Dear Diary We're Walking We're Walking....

As some of you know I did a 5k this weekend, well I am putting up some pics from the event and I will post a story to go along with these pictures soon.  Here are some pics of my adventures walking the Conoco Philips Rodeo Run 5k:

Can you see my double chin oh yeah and my number

It's the start of something new in my life (eeh cheesy right!)

Dear Diary Friends CAN be supportive,

Hmmm delicious and HEALTHY!!!!!!!!!
I need to work on my camera skills I know!

A couple of Sundays ago I went out to the Cobb-Johnsons to meet their newest addition.  By the way cutest baby burrito ever!  Well Jonathan and I decided to stay over for dinner and knowing that I am trying to stick with a new lifestyle plan of eating they already had a great meal planned.  We had Vegetarian Sheppard’s Pie with Sautéed Green Beans.  And it was goooooooooooooooood.  I will have the recipes posted after this.  I am glad my friends are being supportive during a time when some friends are like okay I will be supportive after we split this piece of pie or after we get are drink on at Happy Hour.  Yeah I know it is hard enough when you go out with friends or visit a friend and try to stick to the plan.  I am easily persuaded, no seriously you can just say “Delena what about” “YES I will go with you to Star Pizza” see you don’t even have to complete the sentence I already know.  Anyways it was nice for the Cobb-Johnsons to have me over and feed us a healthy meal.  I hope all my friends who read this take note and help a Mexican out (me being that Mexican).  

But I still love you Star Pizza... NOOOO I will not succumb to your delicious beer crust.

Dear Diary I can’t believe it’s not meat!

Well I am on my way to my goal of more vegetarian friendly meals.  The other night I made a Hearty Tuscan Vegetable Chowder that had no meat in it.  What it had were “meat” crumbles from Morningstar which is basically Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP).  I got the recipe from Weight Watchers which has yummy recipes.  I doctored it up a bit for my tastes since I am not a big fan of kale (me no likey).  It is so good that Jonathan had 3 bowls!  Yeah he can do that because he does hard core work outs.  My hard core work outs are typing on this key board and moving this mouse and one and two and one and two, ugh let me stretch my index finger and one and two… So below is my version of the recipe.

	Hearty Tuscan Vegetable Chowder 2 tsp olive oil
	1 cup(s) onion(s), diced   ( I substituted 2 cups of Leeks)
	3/4 cup(s) carrot(s), diced
	1/2 cup(s) celery, diced
	4 cup(s) vegetable broth
	28 oz canned tomatoes, diced, in juice, undrained
	15 oz canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
	3 tsp minced garlic
	1/4 tsp dried thyme
	1 cup(s) kale, frozen, chopped   (I substituted chopped frozen spinach)
	1 cup(s) frozen cut green beans
	1/2 tsp table salt
	1 cup(s) dry textured vegetable protein, granules (TVP)   ( I used Morningstar Crumbles)
	1 tsp fennel seed
	1/2 tsp black pepper   (I used red pepper flakes for spice)

Instructions

• Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion, carrots and celery. Saute 5 minutes until onion is translucent. Add broth, tomatoes and juice, beans, TVP, garlic, fennel and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 5 minutes. 
• Stir in kale, green beans, salt and pepper. Simmer, covered, 10 minutes or until vegetables and TVP are tender. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving. (Note: Store in refrigerator for up to 4 days or freeze for future consumption.)

This chowder is approximately 4 points per serving which is pretty low in calories.  So go and make it and be amazed that there is NO meat in it, NONE.  Well yeah it only fools vegetarians who haven't had meat in years but it is still delicious!!!!!!

Dear Diary I now have a weight goal!!!

That's me clapping Hercules Hercules....

