Yummy Protein Bar Recipe

Seriously this protein bar is so good to me I couldn't wait to blog about it!

I added a couple of ingredients that I thought were good and took out what I didn't have from a video I shared on my facebook page last night. I'll link that video at the end.  So if you have the basic foundational ingrediants you can change up what you want in your bar. Let me know if you try this and how you like it!

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups instant oatmeal
1 cup chocolate whey protein powder (I buy the cheap brand of protein atWal-Mart)
1/4  cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup dried cherries (you can use raisins or dried cranberries)
1/8 cup flaxseed (I just added this for a little extra fiber)
1/4 cup almond slivers
Mix these all together in a large bowel.

Wet Ingredients:
1/4 cup agave nector (you can use honey)
1/4 cup natural peanut butter creamy
1/4 cup Almond Breze Coconut Milk (you can use whatever milk you want)
1 square Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate
1 square Baker's Semi Sweet Chocolat (you can use 1/3 cup chocolate chips I think my bars could have done better with a little less chocolate)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
Microwave wet ingredients in bowl until the chocolate in blendable.  Then pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and blend well.  Line parchment paper in a pan (I used a loaf pan). Spray paper with a little cooking spray. Pour mixture into pan and refigerate until firm. Place bar on cutting board and cut into bars.

I cut mine into 16 bars. That made them only 4 Weight Watcher's Points!

Oh don't forget to "like" me on facebook. I love to chat with everyone on there :
www.facebook.com/Mammabishop

Also subscribe to my youtube channel for weekly weightloss vlogs :)
www.youtube.com/fat2phatchat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv-LcIC5gtc   check out this video if you want to watch how the bar is made.

Three Months Progress

It's been a long time since I have blogged, because I have been vlogging on youtube every week.  I also share almost daily on my facebook page.  I have been meaning to share on here for a while. Today I finally made the time to get on here. I want to get back into blogging too.  Anyway, I want to share my progress picture on here. 

Check out  and "like" my progress on facebook:  www.fabook.com/Mammabishop I feel like I'm able to communicate better with everyone on there.

and subscribe to my weekly videos I share a new tip and or struggle every week: www.youtube.com/fat2phatchat

I am still working really hard on exercising and following the Weight Watcher's Plan.  I lost 27lbs in three months and plan on losing another 75 by the end of 2012.  Join me on my journey.

Excuses Excuses and I heart K-Mart

Well I maintained my weight this week.  I don't believe in giving excuses but I'm gonna tell you what led me to this.  I started my period so I am bloated.  I am also a self proclaimed food addict as you know, and nothing gets me more hungry than hormones from starting my period.  I also was not home a lot and we ate out a few times.  It is too cold to go out and walk the mountain like I was doing for exercise and my Wii stopped working again so I don't have that either.  My kids didn't go back to school until Wednesday so it was hard to get into a routine last week.  So, Friday I had the evening to myself so I went to K-Mart because I had $50 in register rewards to spend before the end of the month,  I love K-Mart they gave me 10% back in register rewards for the Christmas shopping I did there.  Anyway, I got a couple things I needed and then I got a Shake Weight that I have been wanting forever, but couldn't justify spending the $20 when it could be a scam or I might not use it.  I also got a Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD.  I watched the dvd, but haven't done the workout yet. I'm waiting to get into a routine with it Monday when I have some time to myself.  I really like the shake weight too.  I think it will really help tone up my flabby arms.  I'm gonna get back with this yall I promise. 

I videoed myslef so many times.  I even made a youtube channel just for my weight loss videos.  I just didn't feel comfortable putting them up.  I will do that by next week if it kills me.  I don't want to let the fear of what other people think stop me from doing this.  Anyway, if you see me pulling into a fastfood place or out to eat and I'm not eating something healthy smack me in the back of the head. ;)

A TIME FOR RENEWAL!

How many times have you heard, "This is the first day of the rest of your life!"?   Well today is the first day of the rest of mine.  I woke up this morning and blogged about my resolutions. Then I thought to myself, I'm hungry what should I have for breakfast?   There is carrot cake in my fridge beside oranges.  Right there with the refrigerator door open I debated with myself whether to have cake or a well balanced breakfast.

 I know some people would not even look at cake as a breakfast food but not me.  I was raised on Little Debbies for breakfast.  Now what kink of example am I setting for my children if I do the same thing I tell them not to.   You  already know I am aware of how my habits effect my children.  I have fell off the wagon since October and I see a change in my kids too.  So, from this day forward I am sticking to with a healthier lifestyle.  It may not be 100%  healthy, but I am going to make sure that we are eating three well balanced meals and healthy snacks before junk food is allowed.

I enjoyed the holidays this year, but I am so glad that they are over and I have a new year to start over on my dieting journey.  As I was standing with the fridge door open deciding cake or fruit I thought oh I'll start tomorrow and enjoy New Year's Day by eating whatever I want.  Then I said NO  today is the start of a new year. It's a time for renewal and I am going to start it off healthy!  So from now on I need encouragement from anywhere I can get it, because this is not going to be easy for me.  I will have a whole lot less of me to love by the end of 2012 though.

