Sizzlin Summer Slim Down

Ok, first up I have to apologize because ALL summer I have been "loosing" weight NOT "losing weight". I am officially an idiot, this made me laugh....I am sure everyone has been like say what? I think fast, type fast and I am a poor poor proof-reader. Odd, that I run a blog...huh? Anyhoo....my bad!

Friends can you believe the time has come.........not only is Labor Day next weekend but the end of Summer is arriving. This means the end of wearing white and the end of the Sizzlin Summer Slim Down. I will be honest I do not think I did as well as I could have but I also started a new job which threw me off my focus for a bit. (Such an excuse I know)! Now, I know I know......we all have this week and we are ALL going to end strong!
Let me say that this isn't the end........my family is coming THIS Thursday (YAY) and they leave next Monday and I am just putting this out there.......we are going to eat good and so am I! I realize I might gain 2 pounds or so but I am going to enjoy this Labor Day weekend and re-commit on Tuesday!
I started this challenge at the beginning of Summer at 158 and yes, we have this week....but as of this past Friday I am 152.8....SOO I lost a little over 6 pounds this summer which puts me at 23.2 total lost!
How did you do? Anything is a win in my eyes and should be in yours too! 1 pound, 4 pounds......anything is an accomplishment and I applaud you!

Whats next? I think I am going to start a new series that a friend has inspired me to create......
Back to Basics
I am going to start at the beginning when I first started cooking, I am also going to incorporate WW values and I hope to show you anyone can cook! I was once a beginner and everyone has to start somewhere, those recipes I started with are still in my rotation today!
I will do basics, try to post videos, answer questions and I will give out my favorite recipes for beginners. I am just a home cook with a passion for food and I do live my life "One Meal at a Time'......

Slimspiration

Hi Guys! Happy Monday! I am so excited to share with you all another wonderful weight loss story that inspires me! I am personally in a rut with my WW, weight loss and all of it.....so this story and hearing Sarah's story comes at the perfect time for me!

Any comments you leave I will 100% before to pass on to Sarah! Enjoy friends!

This is Sarah's "Before" Picture...........

Hi everyone in the blogosphere my name is Sarah Ledgerwood. Nicole asked me to share my weight loss journey with you all so here is my story. Much like Nicole I grew up in the OKC Metro area and I moved to Tampa, FL about 5 years ago. I knew no one when I moved here except my now fiancé and his buddies. I had never been “domestic” before and I ate with my parents, ate out, or ate frozen dinners when I lived in OKC. Cooking was of no interest to me other than mac and cheese, ramen, etc. When I moved here I knew I needed to learn to cook so I started teaching myself with Paula Deen, Pioneer Woman, and any other celeb chef recipes I could find that sounded and looked good. We all know Paula likes her butter and mayo, those recipes combined with my unawareness of portion control, along with depression caused by homesickness and adjusting to life in Tampa led to weight gain of 60 + lbs. In the Summer of 2010 we went with our friends to the Florida Keys on vacation. After seeing pictures from that trip I knew I had to make a change. My former roommate/best friend had been very successful at Weight Watchers so I made the decision to join and have never looked back. The week I joined Weight Watchers I was at my highest weight ever at 231.8 lbs. When I joined I decided I was going to give it my all and do my best, I made up my mind that failure was not an option for me. I discovered early on that I am an emotional eater and that I was eating WAY more food than I should be each meal. Weight Watchers taught me how to control my portions, make smart food choices, and turn to other activities to channel my emotions instead of through eating. I started WW in August of 2010 and in May of 2012 I received my Lifetime Membership after losing 70 lbs. I have maintained that weight loss for a year and three months now. Maintaining the loss has not been hard because WW became my lifestyle over time, not a diet. Because you only lose small amounts of weight weekly the “program” becomes a routine and a part of your life over time. Another motivation for me to keep my weight loss off is I added up the cost I spent to lose my weight and I DO NOT want to waste that money and have to pay WW again, once you get your Lifetime membership you get E-Tools and monthly membership free as long as you stay within 2 lbs of your goal weight…………it sounds scary at first but they equip you with the tools to do this. In June of this year I became an employee of WW because I wanted to encourage and help others during their weight loss journey as I had been helped and encouraged along the way.

