Week Reset

Two weeks ago, I sat down with my husband and told him all of my frustrations with this weight loss journey. I felt like no matter what I did, I couldn't stay within my points. Every week, I was going over my points and my lack of weight loss was reflecting that. He helped me realize that I am successful when I am saving my points up for the weekend, rather than eating them on the weekend and trying to live off of my remaining points for the week. The difference is small but important. When I am saving my points up, I don't feel deprived because I know that I have the points there if I need them. When I begin my week on Friday, I tend to eat all my points over the weekend and feel worried that I am not going to have enough food for the rest of the week.

I know it sounds a little silly, but weight loss really is a mind game. So, I now begin my week on Mondays and I have been doing so much better. I haven't gone over points once since I switched over. :)

As I mentioned in my last post, we went a little crazy with the grocery budget earlier this month. To make up for this, I've decided to see if its possible to eat nothing but rice, beans, and $10 worth of other food items for an entire week.

I went to Fred Meyer last night and bought about 1.5 pounds each of organic black beans ($1.27/lb), organic pinto beans ($1.49/lb) and white beans ($1.49). I love buying food in bulk. You save money and packaging. We have plenty of rice in our pantry so I didn't need to buy any more.

Tonight I plan on making a chili served over rice. Using a can of stewed tomatoes ($0.97), a little bit of each bean, and lots of spices, this chili should be really low points (I haven't calculated the exact number yet). I'm also going to throw in some green chili and left over corn and let it cook in the crock pot all afternoon. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Tomorrow, I'm thinking bean burritos, and bean salad on Friday. If my family hasn't completely rebelled over all the rice and bean eating, I'll try to think of some more creative recipes by this weekend.

UPDATE: The chili did not turn out as planned. Whoever let me into a kitchen without a solid recipe in my hand was nuts. I blame my husband. Apparently, a little of this and a little of that produces a big pot of what appears to be bean soup without the flavor. Sigh.

Furthermore, if anyone asks, I did NOT almost burn the kitchen down. But we will have to buy a new pot.