I have to start off by thanking each and everyone of you for your continued support as I journeyed through the past 30 days testing out the Biggest Loser 30 Day Jump Start book. I looked forward to each day and the kind words your comments would bring. I am excited about the results and LOVED everything you said on my morning post (I didn’t know I had so many supporters!) ~ Thanks – you all seriously made my day!

As you all know I am a BIG fan of The Biggest Loser and I really do believe in and support losing weight in a healthy way. To me, this means making lifestyle changes in the foods you eat and becoming active each day. It’s not only important how much you eat (calories) but in the quality of the food you eat (not processed, organic whenever possible, healthy, wholesome choices). I think that there is alot more to losing weight other than calories in versus calories out. If you ask any person who struggles with weight and food, most would tell you it’s 90% mental. Alot of times, we eat to feed our emotions versus fuel our bodies. I’ll be the first to admit I can eat to celebrate ANY emotion ~ happy, sad, stressed, mad…..the list goes on. For all of these reasons and more, this is exactly why I chose to do the Biggest Loser 30 Day Jump Start Diet. It breaks everything down into small, attainable goals that you build on each day for 30 days. You get a sense of accomplishment being able to “check” off and reach each days task at hand. Building confidence through little “successes” helps you get stronger in your journey and empowers you to keep going.

THE LAYOUT:

The book starts off by giving you a basic foundation of what you need to know to be successful. It allows you to develop your “plan” by giving you:

- Tips for success – making the commitment to you, setting up a plan, etc

- Some Biggest Loser Success Story Inspiration – one of my favorite parts because it highlights each cast member with their reason for wanting to lose & what works for them

- You get the lowdown on how to eat – similar to the food pyramid – it’s all about balance and getting in ALL food groups

- Building a fitness foundation – from beginner to advance and how to use the books workouts based on where you are in your own fitness level

- Weekly Summary Breakdown by theme:
*Week 1 – Stuck to your seat
*Week 2 – Meet Your Muscles
*Week 3 – Take It Up a Notch
*Week 4 – Your Very Own Finale!

- A 30 day workout calendar that I highly recommend photocopying and “coloring” in each square as you complete your workout each day

- 30 days of Transformation ~ Each day you have 1 mental aspect to focus on, 1 eating plan that is optional to follow and of course your workout. I LOVE that the book focuses on EACH of these areas EVERY day!

- What’s Next ~ How to continue building on your success!

WORKOUT BASICS:

* They have step by step pictures (with Ali Vincent!) with complete descriptions of how to perform each exercise.
* You workout 6 out of 7 days with 1 day of rest.
* Each day includes simple stretching – so important!
* Cardio & Strength is rotated every other day after the first week which is all cardio
* On the Cardio Days you do 10 minutes of Mobility & Body Weight Exercises – think of deep stretching and Yoga – it’s awesome after a good cardio workout.
* The exercises optinos are presented for BOTH beginners and intermediate.
* Cardio starts out as a simple 20 minute walk and you build up each day by adding on 2 minutes until you reach 50 minutes. You can very this based on your fitness level as walking, jogging or intervals.
* Strength training is designed to work each major body group once per week – upper body, lower body, abs. You start out doing one set and work up to 3 sets.

MY REVIEW OF THE WORKOUTS:

I really like how the book is designed to start out easy and you work your way up. For the beginner you will feel like a pro after you have completed the 30 days and it’s enough to make you sore. For the advanced person, the beginning of the book might seem too easy but by the end I am sure it will have you sweating it up. I tried my best to stick to the workouts that they have in the book, but, if I felt great, I kept going. If I wanted to run instead of walk, I did. I definitely think you get out of the workouts what you put into them. I gave about 80% of what my potential is and I think I could have pushed further for better results. I will definitely continue to use their strength training ideas because they are great. I am not a fan of using books to workout because I find I personally do not usually do that. Give me a printout and I will. If this is an issue for you, then, copy the pages to take with you to the gym.