Nicole asked me to share a favorite recipe, that’s hard because I have not met a recipe off of the Skinnytaste website that I did not like. I enjoy taking favorite recipes and making them more WW friendly by swapping out ingredients like instead of oil use greek yogurt, instead of 2% milk use fat free, instead of heavy whipping cream use fat free half and half or fat free evaporated milk. It is like a game to me now, how low can I get the points values for a favorite dish and have a good size portion. The recipe builder on WW E-Tools is a lifesaver.

Everyone needs to find what works best for them as far as their weight loss journey. If you are doing WW my best advice, TRACK! Plan ahead, I plan my meals for the entire week on the weekend before so there are no surprises. Believe in yourself, don’t give up, and don’t look back. If you lose weight and your clothes get too big, donate them, do not hold onto them as your “fat” clothes that you can save just in case you need them again in the future. Liberate yourself of them, it is a great feeling, trust me. Find someone to be your cheerleader along the way, my fiancé was mine and when I hit my goal weight I made him go to my meeting with me to celebrate because he helped get me there also, I didn’t do it on my own. Most importantly celebrate any weight loss, 0.2 is still a loss to be celebrated, also don’t beat yourself up if you have a gain; just resolve to do better the next week. Try to have fun with it, do not look at it as a diet, look at it as a lifestyle change and over time it will become a routine for you.

Although I do not have an awesome blog like Nicole’s and I don’t have a Facebook page I do have an email address and will do my best to answer any questions, I am here to help any and all on their weight loss journeys. My email is Ledge217@aol.com

This is Sarah's "After" Picture....she looks incredible!!!

Sizzlin Summer Slim Down....

Hi Friends!!! ok....I want to jump right in and confess that I did not loose anything this week. So for the past few weeks I have stayed the same right at 155. I know exactly why that is too......I haven't tried really hard. I have been plagued with migraines and honestly WW or loosing weight has been the last thing on my mind. BUT, I am in no way jumping ship...trust me! I still want to loose at LEAST 10-15 more pounds! I fully intend on committing myself again real soon, I miss the weeks I know have been right on and then standing on that scale to see some lost is a great feeling. But I also wanted to be honest with you all that life happens, it happens to all of us! This week let's all try to have a salad AND/OR veggie with every meal!

I want to share with you a meal I made last week for Matt and I and it was very good!!!
Skinny Taste Naked Turkey Bruschetta Burgers! You can find the recipe HERE or below.....

Naked Turkey Bruschetta Burgers
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 5  • Size: 1 burger  • Old Points: 6 pts • Weight Watcher Points+: 7 pt 
Calories: 288 • Fat: 14 g • Carb: 10 g • Fiber: 2 g • Protein: 27 g • Sugar: 0 g
Sodium: 169 mg (without the salt) • Cholest: 10 mg
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
• 3 medium vine ripe tomatoes
• 2 small cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 3 oz part skim mozzarella, diced

For the turkey zucchini burgers:

• 1.25 lbs 93% lean ground turkey
• 1 small zucchini, grated (1 cup, or 5 oz)
• 1/4 cup seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• 1 tbsp red onion, grated
• salt and fresh pepper
• oil spray

Combine the red onion, olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Set aside a few minutes while you chop the tomatoes, then place in the bowl. Add the garlic, basil and additional salt and pepper, to taste and mix well and set aside. Toss in the cheese when ready to serve.

Squeeze the excess moisture from the zucchini in a paper towel. In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, shredded zucchini, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Form into 5 equal sized patties about 5 oz each, forming them as flat as possible.

Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. When hot, lightly spray with oil. Add the burgers to the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until browned, about 4 minutes, then flip and cook another 4 minutes, careful not to burn.

To serve, arrange 3 slices of tomatoes on each dish, then place 1 cup arugula on top in the center, then top with the burger and finish with the bruschetta (don't forget to add the cheese), serve right away.

** We ate ours with my favorite Summer Side my Grilled Summer Corn HERE! 

Sizzlin Summer Slim Down

Can you believe it is Week 6 already?? Last week I actually lost 2 1/2 pounds BUT sadly 2 of those pounds were ones I had gained about a week ago or so. This weeks "re-lose" actually goes perfect into what I want to talk about this week! I was going to talk about a Slimmer Dessert Make-Over but I think this week I want to talk about forgiving yourself......

