January 21

The Good: It is FRIDAY! I am so glad it is the weekend! I feel like I can get some things accomplished around the house, exercise, clean the house, organize, etc. I appreciate the weekends so much because it gives me time to relax and work on things that I don't get a chance to do during the week.
I also have to brag about my grocery store experience today! I went to Publix after school today to get some things for this weekend and the coming week. I wanted to go ahead and get it over with so I could enjoy my weekend plus we are in charge of taking breakfast to Sunday School on Sunday so I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed for it. I was so excited to walk around the store with my cart because it was FILLED with fresh produce! I am addicted to buying fresh produce now and I don't mind spending a little extra money on the items that I know are good for my body. As I grab fresh produce, I am reminding myself of the health benefits each item packs and it makes me excited all over again!

The great thing about Publix this week, is that they had several organic produce items on sale this week! Awesome!! Since I cannot make a weekly trip out to Earth Fare, I was very excited to see these deals! After shopping around and grabbing a few extra items in the regular isles like canned beans, Rotel (to make the awesome chicken chili again), almonds (B1G1), produce containers (40% off this week), cheese, and dark chocolate, I was excited to go check out because I had several coupons that I was going to use. I ended up saving about 45% on my grocery bill and at least 70% of my cart was fresh produce!! Hello!! What an awesome feeling to know that I CAN eat healthy on a (really tight, one income) budget!!

The Bad: I overate tonight as my evening snack. I was out of dark chocolate and was craving it so I got some when I went to Publix this afternoon for our other groceries. I ended up treating myself to 4 small squares of the bar and then Shawn decided to pop some homemade popcorn and I decided to have a few servings of that too! Luckily, I only went over my daily calorie allowance by 38 calories and it was WELL worth it! One good thing about the way I am eating is that I hardly ever feel deprived. I have found that my tastebuds have come to life! They are craving yummy, full flavored foods now and they also are enjoying the taste of fresh produce and the sweetness of fresh fruit. :) Since I have cut out almost all sweets except dark chocolate, I have FALLEN IN LOVE with dark chocolate. In several books I read that you should only eat 60% or higher dark chocolate and I never thought I would enjoy anything over 60% but I LOVE Lindt 70% Dark Chocolate bars. UNBELIEVABLE! I told Shawn tonight that I didn't know if I could ever go back to regular milk chocolate because dark chocolate is SO-SO-SO good!! Grab a bar next time your at Publix and try it for yourself! (PS- I tried the 85% dark chocolate and I did NOT like it, way too bitter!)


The Ugly: I did not exercise like I had planned on today. That leaves me 2 days in a row of not exercising when I had planned on exercising every day this week. Unfortunately with my shoulder/neck pain it has been very difficult to do much of any type of physical movement. Since I skipped out again today, I plan on making up for those 2 days tomorrow and Sunday. I am so close to my goal of 5% weightloss that I want to do everything I can this weekend to finish out strong before weighing in on Monday.

PS-There is a new giveaway coming in February!! I cannot wait to share it with you! Please make sure you are a "follower" so you can be a part of it! I actually have 4 items I am giving away starting February 1 and I cannot wait until then! Stay posted! :)
I will give you one hint......

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