YAY!!

I Chose "YAY!!" To be the title of this post, because I have a lot of things to celebrate, and be happy for! :

Remember how I told you that I had some business I needed to attend to, and I promised I'd tell you all about it, when I was done? Well, I'm finally done!

A few weeks ago, I got jury duty. Big whoop right? Well, as my luck would have it, I got picked to be on the jury for a murder trial! Out of 300 people! What are the odds?! It lasted 3 weeks, and it's finally over! YAY! I had planned to tell you all about it in more detail, but I think it's smart to keep quiet for a while...

I'm happy to be back to life before this whole thing began.... and back to blogging again! Thank you for sticking by me, even though I've been a total blog slacker! On most nights, I just wanted to eat dinner, and crawl into bed. Towards the end of the trial, the judge ordered us to stay off the Internet, so I couldn't even blog if I wanted to!

During this whole trial, I had some :Deliciously Healthy triumphs, that I'm pretty proud of! :
1. When I first found out that I was definitely on the jury, the thought came to my mind, to go of my diet, until the trial was over. I wanted comfort food! But then I remembered, that life throws you curve balls, and you have to learn to work around them. I was determined to not let this curve ball, throw me off track! I'm happy to report, that over the course of this 3 week trial, I lost 5 pounds! ...And I'm pretty darn proud of that!
2. Everyday on our lunch break, we would walk around downtown Denver, and get lunch. It was a lot of fun walking around the city, but there weren't a lot of healthy options to chose from. My 2nd triumph, is that I learned how to eat out, while sticking to my diet! This is something I never thought I had the strength, or willpower to do. I thought for certain, if I had to chose a salad, or a big juicy burger, I would always chose the burger! It actually wasn't that hard! I just said to myself, "Brittany, you deserve more then a greasy burger! You deserve to be happy and healthy!" It worked every time! ...YAY!

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My 2nd big YAY, goes to the fact, that I've passed up my first 20 pounds lost, milestone! YAY!!

Last weekend, the oh so beautiful scale said "186" Which meant I had lost 20 pounds, since around October- 09' when I weighed 206!

This weekend I weigh 184! The scale has definitely lost some of the beauty it had last weekend, but I'm still very happy with my 2 pound loss this week! I seem to lose 2 pounds every week. I wish it were 3, but hey, at least it's something! ;)

Before meets After...

Here's me at 206:
( This one's pretty telling, isn't it? ;)
And Here I am now, at 184! (22 pounds lighter):This is a milestone, that a little voice inside my head, told me I'd never reach. But guess what? I totally did! When I stepped on the scale the morning that I found out I had lost my first 20 pounds, I gave myself a little pat on the back! Literally ;) Everything has been worth it, to feel the way I felt when I stepped onto the scale, and saw that I hit that beautiful milestone. Those cinnamon rolls that I turned down, the donuts I had to pass up almost every morning while on jury duty, the pizza add I got in the mail that made me drool...NONE of those things could have brought me the satisfaction, joy, and the complete sense of accomplishment that I got from reaching my first 20lb milestone! ....No cheesecake in the world could have compared to the joy I felt when I got my period last month, or the way I felt when I got my very first compliment, or how rewarding it felt when I bought a size 16 pants!
It's so worth it! I'm so worth it!

THANK YOU
to everyone who stops by my blog, and gives me support! I know that my blog is one of the major reasons why I've (finally) been successful this time around! I heart you guys!

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My 3rd big YAY, goes to the fact that I've been feeling great lately! I can definitely feel a difference in my knees, now that I've lightened their load! I first went on this diet, because I wanted to be healthy. To be healthy so that we can have a baby. To be healthy so that I can function with less pain. To be healthy, so I can stay far away from even more health problems, like diabetes. And to be healthy, so I can hold off on knee replacements as long as I can.
It's working. I can feel my body changing, and becoming healthier... I feel healthier! I realize more and more as the days go by, that the numbers don't define my journey. I'm a healthier person now, then I was before, and next month I will be healthier then I am now. But, since the scale doesn't have a brain, it neglects to tell me that part ;)

Eat Deliciously Healthy. Be :Deliciously Healthy.

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And lastly, I tried a delicious new recipe! YAY!

I heart Italian food. After seeing one delicious Italian restaurant commercial after the other, I decided that I had to do something about it!

So, I made, Jumbo Stuffed Shells!
And it was everything I hoped it would be! :
You Will Need:

~12 jumbo pasta shells
~1 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
~1 1/4 cups finely shredded low-fat mozzarella
~3 tablespoons reduced fat parmesan
~1 large egg white
~1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh parsley
~1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh basil
~1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
~2 1/2 cups low sodium marinara sauce
~1 tablespoon reduced fat parmesan
~Salt and pepper

Here's What You Do:

Cook pasta according to package. Drain, and place shells side by side on wax paper. In a bowl, mix Ricotta cheese, and next 6 ingredients. Evenly spread out 3/4 of a cup of the marinara sauce in a 10 inch round, or 11x7 baking dish. Spoon in, or use a pipping bag like I did, 2 tablespoons of the mixture into each shell. Place stuffed shells in a single layer, in the baking dish. Spoon the remaining marinara sauce over the top. Sprinkle parmesan over the marinara sauce. Cover with foil, and bake for 20-25 minutes.
**This would be awesome with some Italian seasoned lean ground turkey! You could either make meat balls, or mix it in to the marinara!

Here's What I'm Thinking:
~About 100 calories per stuffed shell.
**I had 3 shells, and a side of steamed asparagus. I rounded it all out to be about 350 calories.

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I'm headed to bed.
Tomorrow I have A LOT of catching up to do on all my blog friends!
I can't wait to see what you guys have been up to!

XOXO