Personal Update

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, I posted back in May that my hairdresser had found a round bald spot on the underside of my hair during my appointment, and it was causing me a great deal of stress at the time. Ironically, stress is probably what caused the spot, but I'll get to that! haha. Thankfully, it wasn't and isn't much of a cosmetic issue since it is on the underside  of my hair! I thought and prayed about it a LOT, and eventually I got a better attitude. I went to my family doctor, who drew some blood work to see if it was my thyroid causing the problem. Luckily, it wasn't, but that still didn't help me get answers. He referred me to a dermatologist, but, unfortunately, they weren't able to see me until today, about 3 months AFTER I discovered the bald spot. Long story short, I've done a lot of googling between then and now, so I kind of knew what was coming. The dermatologist looked at it and immediately said that it was alopecia areata. Basically, it's a condition that causes a person to lose hair in mostly circular patches. More often than not, it appears for the first time in people younger than me, but it can happen to anyone. It can also be triggered by STRESS, which I think was the cause in my case. The dermatologist was wonderful and comforting. She said that it may never happen again, but I could certainly find other similar spots down the road. She gave me some steroid injections in my scalp (OUCH!!!), and she prescribed me something topical to put on the spot to help the hair grow back. Besides the fact that I felt like someone punched me in the back of the head for a couple hours after my appointment, I'm ok with all of this. I'm happy to have an answer and a treatment!

Anyway, I figured I would give everyone the update. I go back in about 2 months for a check up to see if the treatments have worked. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

I'm back...again.

Sooooo.....I guess it's been a while. I'm going to start off just being completely honest. The reason that I haven't been blogging much lately is because I haven't been GOOD lately. (Yes, I realize that part of the reason I started this blog was for accountability...no need to remind me!) Since my family vacation in June, I've been a human yo-yo. Actually, I'm stuck at the weight I was at at the END OF MAY. *insert horrified facial expressions* I think it goes without saying that I never really got "back on track" after vacation. Summer has been way harder than I could've ever imagined. Lots of trips, holidays, spontaneous dinners with friends, grabbing drinks with coworkers, etc. Usually summer is good for my workout regimen, too, because I love to go walking or running outside, but this summer has been SO HOT and HUMID that I haven't even been motivated! I'm pretty good at making excuses, if you couldn't figure that out for yourself.

Well, this week, all that yo-yo crap ENDS. Hopefully! I have been feeling LESS energetic, LESS motivated, MORE bloated, MORE sluggish, and I know it's all because of what I've been doing to my body this summer.

First, let's look at the bright side. I'm still over 10 pounds less than I was when I started Achieve back in April! :)

I'm just gonna come right out and say that I don't have a step-by-step plan to help get myself over this "hump". Most of my problem this summer has been self control. I stopped saying "no" to my diet demons. Another thing is that I've quit physically writing down my food intake. It's really a struggle for me to do a hand-written food journal, but I think that is part of what helped me during my first month. It's sort of painful to have to actually write down that you caved and had that cookie in the break room at work! (By the way, I RESISTED those delicious looking cookies today!) Since I need a little extra motivation and accountability in this hot weather to get my workouts completed, I've enlisted my boyfriend to be my 2-3 day/week workout partner. Mondays and Wednesdays for 30 minutes we'll do some sort of activity, then we'll pick one day out of the weekend, depending on our plans. So, it's not an exact science, but it's a start.

Even though I haven't been COMPLETELY on track this summer, I have tried several tasty recipes that I'll share with you! I'm not going to list all of my substitutions for every recipe, but I'll give you a list of common substitutions that I use.

• Pasta --> Fiber Gourmet Pasta
• Shredded Cheese --> Kraft Fat-Free Shredded Cheddar and/or Mozzarella
• Sliced Cheese --> Sargent Ultra-Thin Cheese Slices
• Bread --> Aunt Millie's Whole Grain 35-Calorie Bread
• Buns --> Healthy Life 80-Calorie Wheat Buns
• Ground Beef --> 96/4 Lean Ground Beef, 99% Fat-Free Ground Turkey, Ground White Meat Chicken
• Condiments --> Low-Fat, Fat-Free, Reduced Sugar, or Sugar-Free Versions
• Olive Oil --> MCT Oil

If you have ANY questions about how I cooked something or how it turned out, please don't hesitate to comment!

***DISCLAIMER FOR ACHIEVE MEMBERS: Even with substitutions, I know not ALL of these are Achieve-Approved! However, most of them should be, and I would say they're pretty much all "healthy" with the right substitutions! :)

Skinnytaste Weeknight Skillet Sazon Chicken Tenders
Skinnytaste Turkey Stuffed Peppers
Fajita Stuffed Chicken
One-Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta
Chipotle Ranch Dressing
Sheet Pan Chili Lime Salmon
Fajita Burgers
Skinnytaste Baked Chicken Parmesan
Skinnytaste Skinny Buffalo Chicken Strips
Cheesy Baked Pork Chops
Skinnytaste Cheesburger Casserole
Skinnytaste Tomato Tuna Melts
Skinnytaste Loaded "Nacho" Chicken Tostada
Skinnytaste Steak Kebabs with Chimicurri

Crush this week, everyone!