Making Things Happen In The Kitchen

I'm not really sure why, but I go through major phases where I stop cooking. The most confusing part of this to me is that cooking is one of my favorite past times. It is healthier, cheaper, and usually tastier (except when I totally screw up) then going out. However, a few days ago I decided this hiatus has gone on long enough and I marched (drove) to Sprouts. I would say 9 times out of 10 I lean on a Skinnytaste recipe. If you haven't ever checked Gina out, she's amazing! Her recipes are the reason I was able to stick to Weight Watchers in college. Ok, on to the recipe! 

Skinnytaste Crock Pot Balsamic Pork Roast (slightly modified) 

Ingredients: 

• 2 pound boneless pork shoulder roast (sirloin roast)
• kosher salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 large sweet onions 

First I trimmed any extra fat off of the pork. Then liberally season all sides of the roast with the salt, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. I used some extra red pepper flakes because I like my food spicy! 

Then I wanted to add onions to the recipe so I just sliced up some sweet onions and threw them in the bottom of the crock pot. 

Then I put the roast on top of the onions, they made a nice little bed for it. The next step is to combine the chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce and pour over the roast. 

Finally, drizzle the honey over the roast. 

I have a little too for this step. I always spray my measuring cup or spoon with non stick spray before adding honey. It lets all of the honey come out of the spoon and makes for easier clean up! 

The last step is the hardest, the waiting! I set my crock pot for 8 hours and went to work! 

I think the most rewarding part of a crock pot recipe, besides having dinner cook itself while you're busy, is the smell when when you walk in the door. Heaven! Then you pull that delicious thing out of the crock pot and get to shredding! 

Quick and easy 5 point meal that made enough to eat all week! I love having several meals out of one recipe! You guys should hurry up and give this a try! 

I served this with oven roasted broccoli (0pp) and oven roasted rosemary potatoes (3pp weight watcher recipe)!

There's An App For That

A lot of people ask me how I stay on track and keep motivated. Let's get real, sometimes I'm not either. I'm human and I get lazy and bored. However good ol technology lets me get an extra hand when I'm slacking. I wanted to share with you some of my favorite apps I use. And no I'm not getting paid for any of these, my life is not that interesting yet! 

First and foremost, the mother of them all on my phone, the Weight Watchers mobile app. I'm not sure if I've ever discussed on here that I do not attend meetings. I am an online member for Weight Watchers. This app is my life, it tells me where and what I can eat. Obviously sometimes I look at it and pretend I didn't see that brownie sundae was 35 points (then my butt reminds me the next day when it's a few inches rounder) but hey, that's what weeklies are for! I love all the restaurants loaded in the system because as a mid 20s girl, I like to go out. I also love that it syncs with my Fitbit to put my activity points in, I'll elaborate more later. The weight tracker has a graph or table feature, I like the table because I can see my week to week progress clearer. Basically if I didn't have this app I would still be 62 pounds heavier! 

The almighty Fitbit app keeps my booty in gear when my mind is trying to convince us a Netflix binge is a good idea, I mean sometimes it is though Scandal demands attention! Anyways, I love the challenges with friends options because I'm competitive and hate losing. Although I also don't have a death wish and I'm not about that 20,000 steps a day life. Maybe soon, probably not. Again, it syncs with my WW app so I know how many chocolate covered almonds I can have for that two mile walk (4 if you were wondering). I have the flex and it's all I need right now but I want to upgrade the the Charge HR eventually! 

Instagram has changed the way I view weight loss entirely. I started putting a few little tidbits about my journey on my Instagram when I had seriously maybe 50 followers. I started gaining new people and with it I was quickly receiving support that was indescribable. These men and women going through the same thing as me and cheering me on. Strangers cheering ME on. What? As my followers grew I started building relationships with a few people. I seriously consider my followers my friends. They really are all my fitness family. It also helped me find my new girls #wwsendtheloveteamslim ! These women are helping me become the me I've always wanted to be. Without Instagram I know I wouldn't have had the success I've had to this point. 

This is a fun app I recently discovered. You put in your starting weight, current weight, and goal weight and it gives you a visual to see your progress. You can also change the model to look more like yourself. Or if you're bored like me you can pretend your hair is different colors and quickly realize you should never go blonde, just don't do it Christina. It's a fun little tool, check it out! 

My biggest issue with the WW app is the lack of a recipe builder. I am far too lazy to go hunt down my laptop so I can log in to Weight Watchers and pull up the recipe builder. My Fitbit is staring at me right now saying we could use the steps. It really is just inconvenient when you're cooking to have to get your whole computer. This app lets me get a better estimate on recipes. I have had a few glitches and problems but overall it works for what I need it for. 

Ok! So those are my go to apps! Anybody have any other suggestions?  Thanks for reading! 

