the2beths

The recipes I promised. Finally. 

The Pepper Salad doesn’t give any amounts except the peppers. All the rest is “to taste” and optional. Add what you like, leave out what you don’t. 

4 red peppers

1 Orange pepper

Carrots

Red onion

Celery

Green olives

Minced garlic

Salt pepper

Red wine vinegar

Tomatoes

Served with almond slivers on top. 

Optional: I added black beans and corn.

You can also add cheese cubes, pepperoni, chicken, black olives 

It’s delicious.  And pretty. 

  

The oatmeal recipe…..
Fruity Baked Oatmeal 

3 cups quick oats

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 

2 eggs lightly beaten

1 cup fat free milk

1/2 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup Apple, peeled and chopped

1/3 cup frozen chopped peaches 

1/3 cup fresh or frozen blueberries 

Additional milk, optional

In a large bowl combine the oats, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Combine the eggs, milk, and butter, add to the dry ingredients.  Stir in the fruit. 

Pour into 8 in square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cut into squares, serve in a bowl with milk if desired. 
This is from Taste of Home, “Most Requested Recipes,” cookbook. 

I make tons of substitutions. I change the fruit, I’ve added chia seeds, I use whole milk or almond milk, I used applesauce instead of butter once. It wasn’t as delicious or moist but still good- I had to serve it in milk like it suggests when I used the applesauce or it was too dry. I used Splenda brown sugar instead of regular and that was fine. I’ve used banana as one of the fruits and that made it really yummy. I also add shredded coconut sometimes and white chocolate chips. 

I am having a rough eating week. I haven’t had a binge, but I’ve been as close as I’ve been in the evenings. I know this is because I am not eating all of the right macros during the day, namely too many carbs and not enough protein. To solve that I will be diligent about a meal plan this week and stick to it. And I will cook more dinners! I think I might make a batch of chili or soup for the week. And maybe some carnitas. 

I’ve already decided not to weigh in on Monday but to definitely attend the meeting. And, my dad will be here Monday and Wednesday so I can go to all of the exercise classes those days that my schedule allows. (I have some work conflicts this week 😭). The end of the school year is always super busy. And Craig is 8-5 this week so that is helpful. 

Tonight we are going to a fund raiser at my school and I am looking forward to hanging out with my friends. My friend Amy’s daughter is watching Henry until bed time then my mom is coming over around 8.  He loves that, and I love when she baby sits. She is also babysitting my friend Beth’s daughters, which is why my mom is coming over so they can go back to Beth’s house and don’t have to keep quiet for Henry.  She’s a good sitter.  Soon, my friend Schwaig’s daughter will be of baby sitting age…. 

When, Schwaig? When?!

Henry is getting his picture taken at 11:30. Our photographer is doing mini sessions in a park near here. 

Off to enjoy the rest of the morning. 
Xoxoxo,

Beth W

   
 
Henry and I played outside all afternoon and evening. We went on two walks, played ball, blew dandelions all over, and belly laughed. And I never got too tired or worn out. And I had so much fun. That is what this journey to health and fitness is all about. 

Also,  my husband took a video of Henry and me, and when I watched it I didn’t even hate myself in it. #nonscalevictories

I am so glad it is Wednesday. I am ready for the weekend. 

Hope you are all having a great week. 
Xoxoxox

Beth WA

I lost 4.2 lbs last week so I found myself indulging Monday night. Nothing was off plan, and was actually planned, but I could’ve definitely been satisfied with less. I had pizza for lunch, and not even good pizza. And today I ate dinner rather whimsically without checking how many calories it was and if I had enough left. It ended up working out fine, but it prompted me to make the pepper salad for my lunch the rest of the week to go with my turkey/salami/Swiss sandwich.  Here’s a look at the prep.  

   
And … The finished product. 

  

It’s good plain, or to use as a salsa for chips. Or on top of chicken. 

I will post the oatmeal recipe and this recipe tomorrow or Thursday. I am off to bed. I am EXHAUSTED. 
Xoxoxo,

Beth WA

You guys!!!! I did it. I crossed the 30 lb mark. I’ve been chipping away for the last month and a half and I finally had a big loss. I attribute it to only snacking at night on two nights and being active even on days I didn’t have a formal work out which was more days than usual this week due to child care issues. And on Saturday my mom let me do both classes and she watched Henry so I think that really helped. I have awesome parents. Have I mentioned that before? 

I didn’t get to see much of Henry today which is why I love my Tuesday’s because we hang out all evening together. I just love the silly goose!  

 

This was my selfie for my weigh in this week. Myfitnesspal asks you to take a progress pic of yourself each weigh in and I take a selfie. 

  
I am finally starting to see changes in my face, arms and belly. I wore capris today that have never fit. I ordered them online years and years ago. It felt good to finally wear them. 
Have a good night! 

Xoxoxoz

Beth WA

I love Saturday mornings. I especially love when Henry lets us sleep until 7. I have been so exhausted lately that I crash at 9:30, but then my sleep is sketchy from 4:30 am on… So then I am exhausted again. This week I wasn’t able to get to the gym as often as I would have liked. I love my low impact aerobics class and I haven’t been there since Monday. Craig worked 10-7 this week and my dad was out of town, so I didn’t have the child care. 

