Week 2 of the Challenge

We have now started week 2 of the X-Weighted Challenge. I did my weigh in yesterday morning and I lost 1 pound. Woohoo!!! I have also joined a couple of community groups: Scraphoppers, a group of friends from the Scrapping Turtle Forum and Twitter Girls, a group of girls that I am starting to form friendships with over on Twitter.

My diet is improving, slowly. My goal this week is to cut as much added sugar out of my diet as possible. When I have my cup of tea, such as my English Breakfast Tea, I will add Stevia instead of sugar. When baking I will not taste test the product before and after baking. And I will focus on eating more fresh fruit and veggies. This weekend will be the real test as it will be Amanda's birthday this weekend and she will be having a couple of friends over for a sleepover on Saturday night. There will be munchies and pop of course and I will be making her favourite; a rich, decadent, triple layer chocolate cake. Heaven help me.

Exercise..... I haven't started my program yet. My fibroids kicked in last week and I was on a Tylenol #3 road trip and I spent most of the week on the couch or in bed. Not fun, can't wait for surgery. My energy levels are getting back up. Right now I am getting ready to do the fitness test, and then some yoga to stretch out my muscles, they are feeling really tight and sore. Tomorrow I hope to start working on my couch to 5k program. I can do this.

I am going to finish off this post with a recipe that I made last night for dinner. It is out of the Epicure Selections "A Healthier You" cookbook.

Mexican Beef and Black Beans

1 lb Extra lean ground beef or veggie ground round

1 each, red and green peppers, chopped

1-2 tbsp VE Taco Seasoning

2 tsp VE Poco Picante Salsa Mix

2 tbsp VE 3 Onion Dip mix

2-14 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed

VE Pepper to taste

1. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add beef and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Drain fat.

2. Lower heat to medium-low. Add all remaining ingredients, and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve with whole grain tortillas or on a bed of whole grain brown rice.

Makes 4 servings

Per serving: Calories 260, Fat 5 g (sat. fat 1.5 g, trans 0g), Cholesterol 60 mg, Sodium 220 mg, Carbohydrate 25 g (fibre 7g, sugars 2 g) Protein 30 g

I ran out of taco seasoning, so I used what I had of Fajita seasoning, which wasn't enough either, so I added some Pueblo Bean Dip Mix, and some Louisiana Hot and Spicy Dip mix instead. The dish had a really nice kick to it. Made this dish with ground beef last night to help get my iron levels up, but I have made it with Veggie ground soy and it was yummy.