MY REVIEW OF THE EATING PLAN:

I really like that the book offers up variety ~ I really think that is KEY to being successful in any healthy eating lifestyle. The recipes that they have are absolutely tasty and ones I will repeat in the future. I like that they are not complicated and all are made in 30 minutes or less. I do think it can be a bit overwhelming to try to cook everything they have in the book. It seems like you are cooking full meals sometimes twice a day. It does take alot of preparation in that I shopped one week in advance for ALL the meals and often cooked up the next days meals the night before or on the weekend. I do wish that they would have “leftovers” at least once or twice throughout the week in the form of having last nights dinner for lunch the next day or what not. I often halved the recipes (which typically make 6-8 servings) and it was still more food than was eaten. Maybe they assume you have a family you are feeding it all too? The nice part is I now have a freezer stocked full of homemade frozen dinners for the next month since I didn’t want to waste All that being said the book does give you the option of fixing/eating your own foods not in the plan ~ the main goals are stay within the daily allotted calories and focus on eating all food categories in a healthy way. 1,500 calories of Oreos is alot different than 1,500 calories of healthy eats. Did you know you can get so much MORE healthy food for your calories than junk?

You do eat alot of fish (I made substitutions alot because I can only eat so much fish) and you usually have soup and/or salad with your lunch. I think this is a great idea because it helps you feel fuller on less calories.

TOP 15 FAVORITE RECIPES that I put a spin on – in no particular order. Click any of the recipes to link to the recipes I made.

* Doc’s Chili
* Asian Chopped Salad with Grilled Chicken
* Egg Foo Young for Breakfast!
* Thai Chicken Curry
* Pesto Pizzettas
* Mini Blueberry Muffins
* Spicy Tomato Soup
* Mushroom Soup
* Fish Tacos
* Grilled Chicken Fajitas
* Chunky Applesauce
* Grilled Salmon Burger
* Black Bean, Corn, Avocado Burrito
* Stuffed Mushrooms
* Confetti Couscous

TOP 7 FAVORITE MENTAL LESSONS:

* Reaching your goal is like “the happiest feeling you could imagine times ten thousand!” I remember this every day when I am tempted.

* You have to be doing this for you!

* Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable – “Once you learn to step out of your comfort zone and face your fears, the world will be at your feet”.

* You are capable of more than you think

* What is hunger? Use the Hunger Scale to determine hunger/fullness

* Act As If – Fake it til you make it! “It’s a prcess. If you fail, keep starting over. New habits and routines take weeks to master.” Can you guess who said this?

* Make Best Friends with Yourself – “It’s not bout being in control, it’s about being empowered.” And who said this? Hint they are both trainers….

OVERALL:

I have to say I absolutely LOVED the book even if it did require some work. Nobody ever said that being healthy and fit would be easy, they just say it’s worth it! I absolutely agree. I am proud of the results I had in a month – sure, I probably could’ve pushed it a little more and not dined out or had a few treats, but, you know what, that is not me. If I am changing my lifestyle, I will go out to eat & make healthy choices, sometimes I’ll have the cake and sometimes I won’t. But, what matters most is that you eat healthy 80% of the time for the 20% of the treats you choose to indulge in as you enjoy life. It’s not realistic to say I’d never eat another piece of cake. The 30 day Jump Start allowed me to follow a healthy eating and workout plan, while mixing in life’s fun AND losing weight plus inches. What more could you ask for?

If you are looking to buy it, I definitely think it’s work the money if you think you can commit to yourself for 30 days. You can check out more of the details on amazon.com (they let you page through some of it) and/or buy it online by clicking HERE.

I would love to know your thoughts of my gigantic review Please feel free to share and ask away.

Do you have any questions you want answered about the book that I didn’t address?

Happy Hump Day all! I am free, I am free ~ I successfully finished the 30-day Biggest Loser Jump Start plan with my final weigh in and measurements this morning. Drum roll please…..this week I lost 1.6 lbs, bringing my grand total weight loss to 5.2 lbs with a total of 4.25 inches lost all around my body!!! You know, I am pretty happy with this number because hello it’s down and it’s in the right direction. I enjoyed the processed and some treats along the way, yet, never felt deprived. But, more on my thoughts on the book, etc, coming up in my BOOK REVIEW tonight!

