Just a real quick post today. Things are good. Life is good. But very, very busy. =)
I confess:
I am afraid the size small yoga pants I bought won't fit now that they've been washed and dried.
I do NOT wear a size 4/6. I'm a solid 8, and maybe even a 9.
I threw away all the chocolate biscotti I made. It ended up not being my cup of tea.
I made a batch of my favorite cookies ever today. There are copious amounts of sugar and butter in them. And when I say copious, I mean 2 cups of butter and 3 of sugar.
I did not go to spinning class today, but instead took my boys to the library.
I haven't written down what I eat each day in my notebook since Day 2.
I am getting my ring back today, after having it re-sized. I wear a size 4 ring. And it makes me feel like a little kid. Thankfully, because the ring I have has 2 bands the jeweler suggested I size it down to 4.5; phew! So much better. :-P
I almost put Tahini in my crepes yesterday instead of coconut butter. And now I can't return the jar that cost me $12.50 and I'm not even sure I want.
I have basically dropped completely out of the Treat Free September Challenge and feel guilty that I don't feel guilty. Make sense?
Today is my sister-in-law's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEN!!! (She is the mother of the miracle baby born on Monday. Hi Miss Macy!!)
I will be back in spin class on Friday. For sure.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Looking Up
First of all, thank you all for your prayers for my little niece. She seems to be doing well, last I heard. =)
I've had a lot of stress over the last week and just don't really feel like blogging about food/exercise/weight loss. It just seems trivial and unimportant.
I did weigh myself this morning and was back down to 140.0; I've stopped weighing every day and plan to weigh once a week. But I had some stomach issues yesterday resulting in some fast elimination. ;-) Gross, I know.
Anyway, I did try my hand at a couple clean eating recipes. The first one I tried was from The Gracious Pantry and it was a chocolate chip cookie recipe.
EPIC FAIL. But it was my fault. Now, if you're thinking these cookies are like traditional chocolate chip cookies, you'd be wrong. There's just no way they can be similar when the clean version doesn't have sugar or butter. They tasted pretty good, but it would've been easy to stop at one, IF they had turned out.
What happened is that I didn't have any parchment paper to bake on, so I used wax paper. SOOOO not the same, apparently. The cookies stuck to the paper and I ended up with crumbs. The next batch I baked on a Pam-sprayed cookie sheet. That didn't work either. They were stuck on there like cement. So finally I just took the rest of the batter and spread it in a small casserole dish and made peach cobbler out of it. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if it turned out.
The next recipe I tried was one of Tosca Reno's for Honey Almond cookies and they turned out much better. They still aren't sweet like a traditional cookie, but they go very well with coffee or tea, and again, it's easy to stop at one.
Yesterday I also did a home experiment and tried to clean up my crepe recipe. EPIC FAIL. I used brown rice flour, coconut butter, almond milk, eggs and sea salt. They were so disgusting! The rice flour made them sticky/chewy and tasted like rice. (Duh!) I ended up throwing the whole lot in the garbage and making my usual recipe.
I think I bought the wrong kind of coconut butter. I've cooked with it before and I remember it being very soft and easy to spread. What I have now is rock hard and when I tried to melt it in the microwave, it burned before it even began to soften. I looked at the bottle and it says it's made with coconut flesh, not just the oil, so I think that must be the difference.
I still haven't had a chance to absorb the Clean Eating principles. I haven't incorporated them totally into our meals, and need to read up on the complex carb/protein idea. Things have just taken a back seat to all the things I'm dealing with currently.
Not much else to report, so I'll sign off for now.
I've had a lot of stress over the last week and just don't really feel like blogging about food/exercise/weight loss. It just seems trivial and unimportant.
I did weigh myself this morning and was back down to 140.0; I've stopped weighing every day and plan to weigh once a week. But I had some stomach issues yesterday resulting in some fast elimination. ;-) Gross, I know.
Anyway, I did try my hand at a couple clean eating recipes. The first one I tried was from The Gracious Pantry and it was a chocolate chip cookie recipe.
EPIC FAIL. But it was my fault. Now, if you're thinking these cookies are like traditional chocolate chip cookies, you'd be wrong. There's just no way they can be similar when the clean version doesn't have sugar or butter. They tasted pretty good, but it would've been easy to stop at one, IF they had turned out.
What happened is that I didn't have any parchment paper to bake on, so I used wax paper. SOOOO not the same, apparently. The cookies stuck to the paper and I ended up with crumbs. The next batch I baked on a Pam-sprayed cookie sheet. That didn't work either. They were stuck on there like cement. So finally I just took the rest of the batter and spread it in a small casserole dish and made peach cobbler out of it. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if it turned out.
