Zucchini Pizza Bites

In light of our normal Saturday night pizza while Jonathan works 2nd shift, I decided to go for a healthier option.  A friend of mine had sent me a link to Skinnytaste's Zucchini Pizza Bites (a healthier option than store-bought Bagel Bites), so I decided to experiment with them for dinner tonight.  So I took two zucchini, 1/2 bag pepperoni, four ounces tomato sauce (seasoned with Italian seasonings), two teaspoons olive oil, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, my stoneware pizza pan and viola! a yummy pizza alternative.  Ethan wasn't sure about the zucchini (but liked everything else), and Emily had seconds.  It turned out to be an easy, and pretty yummy, dinner on a summer Saturday night.

Slice zucchini into forths (or for "bites", 1/4" round slices), brush both sides with olive oil, then broil both sides on high for two minutes each.

Topping Time!

 

Broil on low until cheese is brown and bubbly

Have your helper make a fruit salad and there is your easy, healthy, dinner

Sunday Motions Report

Good morning!  It's a beautiful (but HOT!) Sunday in the Savannah area.  It is also my first Sunday weight-in day.  I had hoped to lose two pounds, but am happy with the 1.6 pound loss.  However, I did learn some things this week:

1.  My office is NOT conducive to losing weight!!!  Almost every day someone is bring in cake, cookies, donuts, candy, etc, that they don't want to have at home so they won't eat it.  Argh!  Thankfully, my job is not a sit-at-my-desk-all-day job and I spend part of my day in the field.

2.  I need to get an exercise plan in place.  I only exercised once last week, and that was last Sunday.  I really would like to get back to what I once did (when I weighed 65 pounds less than I do now:  before mono (twice), and marriage, and moving, and two pregnancies, and one miscarriage, and all-in-all, a completely different life!).  Even when I lost forty pounds to help get preggers with Emily, I made sure I exercised in the morning, and tried to in the evening as well.  But if I didn't get the evening session in, I knew I had exercised that day.  And I can't use the heat as an excuse.  I have exercise DVD's, Netflix (yes, Netflix has work-out videos), and I can always use Jonathan's bike in the office.  It is just laziness on my part.  Going to try to remedy that this week and with that, will hopefully see the weight loss I'd like to achieve!  Maybe even try to post daily what I did/didn't do for a bit of extra accountability.

3.  I battle late night snacking/cravings, so to help conquer this (and help with getting up in the morning for exercise), I'm going to try to go to bed between 10-10:30 without my smart phone, and see if that makes a difference.

Sunday Motions (Week #2):

Last Week's Weight: 240
This Week's Weight: 238.4

Weekly Loss: -1.6

 Total Pounds Lost: -1.6

238.4 pounds

My First Sunday Motions

Okay, so no excuse for the two months of not posting.  For right now, I'm going to blame it on the fact that I work for a landscaping firm and we are right smack dab in the middle of the growing season.  That and I've been struggling to balance everything on my plate:  marriage, two kids, a full time job, bill-paying... it has added up and I've wanted nothing to do but pull the covers over my head - literally!

However, I have to take responsibility for myself.  The other day I was reading this article titled "4 Ways to Pour Yourself in Your Pursuits".  One section really thrummed my heart-strings:

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

Interestingly this sentence is just about all that is said about Jesus in the years leading up to his public ministry. 

Still, it says quite a lot. In preparing to live out his purpose, Jesus grew in four key areas:

• Wisdom: mentally and emotionally
• Stature: physically
• Favor with God: spiritually
• Favor with man: relationally

With this model in mind, invest accordingly.

So this is my challenge to myself - to pursue Godly living based on growing in all of the above areas:  mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and relationally.  My journey towards health impacts all of these areas.  How?  Well, exercise improves my mental and emotional state tremendously (for those who struggle with stress and depression, it is a God-given relief!), physically, spiritually (if you don't think exercise touches your spiritual life, you need to reevaluate disciple.  And it helps me overcome the sins of laziness and gluttony), and relationally.  When I am not stressed-out and depressed, I can be a better wife, mother, and friend.


