Remember that this weekend...when you put God first, things just fall into place. I would not be where I am today if it were not for the Lord. Trust me, I tried doing every diet in the book on my own, but it was only when I surrendered my will to the Lord that I have succeeded. No turning back!

xoxo,
Toni

day forty-eight...freeing saeed

 
I mentioned this earlier, but the church is raising awareness today to save Saeed Abedini who has been in an Iranian prison for over 300 days. The photo above is of him and his family.

Pastor Saeed is an American Pastor who is serving an 8 year sentence in one of Iran's toughest prisons simply for sharing his Christian faith. Join us as we petition the international community to demand the release of this innocent man.

Sign the petition and raise awareness by visiting this site: http://beheardproject.com/saeed

Breakfast
I woke and realized that we had an all staff meeting this morning right at 8am. It's funny because last month (we have it once a month) I just drank my shake afterwards because I was too shy to bring it in with me...not today! I am getting used to my new lifestyle and am less self-conscious about what I eat and when I eat it. The Lord has definitely helped me gain more confidence. So this morning I made a mocha shake and I also added a packet of Starbucks via...and I brought it with me to drink during the staff devotion.

Morning Snack
I was surprisingly not all that hungry for my morning snack, but of course I still had one. ;) I ended up snacking on some mixed berry cereal crunch.

Lunch
Shocker...I ate a salad for lunch. I love them though! I made a romaine salad and topped it with a chili lime chicken burger, shredded parmesan cheese, and a drizzle of light chipotle ranch dressing. Yum!

Afternoon Snack
For my snack, I made a blueberry soft bake...but I cooked it in a cup so it looked pretty identical to a blueberry muffin.

Dinner
Dinner was a quick and easy one. I made a peanut butter milkshake and drank it right before I had to leave for church. I was a little worried I would have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the service, but I made it all the way through...whew.

Dessert
I chatted with some friends after church and around 9:15 I headed home to eat my last meal of the day. I chopped up a chocolate crunch bar before church just in case I had to eat it at church, but I made it out on time and was able to eat it at home.

Please remember to pray for Saeed and his beautiful family. We all know that the Lord works everything out for good, but it's still tough going through the "before" part...before the "good" comes out of the situation.

Once again...here is the link to sign the petition to free Saeed. http://beheardproject.com/saeed

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

day thirty-nine...motivational monday

I saw this quote and just knew I had to share it. I am still truckin' along and I do at times get weary and want to eat a cake or something. Weight loss doesn't happen overnight, so I just need to remember that even though I may not be at my goal weight yet, and may still have a while to get there, I am one step closer to that goal. Every day counts. As long as I am sticking to the TSFL program, I am one day closer to my weight loss goal.

Remember that today. It can really apply to anything in your life. Just make it through the day and you will be one day closer to that goal. Even if you mess up...start again the next day or better yet, the next minute and continue going. Don't beat yourself up. We all make mistakes, but it also our choice to get back up and start walking forward again.

Breakfast
I am back to my normal schedule today (unlike yesterday). I woke up, got ready, and made myself a mocha shake. I think these shakes are one of the things keeping me going on TSFL. All of the flavors are so good!

Morning Snack
Because it was the first day back to work since the warehouse sale on Saturday, we had a lot of clean up to do. I was busy all morning, but I was able to take a quick break and eat an oatmeal raisin crunch bar. I love being busy...makes the time fly by! PS...these bars are amazing!

Lunch
Back to my normal salad today. I made a pizza burger and put it on top of some chopped romaine and mozzarella cheese. I then topped it all off with some light Italian dressing. It was really good! I thought I wouldn't be able to taste the cheese all that much, but it was very prominent in the meal. And I love cheese.

Afternoon Snack
The salad didn't hold me over all that well because I was hun-gry by the time my snack time came around. Whenever I do get hungry, I just tell myself that I am going to eat in an hour...so just hold on. I also drink some water and chew gum which seems to help.

So for my snack I had the nacho chili puffs and drank a ton of water while eating them...they had a spicy kick to them!

Dinner
I made some macaroni and cheese tonight but decided to put a twist on it. I sprinkled some parmesan cheese in it to help thicken it up...it worked too! After I cooked it in the microwave I put the dish under the broiler to attempt to brown the top...but it only burned. Whomp, Whomp. It was actually pretty good though! Kind of tasted like a grilled cheese sandwich.

Dessert
To end the night, I had a peanut butter milkshake. This is the best dessert! Can't believe I get to have milkshakes on the TSFL program and still lose weight! Love it.

I pray your day is blessed and that you will continue to strive toward your goals. Just take it day by day.

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 thirty-four...I heard it through the grapevine

I was listening to a Bible study taught by Abraham de Alba the other night while running and he started talking about grapevines and brought up some really good points that I thought I would share with you.

When you look at a single grapevine, you will notice that all the branches are twisted and wrapping around each other. That is how our Christian lives are supposed to be...we are to be twisted and tangled with Jesus. He needs to be in every aspect of our lives.

Grapevines are also tangled together with other grapevines. A grapevine does not stand alone...it has other grapevines on either side of it. This is how we are to be with others...in unity. You don't want a church to be divided, but rather having the body of Christ joined together, working together to glorify God.

The same analogy can even be applied to the Medifast program or any other health program for that matter. You cannot stand alone. You just can't. You need the Lord and other people on either side of you, encouraging and working with you to reach your goals. A grapevine that is alone will not bear fruit. Don't be that lone grapevine...grab hold of those around you and hang on tight!

So anyways, that is my little encouragement to you all today. Hope it blesses you as much as it did me.

Breakfast
For breakfast I whipped together a mocha shake with a few drops of the capella coconut flavored drops. So really, I had a mocha coconut shake. Delish!

Morning Snack
I had some work errands to run so I made my chocolate chip soft bake in a disposable cup rather than the tray. I had no issues...worked like a charm. However, I do prefer the tray over the cup.

Lunch
Yep, you guessed it...I had another salad today. Today I had the chili lime chicken burger on a bed of romaine lettuce with some light Italian dressing. Hey...if it's good, why mess with it? :D

Afternoon Snack
I tried something new today for my afternoon snack...the mixed berry cereal crunch. I was skeptical about these, but they were not bad! The taste is very similar to froot loops. I love cereal, so this is a perfect alternative for me.

Dinner
I can't drink water or shakes right before church, so I had a simple lemon meringue bar for my dinner. Don't judge...I took the picture in my car while driving...in my defense, I was at a stop light. ;)

These bars are filling! I mean, they look so small (and they are), but I am always full after eating one. Love that full feeling.

It started raining as we were walking out of church!!! I love the rain and just want it to pour! Bring on the rain!!! Can you see that the leaves are wet...the shininess on them is from rain. :D

Dessert
After church was over, we came straight home and I made myself a peanut butter milkshake. For some reason I just love ice cream and other cold desserts when it is raining. I don't know why...I just do. I tried to capture the rain falling outside, but I obviously failed. At least you can see the wet pavement...or can you?

I pray you have a blessed day! Remember...don't be a lone grapevine! Grab a friend and get working together. :) 

xoxo,
Toni