The next recipe I tried was one of Tosca Reno's for Honey Almond cookies and they turned out much better. They still aren't sweet like a traditional cookie, but they go very well with coffee or tea, and again, it's easy to stop at one.
Yesterday I also did a home experiment and tried to clean up my crepe recipe. EPIC FAIL. I used brown rice flour, coconut butter, almond milk, eggs and sea salt. They were so disgusting! The rice flour made them sticky/chewy and tasted like rice. (Duh!) I ended up throwing the whole lot in the garbage and making my usual recipe.
I think I bought the wrong kind of coconut butter. I've cooked with it before and I remember it being very soft and easy to spread. What I have now is rock hard and when I tried to melt it in the microwave, it burned before it even began to soften. I looked at the bottle and it says it's made with coconut flesh, not just the oil, so I think that must be the difference.
I still haven't had a chance to absorb the Clean Eating principles. I haven't incorporated them totally into our meals, and need to read up on the complex carb/protein idea. Things have just taken a back seat to all the things I'm dealing with currently.
Not much else to report, so I'll sign off for now.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Nerves
I'm sorry for the late post; my SIL was induced today and things got very scary and complicated, so I've been preoccupied with that. =( My nerves are shot. The thing is, I've had this 6th sense thing going on for a few days. I just *knew* she was going to end up with a c-section (after 3 successful vaginal births) and this morning my stomach was in knots. And then I got word of all the complications. I'm a Christian, so I've been praying HARD all day. But still, my nerves feel raw and exposed and I just want to be with my SIL and help some way. For now, all I can do is pray.
It feels so trite and superficial to write a weight loss post in light of what my dear friend has been through this morning, so I'm going to keep it short.
My weight was up to 140.8 this morning, but I had some good "waste management" after I initially weighed. I'm not concerned, but will keep an eye on what I'm eating.
I did my 3rd spin class today and loved this guy the best out of all 3 instructors. His music is well choreographed, he interacts with the whole group, and although he worked me harder than the other 2, it was more fun.
My good friend came with me today. She is a firefighter by profession, and plays some football and soccer on the side, and she said that spin class is the hardest, most physical thing she's ever done. So that gives you an idea of the intensity of the class.
I've been doing well keeping track in my journal of what I eat, so that's good. I did try to bake 2 different clean eating cookies yesterday. One was an epic fail, the other was fairly successful. I'll report in full tomorrow.
If you are so inclined, any prayers or good energy for Jen and her little baby Macy Grace are greatly appreciated!
It feels so trite and superficial to write a weight loss post in light of what my dear friend has been through this morning, so I'm going to keep it short.
My weight was up to 140.8 this morning, but I had some good "waste management" after I initially weighed. I'm not concerned, but will keep an eye on what I'm eating.
I did my 3rd spin class today and loved this guy the best out of all 3 instructors. His music is well choreographed, he interacts with the whole group, and although he worked me harder than the other 2, it was more fun.
My good friend came with me today. She is a firefighter by profession, and plays some football and soccer on the side, and she said that spin class is the hardest, most physical thing she's ever done. So that gives you an idea of the intensity of the class.
I've been doing well keeping track in my journal of what I eat, so that's good. I did try to bake 2 different clean eating cookies yesterday. One was an epic fail, the other was fairly successful. I'll report in full tomorrow.
If you are so inclined, any prayers or good energy for Jen and her little baby Macy Grace are greatly appreciated!
Friday, September 24, 2010
I hit the jackpot!!!
First off, welcome to The Skinny Turtle "fallified". =) I love, love, love fall. Thanksgiving, my birthday, baking, candles, cozy fires, peppermint mochas, chai lattes, it's all occur in the autumn and I just love it with all my heart.
Today I hit the jackpot. I am so incredibly ecstatic about this!!!! Seriously, I am giddy.
I googled "clean eating peach cobbler" and I stumbled upon this treasure trove.
If you didn't click the link, it's The Gracious Pantry. A site that Tiffany runs that is simply overflowing with delicious, delectable, doable CLEAN EATING RECIPES!!!
Alfredo sauce? Yep. Chai lattes? Yep. Chili dogs? Yep. Chicken Pot Pie? Yep. And, of course, PEACH COBBLER!
Can you feel it? Can you feel my excitement coming at you through the screen? Seriously. Jackpot.
Go check it out.
Today I hit the jackpot. I am so incredibly ecstatic about this!!!! Seriously, I am giddy.
I googled "clean eating peach cobbler" and I stumbled upon this treasure trove.
If you didn't click the link, it's The Gracious Pantry. A site that Tiffany runs that is simply overflowing with delicious, delectable, doable CLEAN EATING RECIPES!!!
Alfredo sauce? Yep. Chai lattes? Yep. Chili dogs? Yep. Chicken Pot Pie? Yep. And, of course, PEACH COBBLER!
