Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Twelve

This was a great week! I finally got beyond the dreaded "weight loss plateau"! I reached the first goal I have set for myself! It honestly takes a while to learn your body and what you need to give it, to not only lose weight, but do so in a safe and healthy manner. I feel great at this point and can't weight to reach my next goal!

My weight loss group has been very helpful, not only in the tips and recipes that they provide, but also in the encouragement I've received from them. Having my friend and co-worker, Angelica of Angie's Life Changes on this journey with me means I have a daily partner around to kick my butt and keep me on track and I do the same for her. The only thing she hasn't gotten me to do yet is exercise more, but I'm trying! Ok...I'm not trying, but I will this next week, I promise!

So anyway...who would have thought that eating more fat would help me to lose weight? But it has and this past week I lost 3 pounds! Yay!!!

Great thing is that not once have I felt hungry or deprived. Would you feel deprived eating these?

These are Jalapeno Popper Meatballs! Meatballs stuffed with cream cheese, cheddar cheese and roasted jalapeno's then wrapped in bacon! Yum! 

The recipe is courtesy the a low-carb, gluten-free genius, Mellissa Sevigny, creator of the blog "I Breathe...I'm Hungry". I've mentioned her blog many times and have made quite a few of her recipes...remember Buffalo Balls which I made in Week Eight? Mellissa does a Meatball Monday and always has a new one you can try out. Not only are her recipes awesome and easy, her photographs will make you want to lick your monitor and drool on your keyboard!

I only made four wrapped in bacon because on her blog Mellissa explains that you have to broil the bacon wrapped ones but to be very careful as the bacon grease will make them pop and since they are right under direct fire it could cause a fire in your oven and I'm a big old chicken and figured I could careful monitor four of them as opposed to watching out for twenty of them a'popping and a'sizzling! So in the photo above you can see how the ones not wrapped in bacon looked. I ate them with a few slices of avocado for healthy fat. Here's how they looked inside.

Look at all that gorgeousness! Melted cream cheese mixed with cheddar cheese and roasted jalapenos!                    
Be sure to visit I Breathe...I'm Hungry to get the recipe!

Here's a few more pictures only because I'm pretty darn proud of how great they look!

Unwrapped and ready to be baked!

I love this closeup!
See the roasted jalapeno that was mixed in the meat?

Here's the four I made with bacon waiting to be baked!

DUTA from the blog Places with Character mentioned last week in a comment on Week Eleven that my photos are of cook book quality. Thank you DUTA...I'm humbled and grateful you enjoy them. If you would like to read a great blog that is educational and informative and shows you some beautiful pictures, then be sure to visit her blog. 

So I've mentioned my co-worker Angie that is eating low-carb alongside me. She is a great inspiration too. She also has a very demanding sweet tooth! I'm not real big on sweets, but every now and then I crave something. She does not disappoint. While I was making Jalapeno Popper Meatballs, she was making this...

That's a CHOCOLATE MINT FUDGE POP!!!! I know...I'm yelling, but that is how excited I was when she walked into the office one morning and told me she had brought me one! Of course I had to eat it right then and there for breakfast! Oh my gosh...was it delicious. She used the recipe from the blog All Day Long I Dream About Food. 

And she wasn't done with her sweet tooth yet, she also made these amazing Chocolate Flaxseed Muffins! They were so delicious and she brought me two! I had one with my coffee that morning and I ate the second one with my coffee this morning and I slathered it with melted butter (another healthy fat). 

She found this recipe at Maria's Nutritious and Delicious Journal. this blog is full of so much health and diet and lifestyle info! I love it!

Photo Credit - Eat Yourself Skinny

That is it for this week's wrap up. Remember to drink lots of water to keep your body hydrated and prevent nasty water retention. I'm trying to get into the habit of drinking detox water during the weekend to keep myself hydrated. Just slice up half a cucumber, 1 lemon, 1 lime and about 12 small mint leaves and put in a pitcher with water in your fridge on Friday night and drink it during the weekend instead of soda. Healthy, yummy and refreshing!