Goals, and a Recipe

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a great Superbowl weekend!

I really, really appreciated all of your comments on my last post.
This is why I love you all so much! I love the support, and motivation I get from this community, and the knowledge I'm soaking in!

I'm an amateur dieter. This is the first time I'm trying to lose weight the RIGHT way. I don't know the right or wrong way to do things. I don't know how to do certain things, I don't know what's reasonable, and what's not. I don't know what's healthy, and what isn't.

But that's slowly changing, as I'm learning so much from all of you!

So, I sat down, and re-valuated my goals.
As far as the "numbers" go, I think I'm going to leave them as they are. My motto for that is: Reach for the stars, because you may just reach them. ;) I don't think it hurts to have high goals, as long as I know I may not reach the exact number, and remember to not beat myself up if I don't reach those numbers. It's like Tammy said, "It's better to shoot for the 5, and land around 3...than to shoot for 3 and only lose 1." That's pretty much what I'm going to do ;) If I find that it's having a negative affect on me, and my weight loss journey, I will adjust my goals.

Jenn also got me thinking, as she said, "Make goals to eat a certain amount of calories per day, a certain amount of water and a certain amount of exercise - these are goals that you can control, and will give you weight loss - no matter how long it takes."
Makes sense doesn't it? :D

This weekend, I thought of some more goals to set for myself... ones I CAN control!

Here's what I came up with:
*Eat 1,200-1,500 calories a day.
I don't know if that's too little for a 5' 1", 194lbs, 22 year old female. I think it's lower then what most people consume when trying to lose weight, but I'm also not able to do intense workouts like most people, because of my RA. That makes me think I need to cut my calories more then normal. ?? But like I said, I'm an amateur dieter :D
It's not a problem for me to not go past my calories, it's hard for me to reach them. I haven't been doing very well at this, this past week. Today I've only had 850 calories (I'm starting this post late Sunday night). Yesterday I think I had 700. I'm honestly not meaning to have my calorie intake be so low.
My stomach is usually queasy when I wake up, so in the morning I usually just sip on a Slim Fast. A little later I have a snack, usually about 100 calories. Before I know it, it's time to start making dinner. Dinner is usually 300-400 calories. After dinner I sometimes have a 100-140 calorie dessert, and then that's it for the day. I haven't been feeling hungry, or deprived, but I know this isn't healthy, and will definitely hinder my weight loss.

*Work on eating a healthier breakfast, and make sure I eat lunch.
I'm realizing that I normally skip lunch, because I get preoccupied, and 4pm sneaks up on me. Doing these two things, will help me reach my goal of 1,200-1,500 calories for the day.

*Drink more water!
Totally bad at this one! I normally only drink 2-3 glasses a day! My goal is 8!

*Don't eat past 7:30pm

*Go swimming 3 times a week, and take 3, 5min walks a day with the doggies.
I found a gym not too far away from my house, that has a lap pool. Sometime this week, I'm going to go down, check everything out, and hopefully sign up! As far as the walking, I need to work on being consistent with it.

*Try at least 1 new workout a week, to do at home, on the days I don't go swimming.

*Keep a food journal.

*Work on keeping and making new goals.
I'm going to make a goal chart, or something along those lines, so can keep track of my goals, and the progress I'm making. That way I don't just make em, and forget em, like I normally do! I also want to work on revisiting goals that maybe need to be tweaked, and continually making new goals for myself.

These are the goals I'm going to put the majority of my focus on. These are the goals I can control. Because we all know, you and the scale aren't always on the same page! :D

***

Here's the recipe, I was supposed to post on Thursday!
It's oh so tasty, and super-de-duper easy to make. If you haven't noticed, I like things that are easy! ;)

Mexican Chicken Skillet:You will Need:

~4 skinless boneless chicken breast.
~Chili powder
~Salt
~Pepper
~1 tablespoon vegetable oil
~1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
~1 1/2 cup frozen corn
~1 1/2 cup salsa
**UPDATED: I've recently added chopped red and green bell peppers to this, and it's delish!
just throw it in the skillet, when you add the corn, beans, and salsa!

Directions:

Sprinkle salt, pepper, and chili powder, on both sides of thawed chicken breast. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet, over medium heat. Cook chicken in skillet for 8-10 minutes, or until the juice from the center of the breast runs clear. Stir in beans, salsa, and corn. Heat to a boiling, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes. ~Makes 4 servings
**I usually sprinkle a little low-fat cheddar cheese, and add a dollop of low-fat sour cream to mine. LOVE!

Here's what I'm thinking:
Calories: 320 for 1 chicken breast and about 1 cup of salsa mixture.

Enjoy!

****
Now I'm off to go catch up on all of you!
I decided that on the weekends, I'm going to take a break from the computer, as I can easily lose 2-3 hours on it. It was pretty darn hard to not read all of your blogs for 2 days, and now I have a lot of catching up to do! We'll see if I can keep it up every weekend! ;D

XOXO