This morning for breakfast, I have to admit, I was a bit lost ~ like, wow, I have to think about what to eat. Yet, at the same time, I was like WOW – what do I want to have – this and that and that LOL.

I ended up deciding a simple breakfast that started with 1 WWP bowl full of farmer’s market strawberries.

I was completely craving almond butter – I knew without a doubt, this would be part of today’s plan. I had 2 Kashi Strawberry Flax waffles with 1 Tbsp freshly ground almond butter

and 1 Tbsp natural apricot preserves.

All smoothed together to make a 6 WWP wafflewich – how I missed my wafflewiches!

We didn’t have any water at work this morning so someone was nice enough to bring in big jugs of Starbuck’s coffee ~ yeah! I filled up my cool cup with some 1/2 decaf and 1/2 hot water since it was soooo thick and strong. And my “empty” Nathan Bottle. This breakfast totally hit the spot.

How cool are the Sonoma Crisps Peeps? Not only has Hikari started an awesome blog that is FUN to read, she posted an awesome post today about my Sonoma Crisps Review!!! Click HERE to check it out ~ My blogging friends – Be sure to check it out and read all the way to the bottom! Thanks so much Hikari – you’re awesome beyond words!

TODAY’S TON OF FUN STUFF:

GIVEAWAYS:

* This is a giveaway you might want to pass on because well, I WANT it. Click HERE to enter Amanda’s Nut butter Giveaway.

* Missy is having another giveaway – click HERE to enter to win some Rudy’s Bakery Goodies!

* Win a free year of Women’s Health with Simply Bars. Click HERE.

* Coconut Bliss Ice Cream – YUM! Click HERE to enter to win a coupon for a free pint!

FREE SAMPLES!!

* My absolute favorite freeby site, Walmart is having a host of FREE samples you can have emailed to you. Click HERE to check them out and get yours!

* Wanna have a Fling?? Click HERE and then click on special savings to have your FREE Sample coupon mailed to you for this Naughty but not so Naughty Chocolate Bar.

Ok ~ That should keep you all busy for awhile! I am so glad the week is half over and we are on the downhill side towards our LONG weekend ~ Yeah! Catch you all later today.

Tonight the 30-day Jump Start called for non-other than Fish! Are you surprised? Really, are you? I tried convincing myself ALL day it’s only one day, you can do it, seriously – don’t mind you’ve eaten it like 10 of the 30 days, you can do it! Then, I had a brilliant idea….Shrimp is like fish so it all counts the same in the end, right?! Ok….well, it’s higher in cholesterol but Salmon is higher in fat….so it’s a tie ~ see, Shrimp = Fish! Good logic, right?

Now that I’ve completely confused you, I will tell you how dinner went down tonight. I decided to make my Healthy Version of Shrimp Scampi. You can click HERE to get the recipe from when I made it before – it’s awesome and only 3 WWP per 6 shrimp serving! I had 2 servings (6 WWP) to count as my 5 oz of fish on the 30 JS diet.

1/2 cup of TJ’s Organic Brown Rice that is in the freezer section – cook it for 3 minutes and tadah! This is the ONLY brown rice I can get The Husband to eat – it’s THAT good.

For veggies, I took all that fabulous farmer’s market squash and carmelized it in a little olive oil. Seasoned it with salt, pepper and topped it with a little parmesan. Here was the result – so tasty and colorful!

All together with 8 oz of fat free milk & fizzy water – it was such a fast dinner that I looked forward to.

I may have had one of THESE cookies from last night too but I can’t remember since I don’t have any pictures as proof

SPEAKING OF DESSERT ~ Have you all seen THIS dessert from the SELF Dishes Magazine that came out a few years back? (Yes, I have it too lol). It came out this week in their newsletter and reminded me I STILL need to make it!

Ok – maybe not my best Jump Start day….It sort of feels wierd to be done – I am excited to weigh in and measure tomorrow but at the same time sad it’s all over.