I have talked to many of you via email/text/FB and we are ALL battling the same thing......finding our inner encouragement! Last week I saw first hand HOW awful it is to "re-lose" pounds again. I think man I could of lost 2 1/2 pounds and been that much closer to our Summer goal but I didn't. I am not perfect, you are not perfect and we are ALL a work in progress! One of the hardest parts of losing weight I have found is disapointment. We can try our best ALL week and then not lose or in my case I can blow it on junk food one week BUT we all have to shake it off and jump back on.
There are many reasons we might blow a week:
- Emotional eating
- Certain "Times of the month" cause me to fluctuate 2-3 pounds more
- Celebrations, Holidays and Birthdays
- Feeling sick; for me when I have a migraine I can't let myself get hungry...I have to eat more to combat the nausea.
- Spouses; all our spouses mean well but when they "suggest" popcorn/candy/etc the chances are great that we will join in.

So I think the biggest thing we can ALL learn, myself included is to jump back on it and re-commit! Are you with me?
I have a few recipes I have come across in the past weeks that I loved or are going to try that I want to share with you all..........
Enjoy!

* "Creamy" Penne Pasta using Greek Yogurt you can see HERE! This is on my list to make!

* Naked Bruschetta Turkey Burger is Matt and I's dinner tonight! You can see the recipe HERE!

* This Roasted Peach Parfait is going to be my breakfast for a few days! But I will substitute the honey for low fat Agave Nectar! The recipe is HERE!

* Lemon Dill Chicken HERE! Dill is one of my favorite Summer herbs so this looks delish!

"Slim-spiration"

I am so excited to share with you the first "spotlight" for our Sizzlin Summer Slim Down! I know Traci from Junior Hospitality Club in Okc and I have been following her weight loss journey via Facebook! Thank you Traci for being so open, I am amazed by your weight loss! I was so excited when she agreed to share her journey with all of us! I mean this really inspires me..........

I come from a family of over weight people. I have an aunt who is over 400 lbs, and at 50 can barely walk from her bedroom to the restroom. As a child, I was never overweight. I was very active, and at age 18 when I met my now husband, I was a size five. My family never ate out, so when I was growing up, there wasnt much fast food eaten. My husband's family, on the other hand, ate out ALL THE TIME! I think that was what got my weight gain started. We dated for 2 years, and in the 6 months from buying my wedding dress to our wedding day, it was TOO SMALL (nightmare!)! I was heart broken, embarrassed and really disappointed with myself. But, I had never had a weight problem, and didnt really know what to do about it (or so I convinced myself!), so, what did I do????ATE! I continued to gain weight and just refused to think about it. From time to time, I would get fed up, and "try" something (weight watchers, slim fast, atkins, tan and tone, they gym, you name it, I tried it), but I really dont think I ever really "Tried" anything 100%, i just did it half way, for a while and when there were no results, I would give up. I had convinced myself that I didnt care if I was overweight, and that I just couldnt loose it.

I never really thought about it, but being overweight has totally changed my life....when your in it, you dont see it, but having gone through this for almost a year now, I see how horrible my self-esteem was. I just didnt feel like I ever fit in, or that i was worthy of anything good! I let weight keep me from riding rides at amusement parks or water parks with my daughter. I never wanted to go on walks, or really do much physical because I just was hard to do. I tried not to act like it bothered me, but it consumed my every thought! I hated eating in front of people, it was bad!

After being married for 5 years, we began trying to get pregnant.....surprise surprise, we had problems, partially because I was over weight (i have PCOS, which can be caused by weight issues). So, we tried for a year to get pregnant....after many tiers and prayers and lots of fertility treatments, PRAISE God, we did get pregnant and have a beautiful 12 year old blessing! We unfortunately tried for the past 7 years to conceive again, and have not been able to (again, much stress, tiers, and anger).

