Weighing In - Week Eight

Heck yeah! A four pound week! Four pounds!

I'm incredibly happy with my results this week. Can you tell?
If I could climb through the computer screen and hug each and everyone one of you, I would! I have to thank all of my followers. You guys are awesome! I get the best tips and encouragement from you all, so please, keep it coming!

And then I'd have to thank myself. I have almost never been able to stick with any kind of restricted diet. For what ever reason, this time, I am able to. I don't crave drive-thru, I'm not sneaking unhealthy snacks and most shocking to me of all, my sweet tooth seems to have mellowed out considerably! Th past few weeks, I have been living surrounded by buckets of Easter candy, tubs of ice cream in the freezer,and a huge bowl of "Ambrosia" salad in the fridge. Except for one little blip on Thursday at school when I let myself have one too many jelly beans. I've been able to ignore the rest for weeks! Yeah for me!

Now, a new food I tried this week that I should mention 1% Low Fat Cottage Cheese with No Salt Added. I will admit, I hesitated buying this when I read how the amount of sodium per serving compared to my regular 1% cottage cheese. Well, to say the least, I've been pleasantly surprised! My regular cottage cheese listed over 400 mg of sodium per serving where as the 'No Salt Added' only lists about 120 mg. To be honest, I have yet to be able to eat this new cottage cheese without adding a bit of salt (between 1/16 and 1/8 a teaspoon) and a whole lot of black pepper. Maybe I'll be able to wean myself off the added salt altogether but for now, I'll be happy with the significant drop in sodium my diet will be taking.

Another happy food find this week was a 210 calorie pre-assembled salad offered at my grocery store. First off, it isn't made with iceberg lettuce, it's made with a nice spicy greens mix. It's has chicken breast meat, walnuts, a bit of feta cheese and dried cranberries, to be topped with a low calorie cranberry vinaigrette dressing. Yummy! I'm making my self hungry writing about it, and it's only about 8:30 in the morning! I found the chicken meat to not be fatty or over salted. And the amount of dressing provided is in good proportion to the actual salad. This is important if you don't like your salads too dry or soggy. When I'm too behind schedule to pack a good lunch at home, I can swing by the store and pick up one of these delicious and good for my diet salads.

On a final note, I feel compelled to remind every one to start drinking more water. As the weather warms up it's very important to stay properly hydrated. I really noticed a difference in my water intake this week. I've gone from about 80-90 ounces a day, to 115-130 per day. I think this is really helping me stay on track with the diet and just feel healthier overall. Try it!
Well, it's 8:45 AM and I've got to go make my kiddo's some breakfast. I just want to thank everyone, one more time. Thank you! See you next week!

Weekly Weight-loss: 4 lbs
Overall Total Weight-loss: 18 lbs