I promise a full review of the Biggest Loser 30-day Jump Start Diet coming up soon – probably tomorrow night. For now I am off to read my new book and zonk out!

See you in the morning!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SIS!!!! I completely meant to post that this morning, but, my work day took off before I remembered. Hey, it’s not midnight yet, so it still counts (don’t judge LOL). I also text edand called her so you know that counts. Plus, I told her she gets a spa day with me so um, I think, it’s all good! Now….when, can I get that scheduled…..

This morning before heading off to the farmer’s market, I had another awesome Jump Start snack.

1 oz 99% ff Turkey
1 oz TJ’s Lite Cheddar Cheese
2 Kavli Hearty Crackers
Freshly Ground Pepper

This was such a satisfying and crunchy snack! Then, it was off to the market we went. I scored some amazing things again and had way too many samples! I LOVE Bolani Breads and Spreads – I think the guy had us sample like 10 different combinations ~ Yum! Glad it’s all low fat/low cal.

Here is everything I picked up today. I bought a pound of Rainier and Red Cherries:

And 3 baksets of organic strawberries for $5 ~ Farmer’s Market Tip ~ go to the market a 1/2 hour before they close and everyone wants to get rid of stuff – You can get discounts and score free stuff.

A bunch of mixed organic zuchinni and squash (dinner tonight!)

Plus, you all knew it was coming – Bolani Bread and spreads! This time I bought basil pesto and sun dried tomato hummus ~ YUM!

My absolute favorite Bolani boy wasn’t there – too bad, he loads us up with free stuff. His cousin was there today and he tossed in a free spread plus pita bread.

I didn’t take a picture, but, I also bought a 1/2 lb of organic raw walnuts for $5 – yeah!

I LOVE going to the Market and think I’ll be heading out to the local one by our house on Thursday and/or Saturday since each market offers something different.

When we got back, I wasn’t really ready for lunch (ummm, too many samples?) but I was so excited for it that I knew I needed to make it up!

Chicken Pesto Pasta

4 oz grilled chicken (sea salt, pepper, olive oil)
1 c cooked multigrain penne
1 c steamed broccoli (toss it in your boiling pasta water for the last 3 minutes)
2 Tbsp of chopped sun dried tomatoes
2 tsp pesto (I used my Bolani Basil Pesto)
salt & pepper to taste

Shake it all up and tadah! So easy, so chalked full of flavor – the sweetness of the tomatoes, crunch of the broccoli and spice of the pesto – delish!

I also had 1 c of cherries on the side:

All together with some fizzy water. I sadly only had the chance to eat about 1/3 of my pasta before I got on an hour long conference call It wasn’t too appealing after sitting out for an hour. I DID eat all my cherries though.

I had the best of intentions today of avoiding the cake I made last night for my co-workers birthday. But, when cake time rolled around, a plate jumped in front of me. I started to take a bite before I remembered – wait, take a picture!

I LOVE this Banana Raspberry Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese frosting – would you believe me if I told you it’s not that bad nutritionally? It’s from CookingLight.com and it is only 6 WWP for a BIG ole slice of heaven!

I started off my morning with a new 30-day Jump Start recipe that I made up last night. I have to say I was a little skeptical when I first saw them come out of the oven, but, you know what, they are quite tasty.

Baked Eggs in Savory Turkey Cups

These are soooo easy to make. I made a half batch last night and heated them up this morning. Click HERE for the recipe.

I served up two delicious turkey cups this morning without the cilantro – I forgot.

Along with 1 c of awesome Farmer’s Market Strawberries. I can’t wait to get more today!

All together with 8 oz FF milk and some decaf coffee in the Hooray! mug.

Today is the last day of the 30 Day BL Challenge – yahoo! I am sadly going to miss having everything planned out. But, I promise a full book review and final WI coming tomorrow.