I cant honestly say there was any one thing that made me decide I was going to really "TRY" for real this time, but I started my journey/healthy lifestyle on 8/1/12. I dont tell people this AT ALL, but for the purposes of inspiring people (hopefully I do), my highest weight (about 5 years ago) was ....get ready, its bad.....297!(dont judge...I cant believe I just typed that number. Now, it full disclosure, I did weight watchers 5 years ago, and lost 20ish lbs, and kept them off. SO, when I started 8/1/12, I weight....another huge number....278 (i am 5'7"). When I started I had not been working out, so I started out just walking our very hilly neighborhood, 4 times a week for 30 to 40 min. After a month, I joined the Y (with my husband, who had about 30 lbs to loose....thank God for him, he has been great through all of this, b/c with all of the things ive "tried" im sure he was thinking, here we go again). When we joined the Y, we met a great trainer that walked us through the gym, and basically asked me what I wanted to do. He told me to get in 45 min of cardio 4 days a week. I also got the My Fitness Pal app on my phone, which after I plugged everything in told me to eat 2000 cal per day (which I had a hard time getting that many calories down....its hard to do when your eating right). I made a commitment to myself to get my weekly exercise in, not go over my calories AND LOG EVERYTHING I PUT IN MY MOUTH! Its really that simple! In the past, I would work out OR eat "right", but never BOTH consistently, and when it didnt work, I gave myself permission to give up. This time, I did both, and i logged (which is totally key). My fit pal is great and it makes it so easy!

Today, I have lost 88lbs (Im in "ONEDERLAND" for the first time in a long time) and weigh 190! Which is still way more than I would like and I am still loosing, but it has slowed down ALOT! Im not getting discouraged, just keeping up the same as I did to loose it. I am now eating 1400 calories, doing 45 min to an hour of high intensity cardio (usually elliptical), lifting weights a few times a week, and still, have not missed one day of logging my food! I have walk/jogged two 5ks, and attended several "boot camps", which I would have never done in the past. I dont LOVE exercise, and I really miss cheese cake, but I am so happy I pushed myself out of my comfort zone!

I have done this without any surgery, crazy drugs or anything like that....there is no easy way.....eat right, and exercise, and anyone can do it!

I am still working on my years and years of self esteem issues, and still see a very overweight person when I look in the mirror. I started out wearing a 2X shirt, and I am now a med to large. My pant size was a 22 and I am now in a 12. The other day I was shopping with my husband and picked up a shirt that was an XL. He said that is huge, it will never fit, but I insisted it would (it was huge), but I just dont see the dramatic difference! I have a really hard time accepting complements about my weight loss and it shocked me that you were interested in sharing my story, because to me, I just cant accept what I have done is that amazing!

Hopefully this is what you were looking for and isnt too long. Feel free to take out anything you need to.

Traci

Any comments you leave for Traci I will make sure she gets them! Would you like to share your journey? You don't have to be at the end of it either....we are all a work in progress aren't we? Send your story to me at nsavage@live.com to be featured!

Perfect Summer Side....

To me corn on the cob is like a summer staple and after you grill your corn you will never boil again! I promise! I even have Matt grill extra when he is home so I can cut it off the cob and eat it during the week with my lunch and dinner! Corn itself is basically 0 WW points so all you are adding is butter, so this is a very WW friendly side!

This is hardly a "recipe" but I want to share with you our favorite Summer Side!

 * Start by cleaning up your corn so it is ready to slather on the goodness! I only use maybe 1 teaspoon of unsalted butter per cob but that is completely up to you and your family! I also found this amazing Chipotle corn seasoning at World Market but you can use anything!

* Separate your clean cobs on individual foil, rub on some butter and season! Easy Peasy........

* Just wrap these bad boys up and pop them on a hot grill! Matt grills them for about 20 minutes while rotating them occasionally! And you can't really cook them too long, so don't be tempted to open them up or pull off early!

* When they are done you get this roasted, full of flavor perfect corn on the cob! Trust me, its delish! Matt and I fight over the ones with the most "char"!!! You can then add more butter but to keep my "light" I eat as is!

And by the way....corn is so cheap in the summer so this is waist line and budget friendly which is just a bonus!

