Chubby Hubby?

Well, I didn't get my "after" photo shoot with my hubby like I wanted...I am sure he was SO looking forward to it too.  ;)  It doesn't matter...I have enough evidence to show the difference.  When my husband and I first met, he was working for Kings Heating and Plumbing and then shortly after that started driving a truck full-time (locally) for his cousin's company, Apex.  During the time that he drove a truck, his eating habits went from bad to worse.  He was eating Little Debbie snack cakes for breakfast and then stopping for fast food and gas station grub while on the road.  Oh yeah, and we can't forget the Mountain Dew that we BOTH were drinking...ew!  (See...I can say, "ew" to Mt. Dew because it's not a Coke product!)  On top of that, we were eating out at least 3-4 times a week for supper - YIKES!

I didn't realize how much he had gained until he told me.  We looked at his Class B physical and found that at his heaviest, he was 262 pounds.  Here is a picture from around that time:

And here is another:

In December of 2007, he started working for Coca-Cola.  It is a physically demanding job.  He stocks and orders for Wal-mart. Meijer, Kroger, and Target here in Kokomo.  He throws hundreds of cases a day (that means puts them on the shelves - he doesn't really "throw" them).  I couldn't believe how much Coke is consumed DAILY by our community...which is good because it puts food on our table and keeps a roof over our heads (but also scary)!  I was skeptical that stocking the stores I listed would be a full-time job...but it is...and then some.  Coke also is responsible for products like Vitamin Water, Vitamin Water 10, and Vitamin Water Zero, Dasani water, Smart Water, and Powerade.  So...there are other non-pop options as well.

Back to the story!  My husband is not a health-food nut.  ;)  He does not love vegetables or fruit, BUT in the last 6 months he has eaten things that I never would have dreamed he would.  He has traded his cheeseburgers and fries for raw carrots, pineapple, watermelon, apples (He LOVES Honeycrisp apples!), and instead of Lil Debbie for breakfast he usually eats a banana and a protein shake or a CLIF bar.  (we're talking light years away from where we BOTH were 6 months ago, people!)  He hardly ever goes out to eat for lunch anymore when he used to eat out everyday.  As a family we only eat out 1 maybe 2 times a week now which is HUGE!  As an added benefit, it has helped up save a lot of money in the process.  A lot of people claim that eating healthy is more expensive.  I disagree.  It actually is about the same as we used to spend, but the money is just delegated in different ways, for instance:

We now spend $60-$70 of our $120 weekly grocery budget on fresh produce whereas we used to spend it on snacks and junk and usually pulled money from the grocery budget to feed our fast-food addiction.  We have had to adopt a more structured "menu" for the week and we only buy what is necessary for the meals that we plan.  That saves us money because we are throwing less rotten food away!  We are much more aware of what we are throwing in our cart and that helps us stay on budget - if it's not on the list, we try not to put it in the cart!

Here are some "after" pictures of my hubby - not so chubby anymore, is he?  He has lost almost 60 pounds!

The funny thing is that he is holding babies at the hospital in two of these pics - that's pretty much what our life has been like the past few years - get married, have a baby (I mean, two babies), get a new job, have another baby, go crazy, have another baby.  ;)

In honor of my husband and his success, I am going to post a recipe that was surprisingly a big hit with our WHOLE family.  He looked at it in the crockpot and claimed he would not eat it, but then I reminded him of our "2 bite rule."  (that rule is really for the kids, but I guess it applies to adults too)  So...he reluctantly tried it and liked it!  :)  He also ate salmon for the first time the other day and liked it!

Brent's Black-Eyed Pea Soup

(4 cups of water for boiling)

2 cups dried black-eyed peas

2- 14 oz cans of chicken broth (or stock - I like stock)

1/2 lb baby carrots cut up into bite-sized pieces

1 cup sliced celery

1 cup diced ham

1/2 cup diced onion

1 1/2 tsp dried thyme (I am not a big thyme fan so I left it out)

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Place 4 c. water and back-eyed peas in a large pot and bring to a boil, uncovered for 10 minutes.  Drain and rinse peas.  Place peas and remaining ingredients in a crock pot; cook 9 hours on low or 5 hours on high.  Serve.  Yum!

This was a recipe from our e-mealz points plan.  It was so flavorful and comforting!  The soup is 6 servings (which figured out to be a little shy of 2 c. per serving) and was only 2 points!!!  We served it with corn muffins and sliced strawberries.  For more meal ideas, visit:

E-Mealz