Motivation

Emily's rambling

I'm agreeing with the meal plan idea. It is so not worth wasting brain cells and hours of the day on what to have for dinner. My suggestions for Sheri, and anyone else who wants to listen, are as follows.

1. The incredible edible egg. I am not an egg lover, but over the past year have realized how great they are. They are a relatively inexpensive, perfect protein. They are fast and they make me feel settled and full. I love a fried egg on toast in the morning- only four points, super fast and portable. Sometimes I will have a fried egg over salad (left over from dinner) for lunch. Boiled eggs with s&p make a great snack, as well as a great addition to your dinner salad. I usually chop them up and put them in the salad when I'm not having a lot of protein in the rest of the meal or if I just can't stand the thought of eating salad again. Scrambled eggs can be added to rice, even Ramen noodles for flavor and protein. Or have them with a smoothie and toast for an almost instant dinner.
2. The crockpot rules! When you are making your meal plan, plan for a least one meal a week in the crock. The nice thing about it too, is that you can cook a roast or cut of pork-have it for dinner with some potatoes. Then the next night, you pull it and mix in some b-que sauce, have a big ol' salad and make some fast muffins or biscuits. The next day you have for lunch on a sandwich.
3. Wash salad for a day, eat for a week. Make a nice salad with super fresh ingredients on Sunday and then plan on eating it until Wednesday. Eat it on the side on Sunday and Monday, Add cheese, eggs and croutons to it on Tuesday, then stuff your fajitas or tacos with it on Wednesday. We eat salad several times a week. I think it is a must for weight loss. I have found that investing in a salad spinner is a good idea. Spinning the head of lettuce (so much better than bagged) makes it stay fresh a lot longer. Try different dressings. Add nuts and craisins.
4. Take a few hours every month and make a few double batches. I know you probably don't have a lot of freezer room, but maybe even just brown some hamburger so you can throw it in to spaghetti sauce or whip up tacos at lightening speed. Homemade chicken noodle soup is so easy, yummy, cheap (compared to Progresso), and you can freeze a batch in 3-4 ziplocs.
5. Baked potatoes (in the microwave) with canned chili (hormel is the best) and salad. Easy, cheap, good for you.
6.French toast- with fruit so that you can get in your vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. On our french toast nights, I usually make a smoothie with spinach in it. My kids don't seem to mind as long as I use a sweet juice. (orange doesn't combine with it well and neither does yogurt.) Pineapple or mango raspberry or something like that disguises the spinach, and you can really eat a lot of spinach that way.
7. There are some great frozen stir fry veggie combos. Make sure your chicken is thawed, have some stir fry sauce on hand and when you get home, start your rice. Then cook your chicken, add the veggies, stir in the sauce. By the time your rice is done (20 minutes), you got dinner.
8. The best advice I received when I got married was from my cousin. She said she found that if she just made one step towards dinner in the morning, things always went smoother. Whether it was wrap the potatoes in foil, or get out the meat to thaw, or chop some vegetables. I agree with her, and would even suggest doing that the night before.
9. Try to use your ingredients more than once. Steam broccolli one night, put the leftovers in the fridge and use them to make cream of broccolli the next night. Grill two pieces of chicken, one to eat, one to chop up over salad the next night. You will be amazed how fast dinner comes together when some of the steps are already done.
10. Pita bread pizza. I buy whole grain pita bread, bottled pizza sauce and turkey pepporoni. (Smith's Kroger brand is really good and the most inexpensive, I don't really like the name brand ones- too spicy for me.) You can keep the pita bread and pepporoni in the freezer. I pile on peppers, mushrooms, red onion, ham, cheese, anything I might have and bake them in the oven for about 10 minutes. Super fast dinner, yummy and healthy. Of course, you want to make sure your other meals are using up peppers, mushrooms, etc. The pitas are also good spread with a guacamole (just mash an avocado- so good for you- and mix it with a little lemon juice and s&p.) Bake it till the pita is a little cruncy and slice it like a pizza- great to eat with a lowfat soup- or grilled chicken.
11. Don't settle for gross, poor quality food. Things that are prepackaged are full of sooooo many things that will harm your body. (Hey, don't get me wrong, I resort to them too sometimes.) But, take some time to plan and prepare and give your body the nutrients it needs. I am sure it is so hard to cook for yourself- but to tell you the truth it is hard to cook for five kids, a husband and grandpa. I am only more motivated because I will have five crying people on my case if I don't prepare something. But it is just one of those things- you got to do it over and over, day after day. I would love to be able to eat like a dog or cat. Twice a day, just dip into a bag of chow, lap up some water and go on my way. :) But I know nutrition is so important and also feeding your soul by knowing that you are worth the effort it takes. Eating healthy makes a huge difference in how I feel every day- physically and mentally. So there it is, my suggestions and my sermon. I will now get off of my soapbox.