Sizzlin Summer Slim Down

We just wrapped week 4 and I am going to be honest with you all....I did terrible! I did not put my own tips into practice! I didn't even ruin the week on one good meal but instead crap I nibbled on all week! I never "hoover" chocolate and this week it was insane how much I did!
The good news is that I didn't gain, I maintained 155 so that is ok.....I am just disappointed in myself! How did you do?

Week 5: Carb Blow Out!
Eating NO carbs is not something I adhere to and neither does the WW plan...... but for me, it's my biggest struggle! I love all things bread, pasta, pastry and I could go on and on! I am very excited about this week because I need to "real it back in" and cutting out my carbs by 90% will be huge! I am not saying do this every week, just this week and then going forward we can all cut back on carbs from time to time! I still plan on having my low cal English Muffin each morning for breakfast, this week too....what I am suggesting is that this week let's try our best to eliminate carbs from our diet!
Here are some tips to help us thru:

* No pasta for 1 week then AFTER this week switch all pasta to Whole Wheat! I was against this for SO long but now I don't mind the wheat pasta at all!

* Switch out lettuce wraps for anything you would normally eat with bread. And then after this week still substitute the bread for lettuce from time to time! Especially if you need to get back on track.

* Veggie sides NOT bread! Monday I have a yummy corn recipe I will be posting, a favorite at my house that I think you all will love! And after this week.....lets all try to have 1-2 days TOPS for the whole week where we have a carb as a side!

Good Luck Friends! Let's kick Week 5 off with a bang!!!!!

Sizzlin Summer Slim Down: Week 3

Hi!!! How is everyone? I am so excited that I have heard from many of you via here/FB/text and email! It is so nice to have this community of old friends/family/new friends who are on this journey with me! So far we have challenged ourselves to :
1. Watching our portions
2. Planning- planning out everything we eat and being prepared...how did you do?

This week I lost 2 pounds!! Which makes 21 lost overall and I am now 155! I tried really hard this week and I am excited because this shows me I can still loose weight and what I am doing at work is working too! (that was a mouthful, no pun intended) Now, don't get discouraged if you didn't loose.....this coming week I will likely loose nothing but maintaining this weight loss is a win for me!

Week 3: NO Fast Food or Pop
I realize this is going to be hard and no one is perfect but eliminating Pop from your diet (even diet) is HUGE! I only drink water, coffee and unsweet tea! And if you drink......it would be best to cut that out of your diet as well. Save up that 1 glass of wine to celebrate at the end of the week! This week will put your practice of planning everything you eat to the test. Yes, it is easier to run thru a drive thru when you are strapped for time but if you plan ahead you can have your meal/snack all planned out for you! I know we can all do this.......I have faith in all of us!

Here is our Week 3 Meal Plans:

*Breakfast ( The same as last week)

Weekday: Everyday I have 2 hard boiled eggs, whites only and 1 whole wheat english muffin with reduced sugar grape jelly. (no butter) Coffee....don't forget your coffee with ONLY 1tsp sugar and fat free creamer. I always have 2 mugs of coffee at work also because it helps me with hunger in the morning!
Weekend: One day I will make Matt and I a favorite of ours.....WW French Toast you can find HERE

*Snacks (also same as last week)

Morning: 10 am snack is 1 large apple, and if you need more a WW string cheese only 1 point.
Afternoon: 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese and 1/4 cup 100% juice mandarin oranges

Dessert:

One night I will have this delish WW Oreo cookie milkshake that you can find HERE, I am excited about this....the perfect warm weather treat and it looks to be kid friendly too!

Second, I am having a mexican night and I will make Matt and I this Mexican "unfried" ice cream from Skinny Taste that you can see HERE!

*Dinner:

Sun- Mexican Lasagna Roll-Ups you can see the recipe HERE! I will make Matt and I the Pioneer Woman's homemade salsa to eat with baked tortilla chips, then I will use the salsa in an omelet one day next week too! Her salsa recipe is HERE!

Mon- I am going to have steamed fish with veggies, the same as last week.

Tues- Chicken Meatballs with steamed broccoli which will also be my leftover lunch for about 2 days! I LOVE this recipe....so good! I have adapted it and you can find it HERE..be sure to "pin" the recipe so you can find it again!