I know I haven't blogged in a long time, but it is really because I "fell of the wagon"  and I just stopped paying attention to my health for a few months.  It is my resolution to now blog every week, because I have found this is the main thing that's keeping me accountable for my actions.  I also will be making some videos and posting pictures of my weight loss so you can see for yourself that I am looking healthier!  

Weekly Update #7

Well this week I really have been working out a lot.  I only missed Sunday. That day I felt like I was 90. I hurt all over, but that day of rest helped.  I have been doing a lot more yoga and still walking my four mile hikes a few days a week.  I had a really good week as far as exercising.  However, I am still battling with food.  

I thought writing down everything I ate would help.  I can write down what I eat for breakfast then by lunch time I am busy and when I get hungry I just eat whatever and run.  Never thinking about writing it down.  So I am going to plan out what I will eat and write it down before I eat it.  I am hoping to treat food the same way I do my chore to do list.  It's going to be really hard because I have such a big food addiction, but I am going to do my best to only eat what is on my "to eat" list for the day.  I will give myself on free day a week. 

My workout partner told me that she is drinking half her body weight in ounces of water.  I was drinking a lot of water but not that much.  I'm a big girl and that's a lot of water.  I did drink that much yesterday and I felt good about it. Besides the fact that I constantly have to pee. I think this will help. If my stomach is full of water I am less likely to over eat.

This week I lost .69% of my weight from last week, and since last month I have lost 2.4% of my weight.  I am excited to see results.  I put on a shirt the other day that is now noticeably looser than the last time I wore it.  Another goal is to measure my waist, hips, thighs, and arms.  I have been saying I'm going to do this for weeks and haven't yet.  I will today and next week I will post how many inches I have lost. 

Rant of an Emotional Eater

I know I have a problem.  I do really good dieting as long as something stressful doesn't come up. Judging by my weight I have a pretty stressful life. Really though life has been great lately.  I have been doing a lot better about not letting simple things get the best of me.  Last week I was having a great day then a couple things happened that just ruined my day.  I stopped tracking my food and just went on a binge. Then once I do that it is hard to get back on track. Thankfully I didn't have that much chocolate in the house that I could do that much damage.  I just have a really hard time getting back on track once I've gone on a binge. Hopefully all the exercise I'm doing can balance it out so I won't gain any.   So today I don't feel good at all. I wish I could stay in bed today.  I may not be on top of the dieting thing today, but I promise I'm gonna get back with it Monday and I'll let you know in my regular Thursday Blog how the rest of the week went.   I just wish I could find things that occupy my mind the the way that eating does when I'm emotional.  I have a couple hobbies but it's hard sometimes to do those with a little kid under my feet wanting to help but wow is it easy to eat cookies to feel better.

She's So Critical

Well I had an OK week nothing great as far as dieting goes. I had some good days and some bad days.  Even if I don't lose what I want every week at least I'm aware of my body more and my weight isn't going up. I did lose 1.1 pounds according to the Wii two days ago then it said I gained .4 pounds this morning. Even if it went down and back up it's still a loss of 7/10 of a pound.  I know that there was potential for me to do better. I missed a workout yesterday. I had a full day with dentist appointments during my regular workout ours. I did however walk with my daughter over half a mile to the playground at the end of the road. So we had to walk it back and I carried her on my back part of the way. She's around 50 pounds now so that was easy for me to do but I did it.

I have been doing well with exercising at least 30 minutes every day. Exercising is the easy part for me though. Even if it hurts I can push through it.  I get two miles away from my car hiking up a mountainous road and I have no other choice but to turn around and keep going or I will never get back home.  I promise unless I am injured some how and can't walk at all; I will never call to have somebody come pick me up. I wont give up when I start something. Sometimes actually starting is harder than doing it, but if you don't start then you will never know what you can get done!

On the dieting side of things well it hasn't been great. I am still drinking mostly water. I had a green tea yesterday and a small glass of soda.  Maybe a couple more sugary drinks during the week I can't remember how many, but it wasn't much. (I love doing this blog I have great ideas as I'm typing)  Since I cant remember everything I ate last week starting today I'm going back to writing it all down.  I know that helps but I just now thought about doing it again. Back to my diet:  Sunday morning my daughter wakes up and asks, "Mommy what's for Breakfast?"  I give her a list of option and she refuses. I remembered I had some orange cinnamon rolls in the fridge that needed to be made or they were gonna go bad. She wanted those. She asked how many could she have. I told her everyone get two a piece.  She replies, "Mommy since you is soooo fat should just have one!"  I couldn't help but laugh. I never would want her to say that to anyone else and hurt somebodies feelings. I explained that was not appropriate to tell somebody they are fat, but I'm glad she put me in my place and I did only have one.  She has been so critical about my weight lately. I know it's because she has listened to me talk about it with other people. She is constantly shaking my stomach and saying, "Mommy you're still fat."   Well in a different time that would hurt my feelings or made me mad, but coming from her how could I get mad at her for that. Kids are just honest.  It really is a good motivator for me, but my husband better not talk to me like that or I will lose my cool. LOL

So my challenge for this week is to do better about my diet and write down everything that I eat and drink.