Can you feel it? Can you feel my excitement coming at you through the screen? Seriously. Jackpot.
Go check it out.
Sixty Minutes
Today was my second spinning class. It was harder than the first.
For one, my pubic bones are bruised. I can't sit on anything except my cushy leather couch without pain. So getting back on that stone seat was not pleasant.
For two, the instructor was different and MUCH more hardcore. She really, really pushed us. I did not do any popping the whole class. However, if the sweat dripping off my nose, down my back and off my knees was any indication, I still got in a good workout.
I've never sweated so hard to "You spin me right round, baby Right round like a record, baby Right round, round , round" ever in my life before. Honestly, all I wanted to do was go into the ladies locker room, sit on a bench and read Eat, Pray, Love. (Which, by the way, I am genuinely intrigued and inspired by. And even had in my gym bag.)
However, I've heard it said that bikers may have the sexiest legs, so that kept my tush firmly (no pun intended) rooted to my seat. For all sixty minutes. All grueling, sweating, panting, torturous sixty minutes.
I'm glad I stuck it out. It's not easy. I'd rather be relaxing and eating, fo sho. But I'm not going to get in shape that way, nor will I gain cardio strength and health. So I'll keep at the spinning.
Monday is yet another instructor, an Asian man named Jee who loves "climbs". Yippee. Climbs are long periods (20 minutes or so) of steady, increased resistance. Lord, help me. The man was participating in my class today and his legs are solid muscle. My legs are solid wet noodles. So it'll be interesting to see how THAT goes.
I bought some new workout gear, and they only had size small (4/6) workout pants, which I bought. I thought I'd resemble something like stuffed sausage, but they actually fit quite nicely! Yeah, they are a little snug on my thighs and booty, but not immodestly or unattractively so. And guess what?! NO SADDLEBAGS!! OR MUFFIN TOP! Ok, ok, I may or may not have pulled those suckers up to just below my bellybutton in order to accomplish the no muffin top feat, but so what. No one could see. :-P
My tops are a size medium (8/10) and fit nicely. They also have a supportive built in bra, and since I'm cycling and not running they fit the bill nicely, eliminating the need for a sports bra. AND they are cute! Score!
In other news, I'm slowly easing into clean eating. I need to buy the magazine and then a subscription of Clean Eating.
LAURA-THANK YOU so so so much! She tipped me off to the fact that the magazine has a section of feeding your family clean foods on $50 a week. I can do that!!
And Dawnie-YES, PLEASE. I await the zucchini bread recipe with bated breath!
So. I'm thinking of starting a food journal. Not counting calories, but keeping track of what I eat in a day. I don't want to blow all my hard work at spinning class on mindless snacking.
Yesterday I had:
1 mug coffee with peppermint creamer and 1 chocolate almond biscotti
A big salad with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, a few french fried onions, salt and olive oil.
1/8 of a fresh tortilla and cheese
1 mug of homemade white mocha (which I seriously wanted refuse seeing as it was made with whole milk and condensed milk! EEEK! But I was a guest and it was made for me, so I drank it.)
1 mug of herbal tea
1/2 slice of pumpkin cranberry bread
1/2 an organic gala apple (SOOOO delicious)
1/2 cheese bagel with mayo, turkey, cheddar cheese, tomatoes.
Handful of tortilla chips with organic salsa from Costco--super yummy.
12 peanut butter M&Ms
2+L of water
I have no idea how many calories that adds up to, but I'm assuming too many. Especially because most of it wasn't clean. But it's a start.
Today I had 1 oatmeal pancake made with egg whites, oats, vanilla, unsweetened applesauce, salt and baking powder. Topped with organic peanut butter and a tiny bit of real maple syrup. I ate that before my workout, hoping it would give me the energy I needed to make it through. I'm not sure it worked.
Any tips on good pre-workout meals or snacks?
I got home and made a protein shake with chocolate protein powder, walnuts, rice milk and flax seed. I tried drinking a shake before my workout on Wednesday and got very nauseated.
Well, now I am freeeeezing cold because my sweat is drying. That's how devoted I am; I post before I shower. I'm intense like that, what can I say? ;-)
I hope you all have a very, very wonderful weekend!!!
For one, my pubic bones are bruised. I can't sit on anything except my cushy leather couch without pain. So getting back on that stone seat was not pleasant.
For two, the instructor was different and MUCH more hardcore. She really, really pushed us. I did not do any popping the whole class. However, if the sweat dripping off my nose, down my back and off my knees was any indication, I still got in a good workout.
I've never sweated so hard to "You spin me right round, baby Right round like a record, baby Right round, round , round" ever in my life before. Honestly, all I wanted to do was go into the ladies locker room, sit on a bench and read Eat, Pray, Love. (Which, by the way, I am genuinely intrigued and inspired by. And even had in my gym bag.)