I seriously rocked yesterday’s stats and had to share:

Calories burned: 3,263
Steps taken: 16,312
Calories Consumed: 1,520

TODAY’S FUN NEWS:

Did you all know that Trader Joe’s has seriously helped to make your shopping list easier? On their website you can find a listing of everything that they sell based on your preferences.

* No Gluten, Fat Free, VEGAN, Vegetarian, Heart Healthy, Quick Meal, Kosher. Click HERE to download the list you want. How cool is that?! Just another reason I LOVE you TJ’s!!!

* Today’s Fun Giveaway – Do you LOVE Salsa? Check out Julie’s Salsa Givesaway – enter by sharing the most creative way you use it. Click HERE and be sure to tell us what your idea was….hint, hint, I used it this morning in my breakfast cups.

Have a Terffiic Tuesday all! Today is insanely busy, but, I will check back as soon as I can ~ TTFN!

Today was one of those days where I was running all around solving problems, yet, I ended the day feeling like I hadn’t quite accomplished very much. Oh well, it’s only Monday and I still have 3 1/2 days left to get things done. 1/3-1/2 a day because we are having a big BBQ to kick off Memorial Day weekend at work on Friday (then, they send us off after stuffing us) – yahoo! But, more on that later this week, let’s get down to today.

This morning before our walk, I snacked on 3 Kavli Thin Crisps (probably my favorite flavor yet!) with 1 Tbsp freshly ground organic almond butter and all natural apricot preserves.

Check out thin they are – so crispy and light, but, flavorful. I made a mini almond butter sandwich with my odd ball 3rd one since 3 make up a 50 calorie serving.

We went for a nice hour long 4 mile power walk today at lunch and it felt great. Not too hot and with a slight breeze. It was the perfect way to mix up the day and get outside. When I came back, I dug into my prepack lunch. I took my pictures this morning before leaving with the intentions of auto-posting (um, ya, it never happened )

I made up a Big Jump Start Chef Salad that included:

1 oz lean ham (instead of roast beef)
3 c organic romaine
1/4 avocado
1 sliced scallion
a few cherry tomatoes
2 Tbsp Newman’s Own Lighten Up Cranberry Walnut

Along with 1/2 c watermelon – I promise, it’s all gone now so I’ll move onto some other fruit. For dessert, I couldn’t resist my co-worker’s offer of the BEST CHOCOLATE EVER. Dove Creamy and Smooth Dark chocolate – I had 2 squares and savored each bite as I read the cheesy “promise” quote on the inside. I swear I LOVE candies that speak to me!

My afternoon snack was 2 oz lean turkey with spinach & spicy mustard on a slice of Ezekiel bread.

Now are you all prepared to laugh! I LOVE The Husband and his “style”. We are in the process of having our driveway and city sidewalks redone in concrete. I came home to his super cool look with work boots and ALL. HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS?!

He was supposed to let the people we were paying do the work, but, being the good helper he is (see he learned well in school), he was out there helping out! I tried telling him that is why we PAY the people, but, he couldn’t take just watching and not helping LOL.

The 30 day Jump Start called for a funky dinner that I honestly was just not feeling ~ Lebanese Kabobs. You can click HERE to get the recipe which sounds good, but, I think you have to be in the mood. Plus, in all honesty, I have been waiting for the book to make my favorite Biggest Loser Recipe of all time – The Almost Fast Food Burger. Since it wasn’t part of the book, I decided to make up my own menu tonight for about the same calories all together.

I used Trader Joe’s 96% Lean Ground Beef and seasoned it with garlic salt, onion powder, freshly ground pepper and nonstick spray before grilling them up. Topped with lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumber chips and a special sauce. The special sauce includes lowfat mayo, ketchup, spicy mustard, hot sauce all whipped together. I do NOT like Mayo at all, but, you cannot taste it in this recipe – it’s like a spicy, creamy sauce.

On the side I made up an awesome Cucumber, Tomato, Avocado Salad.

