The Key to Motivation

So its later in the day than I usually blog.  But I am committed to doing this every day because it helps keep me motivated, which is the issue I want to discuss today.  MOTIVATION.  How to keep it.

I weighed myself today, and .... UGH!!  No weight loss.  First thought... How can that possibly be??  I was eating well AND I started exercising.  Second thought ... Forget about the scale.  It is only one part of the total picture.  I know I am doing what I am supposed to be doing.  I will not let this deter me.  (But it is easy to let it do so.)  

So what to do to keep that motivation?  Well, the first thing I am doing is blogging.  Even if NO ONE reads this blog, I am pretending that you people out there read it and that you want me to keep blogging, so it is holding me accountable.  Second, I buy myself little gifts.  A tee-shirt.  A pair of shoes. Just little things to keep me going.  Third, I try new recipes.  Today was a banner motivational day!  I bought a new tee-shirt, a new pair of jeans, and I tried TWO new plant based recipes!  Oh, and I must digress to say this... I felt VERY SKINNY today, despite the fact that the scale didn't move.  But... oh well... back to my discussion.

I made this very cool salad that I actually saw on The Kitchen (a Food Network Show). The Sandwich King dude made it.  It was grilled red cabbage and grilled veggies... I used grilled carrots, eggplant and zucchini ... and then I marinated some strawberries in a raspberry white balsamic vinegar ... and then I made the avacado dressing which was just some white wine vinegar, an avocado, vegetable stock, salt and pepper all churned up in the food processor ... and then I poured that over my salad and mixed in the strawberries. YUM YUM.  I didn't take a picture of it because I ate it before I remembered.  :-(     BUT.... I DID take a picture of my raspberry chia seed jam!  

Here is the thing.  I bought these chia seeds and I didn't know what to use them for.  So I searched for recipes and found that you can make jams with just them and fruit and a sugar of your choice (so I used Truvia).  And it came out great!  I picture it here with some Date Bark, which is also SUPER EASY to make and is delicious.  All plant based foods!  

From now on, I will post the recipes I try on my PINTEREST page.  https://www.pinterest.com/denavanclemis/food-junkie-goes-healthy/

I am also going to PIN other stuff, like motivational pictures and some weight loss stuff. But I will also link the recipe for chia jams here to give the original website the credit. http://www.goinghometoroost.com/2013/seasonal-recipes/chia-seed-jams/

OH.. and I almost forgot... I bought a little gadget today that lets me make pasta like spaghetti out of vegetables!  Its so cool.  I tried it with squash and zucchini and it worked great!  So, that is yet another new dish I have to try!

So, all in all, not a bad day.  It could have been superlative with a weight loss, but hey, I am not giving up.  And really, that is all that matter.