itsawonderfilledlife

I think the greatest asset that I have right now is summer. The weather, and the sense of relaxation simply work in my favor when it comes to eating. I am not nibbling, and have been trying some great meal-sized salad recipes (I’m including one at the end).

So, as week number two closed to an end I hopped on the torture device in my bathroom, and saw that I had lost two more pounds!

How exciting, right? I have to admit I was expecting more. Two pounds just did not seem like much outcome for all the work I had put into it. Visions of the chips hubby brought home, that I only had three of, and of the beautiful cinnamon buns I did not try last weekend, and the chocolate I did not purchase at the store, but SO wanted were floating like sugarplums in my head.

All that sacrifice, and I ONLY lost two pounds!

Then I went back to thinking of my losses as pounds of butter, and added the two to last weeks three and voila, I was feeling so much better about my loss. Down is better than up!

Week number one has now come and gone, and so have three pounds of unnecessary blubber (equal to three pounds of butter)!

I did find that this week I was not so preoccupied with thoughts of food. I was keeping busy with other things, and reveling in the warm summer sun.

So girls, how are you doing? What has been working? What have you been struggling with?

I thought I would share one of those yummy salad recipes that I mentioned. It is so filling, really delicious, quick and my twelve year old son loves it (especially for a small dinner before football practice).

5-Minute Southwest Layered Salad
(from http://www.kraftcanada.com)

Get out a salad bowl and measure into it:

8 C torn romaine lettuce (the recipe says 6C, but I add more)

1-19 fl oz/ 540 ml can of black beans, drained, rinsed

1-12 fl oz/341 mL can corn, drained
OR
1-1/2 C frozen corn, de-frosted in a bowl of warm water, drained

1/2 C salsa (I prefer Mango salsa)

1/2 C Kraft Tex Mex Shredded Cheese

OR

1/2 C cheddar cheese

1/4 C Kraft Rancher’s Choice Dressing (could use lite/low fat)

The recipe also has 1C of broken tortilla chips … add if you like, but I find adding chips to my salad kind of diminishes the purpose of having the salad (plus you would be adding about 140 cal., 18g. carbs., and 7g. fat).

This recipe easy serves four people (that’s including a hungry hubby, and a growing adolescent male). The following is the nutritional ‘stuff’:

309 calories

43g. carbs.

11g. fat

15g. protein

13g. fiber