2 Persian Cucumbers, sliced
handful of cherry tomatoes halved
1/2 avocado, cubed
sprinkled with garlic salt & freshly ground pepper
Drizzled with ~ 2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 Tbsp White Balsamic, 1/4 tsp honey

This dinner completely hit the spot! After dinner, I made up the Banana Raspberry Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting for tomorrow. You will remember when I made it HERE for Rachel’s birthday. I owed my co-worker a real baked cake and let her pick what she wanted. This is such an easy and great recipe – you all really need to try it for your next occassion – it’s the perfect guilt free treat!

Speaking of treats, I didn’t want The Husband to feel left out so I made up a batch of my famous Chocolate Chips Walnut Cookies.

Not quite as healthy as the cake, but, honestly – sooo addictive and delicious. I get requests to make these all the time so I know I will have to share some tomorrow too. Let me know if you want me to post the recipe and I’ll be glad to share.

While all my goodies were baking, we visited with The Husband’s sister, planned out our Vegas Vacation – Can’t Wait! and I prepped food for tomorrow.

Phew ~ that was a long night and a long post! You seriously rock if you made it through all of that and still want more LOL…..

I am off to catch some zzzzz’s! Tomorrow is day 30 – the final day of the 30 day Jump Start and Farmer’s Market Tuesday….yahoo! Too bad The Biggest Loser will not be on, but, I guess it will give me a chance to work on my BL 30-day Jump Start Book Review.

See you all l8r!

Happy Monday all! Our little heat wave is finally breaking today and we are going back into the 80′s. Yahoo! I love sunshine and warm weather, just not blazing hot heat. Today is day 29 of the Biggest Loser 30 day Jump Start – yeah! With 2 days left, I decided to hold off on my official final Weigh In until Wednesday.

This morning I started off with an awesome bowl of Steel Cut Oats (5 WWP) ~ I’ve missed oats so much!

1/3 c steel cut oats
1 1/3 c water
dash of cinnamon
2 Tbsp TJ’s Berry Blend
1/2 banana
1 Tbsp Walnuts

Plus 2 slices of TJ’s 97% fat free turkey bacon (1 WWP):

And to start off properly hydrated I had 2 glasses of iced decaf coffee using 8 oz of fat free milk (2 WWP).

My breakfast was sooooo filling! I really want my AM snack but we will see if I get hungry by then.

Confession time ~ Last night, yup, the ice cream called my name and I listened. It was so refreshing after a hot day and I enjoyed it as I started on my next book. I had layed out a few books on the couch and told The Husband to pick which one he thought I should start next.

Can you guess which one he picked?

The Importance of Being Married ~ Ha!!! He said since we are still in our first year, I should read up ~ such a funny boy! LOL.

If you LOVE coffee, be sure to check out Tina’s super cool Coffee Giveaway ~ Click HERE to enter!

That’s I have for now ~ See you all later for some more fun eats after my lunchtime walk.

I am the type of person that just goes, goes, goes and I rarely take much more than an hour to sit down and relax. (Not sure if you all noticed that yet or not.) Today I was reminded of why I don’t do that too often – it makes me want to snack like crazy! Do you all have that problem? The Husband broke out a bowl of Annie’s Organic Bunny Snack mix and I found myself digging in too.

Luckily you get 45 pieces for a 3 WWP serving. I stopped when I realized I was eating it just because it was there!

Dinner tonight was simple and fast since neither of us felt like cooking. I started off with 2 oz of grilled chicken that was marinated in a ginger/garlic marinate.

With another 3 WWP serving of the Confetti Couscous – this is just as good the next day – LOVE it!

And some cool, crunchy sliced cucumber with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

The one good thing about the weather being soooo hot is that I drink a ton of water and feel less hungry. I had my dinner with my Nathan Bottle full of iced cold water.

I am content and full even though we ate at 5:30 tonight. I think I am craving just more water because I want something cool – I am not hungry so I do not need to eat anything else. I’ll let you all know in the AM if my brain wins the battle or not!

Have a great night ~ I am off to pick out another book to read.

Do you have a favorite book you think I should read? I am always looking to expand my stack of books.