Wed- Eggplant Parm, HERE this is a recipe I have also made a few times, it is easy and really good! I will more than likely have mine with peas! (I love peas and the picsweet individual serving bags are amazing)

Thur- SkinnyTaste coconut shrimp and brown rice! I don't even like coconut but this is so good! I also made this when my bestie Becky came to visit and she approves! ha! You can see the recipe HERE!

Fri- Matt and I will eat out I am sure...I need to get out and eat at least once!

Sat- Matt will be home so we will grill out chicken breasts as well as grill our asparagus! So we can call this night grill out on the patio night!

* Lunch:

I will have leftovers a few days, then the rest of the week I will either take a WW frozen meal or make my no-bread BLT with Special K chips!

Well guys..... Good Luck, we can do it! I would love to hear from you....comment, email. FB message me....whatever! Happy Weekend!

Summer Slim Down: Week 2

Lets start by talking about this past week......

I weighed in on Friday and I was down 1 pound which still has me now at 19 pounds lost. So that is 157 for me! This past week was hard with it being a Holiday and eating out more than usual....and I'm sure I am not the only one who feels that way! But this week is a new week and we are going to get down to business! Last week we focused on portion control and this week we are going to add on top of that goal with......

Week Two: PLAN Ahead!

For me this is the MOST important factor in my weight loss. You have to plan ahead for everything, for real. So this week our GOAL is to Plan for everything you eat! Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks! I have planned out my week already today so that you all can have tomorrow to get ready for your week if you want to "eat along side of me"! Are the recipe links working??

*Breakfast

Weekday: Everyday I have 2 hard boiled eggs, whites only and 1 whole wheat english muffin with reduced sugar grape jelly. (no butter) Coffee....don't forget your coffee with ONLY 1tsp sugar and fat free creamer. I always have 2 mugs of coffee at work also because it helps me with hunger in the morning!

Weekend: One day I will make Matt and I a favorite of ours.....WW French Toast you can find HERE!

*Snacks

Morning: 10 am snack is 1 large apple, and if you need more a WW string cheese only 1 point.

Afternoon: 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese and 1/4 cup 100% juice mandarin oranges

*Dessert

You know me and you know I have to have a dessert a few times a week so this week it will be low fat rice crispy treats which are so good! The recipe is HERE!

*Dinner

Sun - WW Cheesy Chicken Shells HERE (I am going to omit the chicken on mine) I will have broccoli as a side with mine and take the leftovers as my Monday lunch.

Mon- Fish and veggie night, I am using my new steam ware from Sur La Table HERE to cook but you easily use a foil packet too like this SkinnyTaste recipe HERE!

Tues- Portobello Burger night! These bad boys are HERE!! And you can cook regular burgers for your family or choose a light turkey as a substitute with a little more calories! And I will have melon as a side

Wed- Pad Thai night! I love this and this is a HUGE go-to for me and the leftovers are the best for work! I made mine vegetarian but you can easily add chicken or shrimp! The recipe is HERE!

Thurs- I have this night open, I might have a frozen meal or leftovers depending on how I am feeling.

Fri- This will be the 1 night Matt and I will eat out. Try to only eat out once a week!

Sat- Asian night at the Savage household with Sesame chicken tenders, these are great and Matt loved these too! The recipe is HERE!

*Lunch

I will take leftovers, a weight loss frozen meal or a new go-to of mine BLT's which are soo easy! The BLT recipe is HERE! And I am going to eat mine with some Special K cracker chips!

I hope this is helpful for everyone! I would love to hear if you cooked along with me. 

And a reminder.......

**Bonus!**

Do you have a blog? Even if you don't... do you have a weight loss story that you want to share with my readers? I would love to hear it and post your story during these 10 weeks! All you have to do is email me (nsavage@live.com) in your email.....give me a picture (any pic will do) tell us about yourself and anything you would like to share! I will then post 1 story a week! DO IT! (lol) Be sure to let me know if I can post your story!

Perfect Summer Meal....

 Last week one night when Matt was home we had an amazing meal.....amazing because the tomatoes/basil actually came from my Patio garden, amazing because it tasted fresh like summer and amazing because it was healthy!

