Fitness Challenge complete!

I did it! I finished my first ever fitness challenge. And I really quite enjoyed it. And I lost 20 LBS!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!

I really feel awesome about meeting that goal. I wasn't sure I could do it. 20 lbs sounds huge, and 8 weeks does not seem that long. It seems even shorter after it's over. I weighed in this morning at 198. I didn't even gain weight over the weekend!

So what's next? Well, I know what you're thinking. Now she can eat whatever she wants for the Holidays! And you're right, I can. In the same way that I can always eat whatever I want. I need a break from this hard core weight loss, but that means I follow the maintenance plan, not that I fall off track and ruin all my work so far. That being said... I really need to bake something. But I don't need to eat it all. I'll be back for some more really focused weight loss after the new year.

Here are my before and after pictures! They really don't do the difference much justice, but I can feel it, and so can my clothes.

Before

After!

Zuppa Tuscana, Meagan style

So I love the Olive Garden. Who doesn't? But I'm trying to stay away from bread sticks. And pasta. And white sauce. And probably that dressing they drench their salad in. There isn't much left to enjoy. Maybe the minestrone.

Anyway, I can't promise that this recipe I'm about to share is super healthy, but it's healthier than the original, and it's really really good. I basically just used what I had.

6 c water
3-4 red potatoes
4 chicken bouillon cubes
1 lb ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
basil
red pepper flakes
1 c whole milk (or whatever milk you have. I can't imagine it makes that much difference)
2 c chopped spinach

Cut potatoes into thin slices. Boil water and add sliced potatoes and bouillon. Boil potatoes about 10 minutes. Brown ground turkey and add chopped onion. Sprinkle turkey and onion with basil and red pepper flakes to your taste. Add turkey to potatoes. Pour milk into soup and simmer 10 minutes longer. Add spinach just before serving and stir until the leaves are cooked.

I was a little disappointed when I found that the meat in my freezer was turkey, not sausage like you are supposed to use in Zuppa Toscana. In fact, sausage might be the whole point of Zuppa Toscana. But the red pepper flakes and basil spiced it up enough that I honestly didn't miss the sausage at all. And that part is sure to be way healthier. The other common ingredient in this soup is heavy cream. I don't ever keep heavy cream in my fridge, because I don't use it. I have whole milk because my 1 year old drinks it, so I just used that. I didn't miss the cream either. I haven't had the real thing in a long time, so it probably doesn't taste as much like the original as I think it does, but whatever. It was really really good. I might find later that I should call it "Potato soup with turkey and spinach" because it's that different, but I'm satisfied for now. Try it out, and let me know what you think!

Fitness Challenge Update: Week 8!

I can't believe this is the last week of the challenge! I feel like I have kind of lost the last two weeks. Hence the lack of updating. My official Monday weigh in was 201. I am so close to breaking that 200 lb mark I can taste it. In fact, the scale said 199.8 after my workout this morning. But I'm not really counting that yet. What I am counting is that I am wearing my favorite jeans today. They will always be different than they were before, but they fit. They even look pretty darn good.

Moving is awful with kids. It totally threw me off. Lots of letting my emotions run my actions and reactions. But I still lost weight. Which tells me I am doing something right. Through it all, I only missed one day of working out, and that was because my 1 year old was having an early morning meltdown, and my husband really needed to finish his homework. And even though I ate 4 sweet rolls last weekend from the bakery down the street (not all at once) I didn't completely lose my focus. Or give up. And even though I was really angry and bitter about it (my poor husband) I resisted the urge to eat any of the ice cream left over in my freezer from my sisters birthday party. I should have handled that better. My husband threw it all away because I was so upset with myself for even wanting it. And I'm really glad he did. It wasn't even good ice cream. So not worth it. What was worth it was the oatmeal cake. Which is healthier than regular cake because it has oatmeal in it, right? I seriously doubt it. It's loaded with sugar, and I should have sent it home with my sister and her friends to finish. But to be honest, I didn't eat nearly as much of it as I wanted to, and I feel like that is progress.

So yeah, last week sounds pretty bad, huh? I have to take a moment to ask myself how much better I could have done in this challenge if I hadn't eaten all that sugar. But then I have to move on and not get stuck there. I could still get as far as 20 lbs in 8 weeks, and that kind of consistency is an amazing accomplishment.