Weekly Meal Plans

I've noticed that the times I've been the most successful in my cooking have been when I've made weekly meal plans for dinner. For me the hardest part is always wondering, "What should I make today?" And then I feel overwhelmed trying to come up with whole meals every single day. There have been times when I've done meal plans for three weeks at a time.

However, I'm not feeling like I make the same things over and over again. I'm having a hard time coming up with new ideas. I have tons of cookbooks, but I just don't have the money to go and buy all the silly little ingredients that each recipe calls for - the ingredients you will only use about once a year. And it's true, my mom really never taught me how to cook so I don't have a lot of recipes that I know and love.

So here's my request from all of you, I'd love to see a sample of about a week's worth of your dinners. Not recipes yet, just ideas of what you make. You know, something like this:

DINNERS:
Monday - Tacos with tossed salad
Tuesday - Chicken and white rice
Wednesday - Lasagne
Thursday - Crockpot dinner
Friday - Stew / Roast
Saturday - Homemade pizza
Sunday - Meatloaf and funeral potatoes

I'd even love if you did something like that for what you do for lunch, too. I usually don't like sandwiches. I don't know why. I know it sounds silly. They made me really sick during both pregnancies so now I avoid sandwiches like the plague. What are some other lunch ideas? Besides Spaghetti-Os and Ramen noodles ;0)

Recipe/Meal Ideas

Okay everyone, so here's one part of my dilemma. Just coming up with what to eat. I get home from work and I'm tired and hungry and just want to eat dinner. Add to that, it's not so much fun to fix meals for just yourself. So I usually end up fixing something that's quick. Not necessarily bad, but usually a lot of carbohydrates. I am doing better at adding more fruits and vegetables to my meals. But I'm really wanting to know if anyone has somewhat quick meal ideas that are healthy and not meant to feed a whole family. So if you have any ideas, let me know!

Little Things

Dear Family,

I know all about slow weight loss. But I am taking heart that I am making positive changes in my life. Last week I ate one piece of pizza when we had it for dinner. I am eating a lot more veggies in my life and I am feeling better about myself. I had a Spinach Salad 4 nights last week with dinner. Get spinach add any veggie you want and use a little creamy poppyseed dressing. A real treat. Ellie said mom I love to eat leaves. I think she thinks she is a horse when we eat spinach. Also I really feel better when I eat breakfast early in the morning. It seems to give me more energy. Just don't give up and pat yourselves on the back for all the little improvements you have made in your life. I am just so grateful for your support. Oh Happy Day!! -Jen

So Frustrated

Seriously, how is everyone doing? I've been really frustrated lately. I worked out so much last week - I even biked a total of 20 miles last week! I was pumped! But my weight never changed and now I'm just so unmotivated. How can I get myself motivated? I see my reflection in the mirror and I am not happy with it at all, but apparently that's not enough motivation. I haven't really exercised since last Wednesday (besides teaching dance and playing softball). How can I get my motivation back?

And on top of all that, because of issues with the pharmacy and my doctor's office, I had to go 5 days without my medicine. Having PCOS, it makes it very hard (if not nearly impossible) to lose weight. This medicine is like my only chance of helping my body lose weight. It helps bring down my insulin levels and other hormones. Grrr...so now I have to start back at square one with my medicine and work my way back up to the full dosage. Ghetto Wal-Mart pharmacy!

Maybe I need Dr. Phil to help me again. I need to go dust off his book.

Maybe we need to plan a swimsuit modeling show in front of each other. That might scare me enough to stay motivated! Ha ha ha!

What keeps you guys motivated?

Discouragement!!

So losing weight is soooo much harder than putting it on. And just not as fun. I have had a slow week and am having a hard time being consistent and motivated. Trent has done good and lost 5 lbs!! I think that my biggest problem is finding energy to exercise. I have some great ideas on exercise but having a hard time on follow through. Another thing is that this time Weight Watchers isn't dropping the weight as fast as the first time I was on it. Trent thinks it was because I worked at a fast paced McDonald's so I was always moving (burning cal). So here is my I need some motivation blog. Anyone have any to spare?

For Grandma & Grandpa

Here are some newly edited family pictures as per Colleen's request. I put them on here so she could see them in good quality to decide if she likes them or not. Feel free to put your two cents in. Just remember, I'm still learning how to do this!