These Parmesan Tomato Tarts were surprisingly light but packed full of flavor and these would make the perfect snack, appetizer or summer side like we did! I pinned this recipe.........This is from Food Focus and you can find the easy recipe HERE!

I was also so excited that this homemade basil Pesto came from my patio Basil plant! This was delicious and we saved the left overs which we used this past Sunday on some grilled chicken breasts!

Here is the recipe for the Pesto and Grilled Chicken Skewers from my favorite blog I talk about all the time...Skinny Taste! See it HERE!

 This was our finished product and Matt loved it just as much as I did....so this is husband approved!

Summer Slim Down

Who wants all the deets??

WHY?

This one is easy you all know I have been on WW since the beginning of January and it is slow but steady.... I have lost 20 pounds! Well this week I gained 2 and I need to re-focus, so this is the perfect new start for me! I have LOVED that so many friends have reached out to me via this blog, FB or email to talk about their own weight loss..... we all struggle with the exact same thing! And I could not have done this without you ALL....your support helps me to jump back on it when I fall off. So I thought lets do this together and we have 10 weeks!

WHAT?

You do not have to be doing WW at all let me say that and you also can follow along anonymously! Starting Monday we have 10 weeks of summer and our goal is 10 pounds in 10 weeks! Our finish line is Labor Day! And you all may have noticed I have never said a perfect number I want to loose....I just want to see how it goes, where I feel good at AND more importantly keep it off. I would rather keep it off, getting there in a healthy way than log huge numbers to just gain again.

HOW?

Each week I am going to give us all a goal to focus on and I am hoping that each week we all can just add our new goal or challenge on top of the previous weeks! And I have said it so many times on here my body seems to work best by loosing 1-2 pounds one week and then maintaining that the next.....SO....don't worry if you don't loose 1 pound per week. And if you only loose 5 pounds in 10 weeks that is a WIN! 

I am going to be posting recipes I find I love, ideas.....tips and struggles with all of you. And feel free to FB me if you want to talk about it or need some support....because I am 100% in the same position as everyone else. Just because I say to do something doesn't always mean I do it all the time...I am human

**Bonus!**

Do you have a blog? Even if you don't... do you have a weight loss story that you want to share with my readers? I would love to hear it and post your story during these 10 weeks! All you have to do is email me (nsavage@live.com) in your email.....give me a picture (any pic will do) tell us about yourself and anything you would like to share! I will then post 1 story a week! DO IT! (lol)

WEEK ONE!

What we will do:

1. Weigh in. I weight in every friday morning so that way the weekend is behind me and I have all week to focus on Friday.

** My current weight is 158**

2. Find an app that allows you to track food and weight that you like. Or a plain old notebook will work to. I use the **WW app** but there are also a ton out there for free. Get yourself something that will work for you and test it out.

Week One Challenge!
I realize this is 4th of July so actually this first challenge is JUST what I need! Portion Control! This week no matter what you are eating (healthy or not) lets all adjust our portions. I am going to cut down my portions by 1/4. I am going to try to be methodical and really focus on adjusting my portions since mine tend to get out of control! This challenge for me is what I am worst at......this seems to make or break me and I need to get this under control!

We will all be eating out/cooking out/celebrating this week so here are just a few recipes I am making this week if you want to make them yourself!

Dessert: I am gonna make these super easy "Skinny Root Beer Floats" I am a sucker for Root Beer! You can get this recipe HERE

For Lunch this week I am going to make these "Skinny BLT's" YUmm!!! Here I will take with me an apple, some Special K cracker chips and a snack of cottage cheese!

Dinner:
One night we are going to grill out and make these "Caprese Grilled Chicken" HERE but I will use sliced low fat Mozzerella and probably a salad and asparagus with!

Another night I am making these super fun "Rachael Ray Tilapia Clubs" HERE and if I watch my portion and go extra heavy on the veggies I might even have some fries with these!

Lastly an oldie but a goodie and Matt is actually home ALL week (I know, right?) so I am having him make these bad boys......"Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps" HERE and if your hubby or kids don't like the lettuce wrap then they can easily have a tortilla!

Ok friends! There is the plan! Feel free to pass around this blog post ....the more the merrier and I might do a give away or two during these 10 weeks! We can do it!