The Husband and I decided to take a walk up to Starbuck’s this morning before the temperature reached 104 degrees. We left at 10 AM and leisurely walked the 2 miles – it was sooooo hot already. It was totally worth it to me because I wanted to get one of the MUGS I told you all about last week. I was sooo thoroughly bummed when they said they ALL sold out last week and even the employees didn’t get to buy one. I am so going on a quest to find one now especially since The Husband is on board with one too (he gets a Starbuck’s daily!).

It didn’t stop me from getting a Venti Black Iced Tea because it was seriously hot out. At that point I did sort of wish we drove so I could go to another Starbucks to get a mug LOL.

On our walk back, we saw a bunch of kids and a roller skating girl running through the city fountions. For a moment, I ALMOST said let’s do it….then I remembered, ya, um, white tank top, not such a good idea LOL.

We pondered some vacation plans for Memorial Day and for June as we walked. We are heading to Las Vegas and to check out the Grand Canyon in June – yeah! We we got back we snacked on some more BBQ PopChips while we cooked lunch.

I made up an awesome fast, White Bean w/Bacon & Pesto that was in the BL 30 Day Jump Start book. This one is a total keeper especially since we were able to eat it on a 100+ degree day.

Add 1 tsp of olive oil to pan along with 6 oz of chopped canadian bacon. “Fry” until lightly browned, remove and set aside.

In the same pan, add all the following and saute for about 5 minutes:

2 tsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery

Add in and cook for 1 minute:

1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp fresh time

Add 32 oz chicken broth and bring to a boil

Add 3 cans of white beans (I used 2 white bean and 1 garbanzo bean) and your 6 oz of chopped canadian bacon.

Simmer for 5 minutes, remove from heat, top with 1 tsp pesto and serve.

You can find 2 of my favorite pesto recipes by clicking HERE and HERE.

NI: Makes 8 1 cup servings, per 1 cup – 180 cal, 13 g protein, 22 g carbs, 2 g sugars, 5 g fat, 2 saturated fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 8 g fiber, 470 mg sodium ( 3 WWP)

Along with my soup, I had 1 cup of watermelon.

I knew this would fill me up so I didn’t even make the broccoli side salad that the book called for. All together with my pesto before I stired it in and some cool fizzy water.

This afternoon I was really craving something sweet and nutty. I opted for a Triple Chocolate Vitatop that I got at the HG Book Signing topped with 1 Tbsp of organic crunchy PB – sooooo decadent and good! This is a great 3 WWP treat feels like you are having something bad for you.

Can I just say it’s sooooo hot today?! I am glad we decided to stay inside all day long and I forced myself to relax. I did such a great job checking things off my list that I felt like I earned it. I read a magazine and finished the book I was reading with some of my favorite WW friends ever ~ Bikini Season ~ LOVE this book! It’s an awesome summer read.

I LOVE it when you get 8 full hours of sleep and wake up early feeling completely rested. I think that is one of the best parts about the weekend ~ I wish weekdays were like that all the time

I started my day off with a fairly big 30 day Jump Start breakfast. I made up an EggWhite Wich with my Homemade Turkey Sausage ~ so sad this is the last one in the freezer – must, make, more…..

1 Thomas Double Fiber WW English Muffin (1 WWP)
3 “fried” egg whites (1 WWP)
1 Homemade Turkey Sausage (1 WWP)
1 slice Lite Cheddar Cheese (2 WWP)
I didn’t use the sliced tomatoes

On the side I had a big orange that I only managed to eat 1/2 of before I was full. (1 WWP)

All together with 1 c ff milk (2 WWP) and some decaf Cinnamon Vanilla Nut Coffee.

I have a feeling this breakfast is going to hold me over well – no AM snack needed, but, I’ll be sure to let you know

On Friday, at the recommendation of my great friend, Cryssy (who told me w/my luck, I need to enter bigger contests lol), I entered this contest where they sent me this cool pdf article. It is about 25 secrets to Healthy Living on a Healthy Planet ~ great information and I wanted to share. Click HERE to download your own copy.

Today is all about staying cool and working that todo list. Enjoy your Sunday!