So anyway, I'm being more proactive in this journey.  Personal goals include getting down to 200 pounds while I'm still thirty (my next birthday is almost four months away), running another 5K by then as well, and as of today, I'm changing my eating plan.  I have tried just about anything and everything and the only way I ever lost weight and kept it off (until I got pregnant with Emily, that is, and abused the eating for two brutally) was by using the principles of the Atkins Revolution and The South Beach Diet.  It works for my body, and I'm tired of trying other things that I just know don't.  So bring on healthier eating!  Also, I'm going to try to do these posts and weigh-ins on Sundays, instead of Mondays, to start the week on right note.

Sunday Motions (Week #1):

Starting Weight: 240

Once Again, It is a Tuesday Monday Motions Post!

I was a bit bummed when I got on the scale yesterday morning; a weight gain of 0.2 pounds.  Not so much disappointed at the numbers, but in myself.  It has been such a struggle to battle getting back on an exercise routine!  I can do pretty good on eating healthy, but know I will never see permanent, long-term weight loss without regular, everyday, good-old-fashioned exercise.

In light of that, I did go out for a jog last night for the first time in two months.  Basically, I'm restarting the Couch to 5K program that I did this past fall that got in my shape to run the Hilton Head Jingle Jingle 5K exactly four months ago.  So basically, four evenings a week of jogging, then on off nights walks will be added (hopefully next week), and I want to start doing a Pilates workout in the mornings once my body starts adjusting to the increased exercise (i.e. I get shin splints very easily, and hope to avoid them at all costs!).  They say it takes 21 days to make a new habit, so over the next three weeks, my goal is to get my exercise habit in full-swing again!

Part of me is gnawing at the bit and wants to go out and jog tonight.  However, I know me.  I can get too obsessive and push too hard, and that is when I deal with injuries and quit exercising all together.  So I'm listening to the ache in my knee and the slight strain in my shins from last night's jog, and outside of going for a walk in the neighborhood after supper with the kids and doing some stretching later, am not going out tonight.  Tomorrow, however, will be a jogging night after church; woohoo!

The Monday Motions:

Last Week's Weight: 237
This Week's Weight: 237.2

Weekly Loss: + .2

 Total Pounds Lost:+ 0.6

Week #4

The Monday Motions (On Tuesday)

So as you will soon see by the following numbers, not such a hot week.  A respiratory infection (read NO EXERCISE) and a trip out of town for the Easter holiday combined to be a destructive combination.  Ugh.  The dreaded weight gain.  Normally, I would have just skipped posting this week and worked my butt off to make it up and never would admit that I had a poor week, but this is about being honest.  I wasn't disciplined and I gained weight this past week.  So here is where things stand:

The Monday Motions:

Last Week's Weight: 234.6
This Week's Weight: 237

Weekly Loss: + 2.4

 Total Pounds Lost:+ 0.4

Week #3

Yet I am still blessed and not discouraged.  It is a new day and a new week and I serve a God who is so much bigger than the scale.  May I learn how to continue to nourish my soul in Him and not try to substitute it with filling my mouth.

Monday's Workout

So maybe I'm not this happy when I'm sweating up a storm doing yard work, nor am I barefoot or wearing a skirt, but I do enjoy the hour or so it takes to do tend our 1/2 acre of yard.  Something about yard work is a bit... I don't know... therapeutic for lack of a better word.  It's very easy to see what you've done and some days, I just need the simplicity of a physically laboring job done well.  Plus, Emily loves to help!  She assisted with the planting of my herb seeds, as well as a few annual flowers, for us to eventually put out.  I know, I know, it's a bit late in the season, but we've been pretty busy!  However, I think this does count as my workout for today, and shall put it on my weekly do-to list.  I think that will make me, and the hubby, very happy indeed!

The Monday Motions:

Last Week's Weight: 235
This Week's Weight: 234.6

Weekly Loss:  -0.4

 Total Pounds Lost: -1.8

Week #2

My doctor started me on an antibiotic today, so hopefully exercise without a major coughing/breathing fit will help!  I am learning that I have to exercise!