Freeing the Fat ~ Use Help When Found!

Ok, I know....I know it has been two weeks since my last post. It is summer and summer around here can get very, very busy. I had a wedding and National Fine Arts that kept me from writing. However, with all this craziness it did not keep me from thinking about this life change of mine. I have found that being away from home has made it very difficult to keep track of everything and let my calories get away from me.

But drum roll please..........
A good friend of mine told me about this fantastic free site that can help with this.
Sparkspeople.com



You are gonna love it. You can put every piece of food that you put in your mouth in and it will calculate it for you, give you summaries on how you are doing, watch your water intake and track your exercise. It has recipes, support groups and more. It is fantastic! Go sign up and you can come back and tell me thank you!
I am not a good calorie, fat, carb counter and this does it for me for free...Can I tell you how much I love that! In fact, I just went in and put my breakfast while I typed this.... 270 calories, 38 carbs, 7 grams of fat and 8 grams of protein....toooooo cool!

Meals for the week:

I have been using my 1,200 calorie meal plan my doctor gave me. It is working out pretty good. My dinner last night was very good. Oh, that site I mentioned also has meal plans there. I will probably be checking it out in the future. I have been very satisfied.

Here is a recipe for you ( I made these and the whole family likes them)!

Very Blueberry Muffins
(I got this recipe from the Splenda site)
INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup light margarine, softened
1 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated
¼ cup honey
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup 1% low-fat milk
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed


DIRECTIONS
Place oven rack in top ⅓ of oven.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Lightly spray liners with nonstick cooking spray.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
Beat margarine at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener and honey beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Fold in berries.
Spoon batter evenly into paper lined muffin cups. Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan immediately, and cool on wire rack.


NUTRITION FACTS
Servings Per Recipe: 12
Amount Per Serving

Calories: 160
Calories from Fat: 45
Total Fat: 5.0g
Saturated Fat: 1.0g
Cholesterol: 35mg
Sodium: 280mg
Total Carbs: 26g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 8g
Protein: 4g

Exercise

Grrrrrr....this is my biggest problem! I can't figure out when to fit it in. I am going to continue to try to figure this one out. I will keep you posted.

God's Lesson for Me!
Did I ever tell you all I have IBS?! I do and when I don't eat well...I am a mess. I think it is God's clever way of getting my attention.

In kids church last week I shared with the kids about Divine Healing. I taught them that God heals us in many ways. One of those ways is with our own bodies. He made these bodies that can heal themselves; but we can make our bodies sick by not taking care of them. We have to make good choices to keep it healthy and strong. How true....I need to do my part and eat healthy to keep myself healthy. I can then rely on God's promises for the rest. God shared with me at the start of all this that if I do my part then He would help me, and He has!

Food's Favorite Friends!

Diet Coke! I have to cut down on it because it messes my stomach up...but some days it just hits the spot!

Life Change Challenge

Exercise...it will really make this work!

Next week...

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!