W.I.A.Y. (What I Ate Yesterday)

Breakfast:  Applesauce, cottage cheese, cinnamon, and my favorite home made granola (granola recipe can be found HERE).

Today marks one year since I started a program called "21 Day Fix".  This time last year, I was nearly 160 pounds and I was barely fitting into my size 12 clothes.  I was suffering from plantar fasciitis, a bone spur on the bottom of my foot, and bursitis in my hip (all on my left side), all probably the result from a motorcycle accident in May 2007.  I had told myself I was going to get into the best shape of my life in retirement, but I was just not getting it done on my own.  Over Memorial Day weekend a year ago, I stumbled into Angela, a lady I met at work before I retired in October 2015, and we became Facebook friends.  I learned Angela was a "Beachbody Coach" and, through her, I purchased the 21 Day Fix Program. 

The rest is history. I've lost about 30-35 pounds and I am keeping it off.  It sounds rather cliche, but "I have changed my lifestyle."  I have struggled with "yo-yo" weight loss and gain my entire adult life.  I first understood I was overweight when I was about 7 or 8 years old and I am almost 49 years old now.  But this "yo-yo" business is behind me now. The 21 Day Fix Program has worked for me. I finally feel I have a "formula" or a "road map" for exactly what I need to do to keep at a healthy weight. 

Today, I weighed in at 128 pounds.  I've gotten as low as 124 pounds in the past few months and I've decided my goal is just to stay under 130 pounds.  My weight fluctuates up and down a few pounds here and there and I am okay with that.  That's just the way it is. To keep myself at a healthy weight, I am eating clean probably 90 percent of the time and I am physically active.  Many weeks, now that the weather is nice, I am walking as much as 50 miles.  I am riding my bike outdoors, too.  In the cooler months, I am following work out DVD's.  I need to add the workout DVD's back into my summer routine; I am a work in progress and I am learning how to find balance and how to MAINTAIN my weight loss, now that the LOSING part is over.  The maintaining part is where I have failed over and over through the years. 

One of the things I enjoy doing about one time each week is to challenge myself to take a photo of everything I ate during the day. That's what I am doing in this post.  I often like to do this on Monday since sometimes I indulge a bit over the weekend.  Taking a photo and sharing what I ate in a day causes me to really think and be accountable about what I am consuming that particular day.  So this post is what I ate yesterday... Tuesday.  Breakfast is noted above. I love this combination and it's quick and easy to throw together in the morning.

Below... I made a smoothie after walking the dogs... unsweetened almond milk, a few strawberries, some ice, and a "smoothie packet" from my freezer (a Ziploc baggie with 1/2 a banana, sliced & a handful of fresh spinach).  This was not my best smoothie.  It needed vanilla or honey or both... and I added so much ice that it tasted watery.  Oh well!

Below... I went to the knit shop in the afternoon and grabbed a salad from my fridge on my way out the door.  This is a new salad I tried this week. It's an Arugula Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes.  The dressing is made from yogurt, honey, Dijon mustard, and turmeric.  The salad also has dried cranberries (low sugar Craisins), and toasted almonds.  A very unusual, but very good salad.  The recipe link is HERE. 

Dinner... we ate out.

I feel a little weird snapping photos at restaurants so I found these photos on the internet.  We ate out at Quincy's Steakhouse in Florence, Colorado. There are five Quincy's locations in the state of Colorado (Leadville, Salida, Florence, Monte Vista, and Buena Vista).  This is an unusual restaurant.  Sunday through Thursday, they serve filet mignon.  Friday and Saturday, they serve prime rib.  The only choice you have is the size of your meat portion (6 oz., 8 oz., etc.) and how well or "done" you would like it to be cooked (rare, medium rare, etc.).  Each meal comes with a wedge salad with a yummy dressing (I think it's a Dijon-Ranch sort of thing), a nice slice of French bread, and a baked potato (with butter and sour cream if you like). You can also have horseradish on the side.  With the menu being so limited, they are able to provide a nice steak dinner at a very low price and the service is rather quick. They are only open for dinner.  My steak dinner with all the fixin's was $9.95.  Such a deal and a tasty treat!  Below is a not-so-great photo of a wedge salad which I snatched from the internet and then there is a nice photo of the steak dinner from Quincy's website (see website HERE).

I enjoyed my steak and baked potato. Ron ate my bread and I had a bite of the cheese cake he ordered.  I had a nice glass of red wine with my steak dinner.

And... before bed, I had some roasted almonds and another glass of wine.  

I hope you enjoy my WIAY posts. They are kind of odd, but I hope you find some tasty and healthy recipe inspiration here on my cooking and baking blog. 

Here's to your health!