Gluten free black bean burgers 2.0

I revamped my black bean burger recipe yesterday. I like this new version even more! 

1 3/4 cups of black beans (canned or dried beans you have cooked)
1 cup of corn
1 cup of rice (cooked)
4 egg whites
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
1/2 package of onion soup mix

1. Mash the beans with a fork.
2. Mix mashed beans, corn, rice, garlic and soup mix together
3. Lightly beat the egg whites.
4. Stir egg whites into mixture.
5. Drop onto a hot pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and flatten it out to about 1/2 inch. Cook on a medium to low temperature and flip after about 4 minutes.

Makes about 5 burgers.
About 3 Weight Watchers points each and also gluten free.

Weekly Results Post: Exercise as repentance

• Today makes exactly 1 month of exercising. YEAH!
• I am also now 1 week gluten free, sugar free, and meat free! All of my glutenous Celiac Disease bloating is gone from cutting the gluten again. Score!
• Last week I walked 123,276 steps which for me is 58.38 miles. 
• I lost 7.2 pounds. 

Notes from the week: 
I have been a little bit tired in the afternoons. I think I need to front-load the day and eat more in the morning and at lunch and make dinner smaller.

Thoughts: 
I have a lot of friends and family that jump on every diet bandwagon that passes through town. I have watched them put all of their fitness faith in these quick fix sorts of programs and they often do lose weight just to gain it all back when the program is over.

It seems so simple to me. Calories in. Calories out. If I eat it I have to burn it at some point. I really don't believe there is a magical way to burn a calorie. It takes some kind of physical work to get that calorie back out again...

I am NOT a religious person per se, but as I was walking on the track working on my fifth mile I realized that for the overweight person exercise is basically repentance. Repentance - making reparations for your past wrongs. As you exercise you are repairing the damage you have done to your body, you are freeing it from the weight you have put it on it, you are moving forward and working towards being a different and stronger person.

Shedding the costume and shield

I watch The Biggest Loser occasionally and I find the show motivating to a degree. One of the things that the show always portrays are how contestants have to find the root reasons of why they have allowed themselves to become so overweight. The trainers always threaten that if the contestants don't work to discover and resolve the reasons for the weight the contestant will ultimately gain the weight back later. 

I have found that to be true in my own life. I will work hard and lose 10 or 15 pounds and then just stop and gain it back. One time, about seven years ago I lost 70 pounds. I felt good. I looked good but did gain all of the weight back. I find myself starting out on this journey again and want to make this stick. Working so hard to get healthy and strong seems like such a waste if I am not going to ultimately fix whatever it is inside of me that makes me punish myself like this. 

I have had "perfection" issues and have been fairly insecure my entire life. I used to think that my confidence issues were because of my weight, I don't think that is the case anymore. I think that my weight was a disguise or cover, an insulation against the world. My weight was a way of separating me so that I did not feel like I could actively participate... I could blend in and be kind of invisible. 

I have gone through a lot over the last few years and many of the challenges I have faced have caused me to re-evaluate everything in my life. My world has been turned completely upside down, and coming through these things has helped me to build my confidence and care less about other people and what they think about me. Changing so much on the inside has set me free in many ways and I have grown and repaired certain past damages. While the inside has changed the outside, the physical has stayed the same. When I look at myself in the mirror I do not feel that "I" am actually reflected. 

More and more I feel a drive to shed this costume that I have worn for so long. 

Gluten free black bean burgers

My Black Bean Burger Recipe

1 3/4 cups of black beans (canned or dried beans you have cooked)
1/2 cup of corn
1 cup of rice (cooked)
3 eggs
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
1 teaspoon of salt

1. Mash the beans with a fork.
2. Mix mashed beans, corn, rice, garlic and salt together
3. Lightly beat the eggs.
4. Stir eggs into mixture.
5. Drop onto a hot pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and flatten it out to about 1/2 inch. Cook on a medium to low temperature and flip after about 4 minutes.

Makes about 5 burgers.
About 4 Weight Watchers points each and also gluten free.