When You've Been Waiting For Answers And You Finally Get Them

Hello everyone! So for the last year my body has just not been itself. Strangle little things were going on like fevers, severe joint pain, night sweats, swollen lymph nodes, dizziness, extreme fatigue, and on and on. My GP put me on antibiotics which did absolutely nothing and then sent me to an ENT. He took one look at me and said he wouldn't touch me until I was cleared by an oncologist. Let me just tell you that hearing you're being sent to an oncologist is the scariest thing in the entire world. I met with the oncologist who informed me my symptoms were text book lymphoma symptoms (let's clarify that my symptoms match about 10 million things). I went through months of scans and a biopsy to rule out cancer. So that left me in August with no answer still. I went to a Rheumatologist to rule out Lupus and RA where all he could inform me was that he was pretty sure I had an autoimmune disease. For months I sat idle just dealing with everything thinking I wasn't ever going to get an answer for what was wrong with me. Then on March 1st I got strep. Went to the doctor got my antibiotics all was great until three days after I finished my antibiotics and the strep came back. My GP sent me to an infectious disease specialist and that's where I finally found out what was wrong with me!

It turns out I have an autoimmune deficiency which makes it nearly impossible for my body to fight off the simplest of things. It took three rounds of antibiotics, with the last two being through a daily IV, to get rid of the strep. Now I'm looking at biweekly plasma infusions to try and rebuild me immune system. 

 

I had my first IVIG therapy yesterday and it was a long 3 hours. My head is pounding, my arms hurts like you know what where they did the infusion, my stomach isn't a happy camper at all, and I'm so exhausted (which is hard to beat my normal exhaustion levels). I'm not trying to whine but it was just a little more intense than I was expecting. I'm hopeful these will finally help me feel better but I don't want to get my hopes up just yet. I need my body to get its life together and stop attacking itself!! 

So I've been trying to find some funny memes to cheer me up a bit! I'm hoping by Friday or Saturday to return to my normal activity level! I let all of this really affect my weight loss from last March through this past January. I keep telling myself if I was dying or something I was going to eat that damn brownie! Which was all fun and games until I realized this is no excuse to not still focus on my weight loss. I'm only going to feel better the more weight I lose (which let me say isn't actually that true I'm finding but it makes people feel better to tell me that). It gets frustrating when people assume you feel fine because your hair is brushed and you have makeup on. Just because I'm not lying dead on the ground does not mean I feel good. I get tired of saying I hurt or I'm not feeling up to something, that doesn't mean it's not true. So just keep that in mind with anyone dealing with a chronic illness. Just because they're living their lives doesn't mean it's easy for them! 

Thanks for reading! 

Gaining More Than I Lose

Hello everyone!

So today I wanted to talk about what happens when you hit a wall on your weightless journey. The first few months with weight watchers were a complete breeze for me. When you have a significant amount of weight to lose the first 30 pounds tend to fall right off. Then you have the momentum from the initial loss to get you through another 15-20 pounds. That is where I started to struggle. Right at my 45 pound mark I got lazy. I slacked on my exercising and didn't track my points like I should have been. I had all the tools right at my finger tips and I just didn't use them. After hovering at my 45 pound mark for three months, I decided enough was enough and I had to keep pushing. I joined a gym that had just opened next to my house, signed up for personal training (which I have always been extremely intimidated by) and broke my plateau. Putting in the harder work has made me feel so incredibly good. My trainer pushes me to do things I didn't know my body was capable of and it is extremely rewarding. Weight training has started to shape some of my body and that is never a bad thing. I still have so long to go but  I am happy with the small changes I have made. So my tip is when you find yourself getting bored with whatever routine you have become accustomed to, switch it up. Try a new workout DVD or get outside and go for a walk. Don't be afraid to try something new!

Another small thing that helped me to push forward when I got lazy was to compare pictures of myself from before I started losing weight to current pictures of myself. You don't really appreciate your progress until you look at how far you've come in pictures. When you see yourself in the mirror everyday it's hard to notice the changes you're making. I still see a much bigger girl when I look at myself because I was used to staring at her for years. I know one day I'll be able to see myself more accurately but for right now I will keep relying on my pictures!

The last little tip I have for breaking out of a rut is following some motivational people on social media. I love reading about their stories and seeing how they overcame their own obstacles. The extra support you'll get back will only make you work harder!

The most important thing to keep telling yourself is that no matter how hard the weight loss gets, you have to keep pushing forward. Nothing is harder than putting all your weight back on and starting from square one. I have done that too many times to count and it will not be happening again. I will get back up every time I slip off or have a bad day. I will not stop until I am happy and healthy!

Goodnight!

Welcome to Shrinking Georgia Peach

Hello everyone! So I finally decided to start a blog because I'm sure you all want to know everything about my life! My name is Christina, I'm 24 living in an Atlanta suburb! I have been overweight my entire life and finally decided enough is enough. I signed up for Weight Watchers (definitely not for the first time) and have been more committed than ever before. I am down 62 pounds and would love to see that 100 mark in my near future. Lately I have hit a small slump so I am reevaluating some aspects of my journey. I owe a big part of my recent drive to my new found support group #WWsendtheloveteamslim These ladies are so supportive and it's nice to share our journeys together.

I graduated from Auburn University in 2013 with a degree in Political Science. I later realized I didn't want to be an attorney so then I sat in limbo for a while trying to figure out my life. This is when I decided to make my fitness a priority since I had a significant amount of free time. I have recently decided to go back to school and pursue another degree in Interior Design. I work for Pottery Barn as a design specialist right now and I have already learned so much! I love to craft and work on DIY projects whenever I can. Cooking is my other favorite past time so you will see several WW friendly recipes on here.

I'm all about positivity and support now so don't hesitate to reach out! Check out my Instagram if you need some more of my life in your life @cmannarino_ww

Have the best day and thanks for stopping by!