Losing it week 4 down 1 lb

OK, so this week I didn't do super great, but hey, I lost 1 pound and I am happy! That is better than gaining a pound. I felt this week was different for me because I am still recovering from surgery and kind of testing the waters with food again. I haven't been cleared for working out yet but I did try to squeeze in walking on a couple days. I think losing weight is not only about controlling and disciplining your eating but also your mindset. I think the reason why I lose a bunch, then the next week not so much... It is because I am on some sort of psychological sea-saw. I lose a lot one week, so in my brain I think 'GREAT! You can relax and give yourself a little break' but then when I do that I don't lose the weight. So the next week when I gain or lose less, my brain freaks out saying 'EMILY! For crying out loud, you HAVE to regain control'.

So this coming week I am really going to concentrate about not letting FOOD or my desires for food, control my choices. In a world of so many constants and variables, I can have complete control over my body and what foods I put in it! It's sad that such a control freak like myself, is just NOW having this epiphany. Eating is ONE area in my life, that it is OK to control what I eat. It's not to say that I won't ever get stuck at a friend’s party or a ward function where I am not preparing my own food or making healthy choices on what to cook, but rather controlling what I choose to eat. Hopefully next week, I will have good reports about my weight loss, and I can step off my 'sea-saw' and just get on a even keel of consistently and steadily dropping weight.

This week’s recipe comes from SUNSET magazine. First off let me tell you, this Magazine is awesome! (Thanks Ellen for the gift subscription!) It has great bits about healthy cooking with recipes, beautiful fun day trips around southern and northern california and in the west, and it has stuff about decorating and other goodies. I cooked this recipe with shrimp but it is also fabulous on chicken (Thanks Ellen for making it with chicken, and Julie for trying it on shrimp!)

Points: For Sunday dinner last night we had Grilled Montreal steaks (about 5 points for a lean, fat trimmed, small cut), grilled asparagus (about 1 point or less, tossed with s/p and 1T of olive oil, and Cilantro lime Shrimp (about 5 points for 2 shrimp skewers with 5-6 per stick).


Cilantro Lime Chicken or Shrimp

Yield: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
4 boned, skinned chicken breast halves (2 lb. total) or 1 to 1 1/2 lb, cooked shrimp
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preparation*
1. Pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness (about 1/2 in.) and place in a shallow baking pan.
2. In a small bowl, mix lime juice, cilantro, garlic, honey, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour over chicken and turn pieces to coat evenly. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes or overnight.

3. Lay chicken on a grill over medium heat (you can hold your hand over the surface only 4 to 5 seconds) and cook, turning once, until no longer pink in the center, 4 to 6 minutes per side.

*for the Shrimp preparation cut this recipe in half because I didn't want to over power the shrimp, also I had less than a lb of shrimp. I totally thawed the shrimp then laid them out in a re-sealable container. Once you have the combined ingredients make sure they are covered and mixed evenly over shrimp. I let it marinade for several hours in the fridge. Since they were pre-cooked I tried two methods. Half I put on my George Forman Grill (thanks mom!) and cooked for about a minute. They came out perfect! The second half we grilled on the charcoal grill for about 3-4 minutes per side (med heat grill). They came out a little dryer and very smokey, which Chad prefers. I personally think the non-charcoal was better because you could really taste the lime and flavors of the shrimp, instead of just the Smokey flavor but either one is great! ENJOY!

I took the picture, and NO I do not claim to be a good food photographer, and this was at night so forgive the picture please!