So I would like to emphasize that I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).  That is when your hormones are berserk and causes you a multitude of problems from infertility to diabetes.  Yeah fun fun.  Anyways I have always struggled STRUGGLED to lose weight.  Yeah I have been fat for a good part of my life oh sorry for those who are sensitive let me rephrase I have been skinny intolerant for about 20 years of my 31 years of existence.  Yeah skinny when I was little and there were those years in college I lost a lot of weight and kept it off until I met my husband.  You know love it’s a curse makes you let yourself go.  I gotta man now I can stop caring, ha.  If only that were the case, I didn’t stop caring, I went to exercise class, or EXORCISE class (I will keep milking that for a while).  I took a nutrition class went on the Zone Diet, South Beach, Atkins, Schwarzbein Principle diet, you name it I have tried it.  It worked for a little bit but it would come right back.  Yeah I think in college I lost a ton because I starved myself and ate no meat.  I was not healthy losing weight and I walked everywhere.  So when I finally did eat a meal with meat BLAZAM I ballooned up like I belonged in the Klump Family.  Then when I ate like I was supposed to I still gained weight WHAT THE H-E-Double Hockey Sticks.  Well I found out when I was 27 I had PCOS, uh okay so what???  Well Dr. Mac, my endocrinologist, told me that my hormones are not balanced at all.  As he tested me more and more it became evident I was insulin resistant.  Meaning this, so let’s say you eat this puddin pop and you are doing your Cosby dance as you do it, well your brain tells the body hey you need to check out these sugars coming in and make them energy and hey you insulin monitor these sugars make sure they convert and are absorbed through the fat and muscles correctly.  Well my insulin is like nope not going to do it, sorry we are on strike, sucks to be you.  So my insulin buddies don’t do their job so my body stores it up as fat causes my pancreas to work overtime and then eventually I will have diabeetus.  Fun Fun Fun, so yeah naturally losing weight will help you with insulin resistance but get this BECAUSE I am insulin resistant it makes it hard to lose weight, awesome right.  I am in between a rock and a hard place.  Now that you have some information about my situation lets delve into what happened today. 

Dear Diary I am as cool as Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert's Awesome Word of the Week

Dear Diary It’s hard to plan meals when watching Paula Deen

"Hey Ya'll!"

Hey I still love Paula Deen. Yes her recipes are loaded with a two stick of butter minimum but this is my porn.  Food Porn it’s my downfall. Oh yeah you know how I love that, yeah pour just one more cup of suga, yeah…sorry FOCUS FOCUS.  So I am trying to make a weekly meal plan.  I have my breakfast and lunches set, dinner not so much.  I have my Weight Watchers Comfort Classics recipe book, my New Glucose Revolution guide to Living Well with PCOS book and the light issue of Everyday Foods.  I am just searching for good easy dinner recipes.  Deep Fried Chicken Pot Pie Pockets is not a good eat, I mean yeah I bet it is so good it makes "you wanna smack yo mamma" but my fat lardy ever widening a** will not forgive me nor will my hormones.  What, you say, yes what I eat or anyone really affects their hormones but more so in women with PCOS.  Our hormones are already out of whack that anything that spikes our insulin level makes our hormones go crazy and makes me crazy.  Seriously Paula a skillet brownie with marshmellow topping what tha, you are killing me you Southern Temptress of Fried Foods. (I am not linking that recipe dudes you will have to google brownie fatness on your own) Sorry FOCUS FOCUS.  Okay so I am planning meals that don’t make me crazy.  I found an excel template that helps me out, hey I love Excel.  So for my many blollowers (blog followers I am to lazy) I will post up recipes I liked, loved and LOVED called Good Eats and then post what fatty foods that yes while maybe delicious but cause you to have a stint put in your arteries called Bad Eats.  So back to planning…Damn Rachel Ray is making Bacon Chili Dog Burgers with Cheese and French Fries (I had to link this it's so ridunkulous) can this be tagged under This is why you are fat, changing it to HGTV!

Dear Diary A Buffet of Margaritaville,

(Spoiler Alert this one has a serious tone not a lot of hilarity ensued here)

Eeeeh like how I did that I took Jimmy Buffet and his song and cleverly put it together.  Shut up don’t be jealous of my comedic skills.  Seriously folks I had a buffet of strong Margaritas on Saturday, DAMN YOU BERRYHILL!!!!!!!!!!!! Weekends kill me every time.  I was just reading an article about how you can blow all your efforts of being good during the week with one bad weekend.  People have been telling me encouraging words of well sometimes we do blow it but we get back on track.  But if you compare my addiction to a drug user, I am not the “well I will just toke up this one blunt and that will be fine.”  NOOOOOOOOOOOO my weekends are like Charlie Sheen with 8 balls and porn stars all around getting hernias from too much drug in fueled escapades.  In other words I lose control.  People say don’t deprive yourself or you will lose control.  Yes in theory I can take a sip of a margarita or a bite of a brownie and be fine.  But when you have no control that sip or bite turns into 4 margaritas or a whole pan of brownies.  What do you do?  Well a drug addict or alcoholic just avoids the addiction all together by not doing drugs or drinking alcohol.  I can’t say welp I am giving up food.  Yeah we need food to live.  I mean sure I can do the Beyonce diarrhea diet (its called Master Cleanse folks seriously!) with her lemon juice, Tabasco sauce and Exlax but really does that give me nutrition.  No!  Well as I was about to think to myself I am never going to win this battle of the bulge (get it get it battle of the bulge).  Then I had a moment of clarity.