"Weighing in"

My blogger friend Dani over at That Fitness Chic is hosting a link up party on Wednesdays.  I thought I would "weigh in" on a few things that I have seen around the web these last few days.

-Did you see THIS NEWS???  The very first episode of The Biggest Loser I watched was the season where Jillian trained the black team in the desert.  They were the underdogs so of course I cheered for them!  That season got me hooked and I have watched it every season since.  I have laughed, cried, and hurt for the contestants.  They have inspired and motivated me and even now, several years later, I draw inspiration from so many of them- Tara holding her wall squat with a medicine ball for over 30 minutes, Tara pulling a car (twice), Ashley holding her own on the treadmill after a disaster on her first day, the multiple health problems being resolved, Ali being the first female winner, Michelle also winning and her witness today, and so many more!  I am thrilled that the show will be back on in January and as a teacher I am even more thrilled with a change in perspective on the side.  I have become more and more passionate about setting that example for the students and trying to figure out how to do that the best way.

-The following is one of my favorite pins these days.  After my last post (and my 
posting on FB of some pictures) I was lamenting the fact that I still had so far to go and one of my friends reminded me that I KNOW where my strength comes from, I know WHY I am doing this, and I know WHO I am doing this for.

-Lindsay, over at The Lean Green Bean, has a post from Tuesday with 50 Packable Lunch Ideas.  I haven't finished looking at them all but I have plans to go back and peruse this when I have time.  I pack my lunch daily and I am on the hunt for lunch ideas all the time.  Lindsay is in school to be a registered dietician and lives in the Columbus, Ohio area (Go Buckeyes)!

-And finally, I experimented with dinner tonight.  It actually turned out quite tasty.  The picture below is the best picture I could get- I don't have a table that I could take the picture on (well, I do but it's being used at the moment) but this gives you a pretty good idea.  I have seen several recipes for the zucchini boats.  I decided to put my own twist on it.  I ended up using 1 squash (because it was big) and 1 zucchini (a lot smaller).  I cut off the ends, cut it in half and then scooped out the center of each half.  In the meantime I had browned some ground turkey (16 oz), added 4 wedges of laughing cow light cheese, and one 8 oz. can of no salt added tomato sauce.  I then piled the meat into the veggie halves and then added a smidge of mozzarella cheese on top.  I put them on a baking sheet and baked them for 20-25 minutes.  They were quite tasty!  I was excited- this could be a good recipe to have in the rotation- now, I just need to find some bigger zucchini and squash.  My squash was a good size (and deep)- the zucchini was wimpy looking!  Oh, and each half is one serving- according to My Fitness Pal the calorie total for one serving (1/2 of one of them) is about 250ish calories.  I had both of these for a little over 500 (but my calorie count was lower through the rest of the day)