Since I knew I wouldn’t be working out as much, I made some adjustments. I moved as much as possible and tried to get as many steps as I could. I didn’t have my evening snack, I stopped eating at dinner.  The only exception was last night. I had a really hard time stopping eating yesterday. So, I just went to bed. ☺️💤😴

I am pretty excited to spend the weekend hanging out with my little minion. He is finally starting to say some words and it is the cutest thing ever. 

  
 

 
If you can’t tell, that word is “please.”  He also says “sissy” (that’s what we call the dog), “dada,” “papa,” “cheese,” and a few other words. One word that he does not say is mama! 😒

Tonight I am taking Henry to my school’s musical, “Annie.”  I am anxious to see what he thinks and how he acts. 

This morning my mom is watching  Henry while I take body pump. It will be tough because I haven’t done it all week except for 30 minutes on Monday. Then, my friend Marianne and I are going to go for a walk. I am going to take Henry in his stroller. It will feel good to be active for two hours, and it will be especially nice to be outside because it is beautiful today!! 

Have a great Saturday! Anybody have any fun plans for the weekend? 

I will leave you with a few pics of my cutie bug.  

  

  

Xoxoxo,

Beth WA

 

I am feeling kinda ho hum today. I’ve had a lot of trouble staying asleep all night lately. And then I drag ass all day long. My schedule has been a little off and I haven’t been to all of my regular exercise classes. But I am making it work instead of just giving up. 

Tonight I went to a powerlifting 101 class at my gym. We learned about deadlifts tonight. My group went up to 135 lbs. It is a powerful feeling and I enjoyed it. 

It is rough not having my evening treat but I am getting through. Mostly because I am so exhausted I end up going to bed early. 

I just checked out the forecast.  

 
I definitely need the vitamin D! Henry loves playing outside so we will have a some fun the rest of the week and this weekend. 

Hope everybody is having a good week and I hope I sleep all night! Lol. 

Xoxox,

Beth WA

Well, it’s a loss, so I will take it. But, in an effort to cross the 30 lb threshold -and to get into new numbers I’ve decided to only have an evening snack 2 days this week instead of every day like I’ve started doing. I want a 2.5 lbs loss this week, and I need to do work to get there. 

I am proud of myself for being binge free since Januart 11th as well as tracking every day since then. I added water tracking and that has helped my water intake immensely. I am very goal and number oriented.

I am really tired tonight. But, that’s Monday for you. I have a really busy week and I hope to fit everything in. 

Have a good week everybody. 
Here’s a picture of Henry doing his favorite thing. Looking out our side window at the cars playing with his cars. Excuse the mess. This is Henry’s world. We are just living in it. 😂
   
 
Have a great week,

Xoxoxo,

Beth WA

Well, I have this delicious baked oatmeal recipe I have made several times that I make on Sunday and eat each morning for breakfast. Sounds healthy- but it had 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter in it. So, today I made it with Splenda brown sugar blend and unsweetened applesauce instead of butter. Then, I had it for dinner. And, I do declare that it was delicious. It actually tasted the same to me as before. And it knocked off almost 200 calories and I am sure lots of fat! 

Here’s a picture.  

 
Now I have extra calories and fat that I can use to add a dab of almond butter. I melt the almond butter and drizzle it on and it’s delicious. (Other ingredients include milk, oats, coconut, 2 eggs, baking powder, cinnamon,  white chocolate chips, frozen bananas and frozen sweet cherries.)

Tomorrow is Monday, and one step closer to summer break. And, I actually think the weather is going to start to get nice! Finally. 

Have a good Monday! It’s weigh in day 😬😒.

Xoxoxo,

Beth WA

I did crossfit today. 

And I did not die. 

  
That is all. 

Bye. 

Xoxoxo

Beth WA

There are obviously many difficult moments and challenges faced when you are trying to lose weight. But, there many benefits to being on a journey to health and fitness. So, I wanted to list a few of those I have noticed this week. I like to call them non scale victories. 

* my biggest jeans are officially too big to wear. 

* I can almost cross my legs all of the way 

* I was at a party and sat in a smaller chair with arms and fit. 

* I had a stressful week and I used mostly exercise to deal with it. I ate on the high end of my calories and lots of carbs but no binging! 

* My controlled blood pressure (with two pills) has always been in the high 120’s- low 130’s over high 80’s to 90’s. It now consistently reads 110-119 over 75-80. And my pulse has gone down considerably. 

* when we were planning service day at school I would’ve normally been happy with a sedentary inside assignment but I was excited to get assigned to outside mulch duty. 

* I taught a fitness class. It went awful and I totally stressed but I tried it. I never ever would’ve done that 6 months ago. 

* I eat with dignity. 

* I have energy to play with Henry. 

Here are our Saturday morning selfies. 

   

And a few of him walking on the couch like he is not supposed to. 

    
 
Well, I am off to have some coffee. 

☕️☕️☕️☕️

Xoxoxo

Beth WA