This Diet Bet I am hosting really kept me focused last week.  It was my birthday week and I LOST 1.2.  I know I am shouting, but that has really never happened to me ever.  I’ve been known to gain 5 pounds my birthday week and up to 10 pounds my birthday month – which would then take months to get off.

And I ate out three times last week AND had Cooking Club.  What the what?  What was my secret.  There isn’t really one.  I knew I had to balance out the rest of my eats with healthy eats to indulge a bit here and there.  I had beer, I had wine, but just when I was out.  I did get 10k steps a day easily, but only went to the gym twice.

It just shows that it really is all about the food.  Yes, exercise is great, but for so long I was using exercise to eat like shit – maybe that would work if I was at goal weight, but, um, turns out I’ve got a ways to go. 😀

I don’t think Mother Nature has gotten the memo that it’s almost April, and I’d like temps not in the 20s and 30s thank you very much.  One of the dishes on my meal plan is Italian sausage soup.

It’s so easy, so delicious and comes in at only 5 points for 1.5 cups.  I plan on having it for dinner tonight because I signed up for an Orange Theory class tonight.

My store had shredded bags of carrots for .99 cents, so I threw those in the food processor.

And I may lose you on this, but I also had nearly half a head of cabbage leftover from St. Patrick’s Day, so I decided to puree that with the canned tomatoes.  It was either going to taste like ass, or be great!

Guess what? It turned out great. 😀  If I didn’t know there was cabbage in there, I wouldn’t even know.  I grilled on Saturday night, and grilled a sausage from Hub Market in McHenry.  Grilling season is nearly upon us, and if you live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, you need to check out this butcher shop.  Seriously one of the best sausages I’ve ever had.

I didn’t fully cook the sausage on the grill, just charred it knowing I was going to use it somehow this week.  I sliced it super thin, and had the sausage simmer in the soup and it helped flavor the broth.  I added 1/3 cup of mini cheese tortellini, topped with basil and a bit of cheese, and this was a filling meal.

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On Saturday I crashed a breakfast that my friend Christie made with my other friend Tia.  You guys have to follow her journey.  She’s funny, beautiful, smart, driven, and swears just as much as me!  You’re welcome!

She just hit 5000 followers on Instagram on Saturday.  She and another IG woman are putting together an Infertility Summit at the end of April – she is an amazing voice in the IVF community, with her and her ultimately deciding in the end to live a child free life.

But she does have this baby, whose name is Burn.  OMG, the best dog.  I walked into her house and he immediately went on his back as if to say “you may massage me now.”  And of course, I did.

And here we are back to Monday!  I’ve got all my workouts and food planned – I literally put everything into my journal and calendar on my phone as if it were a meeting. I would never blow off a meeting for work, why would I blow off a meeting for myself?!

Make it a great day, and remember #donteatlikeanasshole

Love, Biz