No More Perfect Moms: Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

Since this is really my first official post, I'll start off by saying, "I, Margaret Murphy, am not on a diet!"

I know some of you are thinking "WTF?!!?!?!?!", but it's the truth! (I told you I'll always be honest).

When you decide to lose weight or get fit, whichever it may be, you have to make changes you can stick with for your entire life. I know! Holy shitballs that's a long time! That was my first thought anyway...

So there I was 200+ pounds, eating a crap ton of cookies and icecream, thinking there ain't no way I'm giving up this spoon! I mean my love affair with food was WAYYYY out of control and so were my emotions. That's why I started my change.

Instead of giving you a big long back story on my fat ass ~~adventures~~ blunders, I'm going to highlight a few tips on how to get started on your ~~diet~~ lifestyle change. (P.S. I <3 lists, get use to them)

1. Start small. There are many ways you can take this step. Give up or replace one thing at a time. I gave up pop immediately (all pop, diet pop is awful for you!). Change your milk from 2% to skim or even to unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

2. Drink WATER!!! This is EXTREMELY important. The rule of thumb is to take your body weight divided by two (200/2 = 100) and that's how many ounces of water a day you should drink. At first this step is hard, with the constant bathroom trips and forcing yourself to finish the last bottle, but it pays off! (I drink a gallon a day).

3. Exercise. This is another start small step. To avoid injury do NOT over do it! When you feel pain then stop, slow down and restart. To start this step though I'd suggest doing the basics; walking, running, pushups, situps. Mastering the basics makes doing and learning new things fun and exciting.

4. Don't forget why you started. I HATE starting over in anything I do! So, when I started losing weight and changing my lifestyle I made sure that I took before pictures (which I'll post at some point ;) ). YOU have to have a constant reminder of what made you unhappy and what YOU are doing to change it! :)

5. Share, brag, and find someone to help! There will be days when you want to eat a HUGE bowl of icecream with oreos and fudge and caramel.... BUT if you have someone (a friend, family member, etc.) that you can be accountable to then it will help you say "NO!" to your cravings. Share with everyone your progress too! You never know who you're inspiring :)

These are just a few steps you can take to increase your chances for sucess in the very beginning. I'll add more steps along the way and maybe next week I'll post a list of foods you can swap that will help you make healthier choices. :)

Now on to DINNER!!!

Oh my goodness! This dinner is fantabulous!!! It's called Asian Fried Quinoa. I found it on Pinterest and made a few alterations to fit what we had in the fridge and cupboards. :) (click on "Asian Fried Quinoa" above to be directed to the recipe)

On the original recipe I replaced:

- shallots with leftover chicken (from the night before)

- minced ginger with "powdered" ginger from the spice aisle and also a 1/4 cup of sesame ginger maranade.

- baby bok choy with spinach.

- I also didn't use any celery or cabbage.

This one recipe allowed 4 adults and a little monkey to eat and have leftovers! We had also lemon garlic baked asparagus on the side.

The few warnings I have about the recipe (not scary-you-might-die-warnings):

You have to rinse the quinoa (keen-wa) before you cook it.

When toasting it, it pops a little like popcorn but doesn't make an enormous mess, unless you're me and freak out and toss the spoon. (I'm a terribly mess cook, but a GOOD one) :)