(Hint: if you LEFT click on the photo then it should pull it up larger for you. Hopefully it will be in good detail. Once you are done looking at it zoomed in, just hit BACK instead of closing it)


1) Rowley Grandkids: it's not as zoomed in and there is a chair showing next to Kaitlyn. I couldn't find a good face of Hayley or Jay to pop in here. I still think it looks good though.



2) Rowley Grandkids: I cropped out the random chair (I know it doesn't look perfect but I did the best I could). Everything else is the same as the first one except that I zoomed this in a little more.



3) Rowley Family Picture Re-edited. I went back and fixed Tait's and Hannah's faces. I know Hannah's face isn't perfect in this but I did the best I could. She did have a really good smiling one but I couldn't get the photos to align. So after 2.5 hours of trying, I finally settled on this edit of her. I hope it's ok. I couldn't get one of Jacob looking up either, but I think that's understandable.

Just Go to Bed

Dear Family,

Yes, I am attempting to blog---

My thought for the night is when you get the munchies at night just go to bed. The other night I wanted a hot fudge/carmel sundae so bad. But I just went to bed.

Happy Losing-

Jen

My sister-in-law has been going to spinning class for a couple of years and now teaches it. It sounds like quite a workout. I used to run the track right past the spinning classes at the high school. It is almost completely dark in the room and they have some high adrenaline tunes cranked. I always thought that was weird and asked JoDee what the heck was going on. She says they turn off all the lights so that no one sees the agony on your face, and they crank up the music so that no one hears the grunting. Hmmm, does that make you feel better or worse? Just kidding! Hey, I say go for it. I know a lot of people that get absolutely hooked, and the only way to keep up with the regulars is to start and become one yourself. You go girl!

Spinning Class

I had a great workout today on my Wii Fit and I am so sore! I hope I can keep it up every day.
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I got a flyer in the mail from a local gym. They offer a bunch of Spinning classes. My friend, who lives in St. George, has just started taking them and she says that they are amazing and so fun. She says that you just sweat like crazy during them.
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I think a Spinning class sounds fun, but I'm wondering if I will die during a class since I am so out of shape. Have any of you ever been to a Spinning class? Are they okay to take if you are like WAY out of shape? Do you have to keep up with all the skinnies? Would I totally humiliate myself???
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Just wondering - thanks!

Hey I think you are all awesome. What a great idea Jenny. Good work! It will be fun to keep in touch this way.

Sadly, I have not changed my habits much from the last time I saw all of you. I wondered if any one was really going to get into this. (me of little faith:) ). But now that I have read the blog, I am so excited for all of us to get going and do a little better with our health. (except for Brian who claims he isn't motivated at all to change! He likes himself the way he is. No- really he wants to start exercising more. We are trying to sneak in small walks a few nights a week. Of course, we take all five kids and it always ends up being a fiasco between bike wrecks, flat tires, pulled hair, rude brother comments, or fussing, spitting up baby. Usually two of us (not usually Brian) are in tears by the time we hit the final stretch up the driveway.

I tried to do some sit-ups this morning. At #5 I was ready to die. Hmmm. That probably isn't good. I have been having a lot of back pain lately and I think it is because my core is so weak. That is one of my goals, to strengthen my core. Too bad ab exercises aren't even one bit fun. Anyone have any good ideas about core strengthening?

Jen's Motivation

Started the first week and a half great exercise every day and I cut down on my eating. I was down three pounds on Friday. But then this week has been a little stressful. I am getting ready for the trip to California with Greg and I have not been as good with my eating. The baby has not cooperated so it is almost midnight and I am putting laundry away. Walking is my form of exercise and I am only having dessert once a week. I am also trying to drink lots of water. I wanted to thank you guys for doing this. It has really help to motivate me.

Logan Rowley Weight Loss Saga Begins!!

I just want to say that Trent and I were going to do water aerobics at the gym on Tuesday to start off the biggest loser show with a big bang. I had to eventually call and cancel daycare at the gym and spend my night sitting on a chair at the hospital instead so next week we are back to our new routine. Trent and I decided to do Biggest Loser Weight Watcher style. It is the best way for me to keep track of what goes into my body and look back on the good and bad choices that I make that affect my weight. Hopefully we are on a better path to losing it. I have lost a couple of pounds but I always fluctuate that daily so I will check back in about a week and let you know our progress. Even though Trent is under the weather for a week he is still eating good without working out but after this week off he will have softball and flag football to keep him active. He finds that doing excercise at home is waaayy hard. I find doing excercise at all is waayy hard :)