However, I've heard it said that bikers may have the sexiest legs, so that kept my tush firmly (no pun intended) rooted to my seat. For all sixty minutes. All grueling, sweating, panting, torturous sixty minutes.
I'm glad I stuck it out. It's not easy. I'd rather be relaxing and eating, fo sho. But I'm not going to get in shape that way, nor will I gain cardio strength and health. So I'll keep at the spinning.
Monday is yet another instructor, an Asian man named Jee who loves "climbs". Yippee. Climbs are long periods (20 minutes or so) of steady, increased resistance. Lord, help me. The man was participating in my class today and his legs are solid muscle. My legs are solid wet noodles. So it'll be interesting to see how THAT goes.
I bought some new workout gear, and they only had size small (4/6) workout pants, which I bought. I thought I'd resemble something like stuffed sausage, but they actually fit quite nicely! Yeah, they are a little snug on my thighs and booty, but not immodestly or unattractively so. And guess what?! NO SADDLEBAGS!! OR MUFFIN TOP! Ok, ok, I may or may not have pulled those suckers up to just below my bellybutton in order to accomplish the no muffin top feat, but so what. No one could see. :-P
My tops are a size medium (8/10) and fit nicely. They also have a supportive built in bra, and since I'm cycling and not running they fit the bill nicely, eliminating the need for a sports bra. AND they are cute! Score!
In other news, I'm slowly easing into clean eating. I need to buy the magazine and then a subscription of Clean Eating.
LAURA-THANK YOU so so so much! She tipped me off to the fact that the magazine has a section of feeding your family clean foods on $50 a week. I can do that!!
And Dawnie-YES, PLEASE. I await the zucchini bread recipe with bated breath!
So. I'm thinking of starting a food journal. Not counting calories, but keeping track of what I eat in a day. I don't want to blow all my hard work at spinning class on mindless snacking.
Yesterday I had:
1 mug coffee with peppermint creamer and 1 chocolate almond biscotti
A big salad with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, a few french fried onions, salt and olive oil.
1/8 of a fresh tortilla and cheese
1 mug of homemade white mocha (which I seriously wanted refuse seeing as it was made with whole milk and condensed milk! EEEK! But I was a guest and it was made for me, so I drank it.)
1 mug of herbal tea
1/2 slice of pumpkin cranberry bread
1/2 an organic gala apple (SOOOO delicious)
1/2 cheese bagel with mayo, turkey, cheddar cheese, tomatoes.
Handful of tortilla chips with organic salsa from Costco--super yummy.
12 peanut butter M&Ms
2+L of water
I have no idea how many calories that adds up to, but I'm assuming too many. Especially because most of it wasn't clean. But it's a start.
Today I had 1 oatmeal pancake made with egg whites, oats, vanilla, unsweetened applesauce, salt and baking powder. Topped with organic peanut butter and a tiny bit of real maple syrup. I ate that before my workout, hoping it would give me the energy I needed to make it through. I'm not sure it worked.
Any tips on good pre-workout meals or snacks?
I got home and made a protein shake with chocolate protein powder, walnuts, rice milk and flax seed. I tried drinking a shake before my workout on Wednesday and got very nauseated.
Well, now I am freeeeezing cold because my sweat is drying. That's how devoted I am; I post before I shower. I'm intense like that, what can I say? ;-)
I hope you all have a very, very wonderful weekend!!!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Homemade Biscotti
Hello and Good Morning!
I made the chocolate almond biscotti yesterday, with the help of my 4 year old son. ;-) It was simple and they turned out well; I prefer my biscotti a bit more on the sweet side, but they are still good. And it's easier to control myself with them. I had my first one this morning with a cup of coffee flavored with peppermint mocha creamer.
Dawnie-I made the recipe out of Clean Eating Recharged.
The dough was REALLY sticky. MEGA MEGA sticky and hard to shape. You're supposed to divide it in two and make two loaves. Basically I just plopped two piles of dough on my cookie sheet and tried to form some semblance of a loaf. Here they are after the first baking:
I know, it doesn't look that appetizing. They smelled a lot better! Once the first baking is done you have to let them cool for 10 minutes, then slice and bake again for 20 more minutes.
I realized after I was done that the almonds I used were expired. By 2 years. :-O I had them in my freezer so I guess they were still ok, just not fresh. Don't ask me how on earth I kept almonds for over 2 years.
In the end you end up with this: (even if you do use really, really, really old almonds)
They weren't hard to make, but they were a little bit more labor-intensive than regular cookies. Especially since you're using clean ingredients. I made these using the Sucanat.
Sucanat smells like really strong molasses. Anyway, you have to mix the Sucanat, egg, egg white, vanilla and almond extracts in a blender for 3-4 minutes until frothy. I used my food processor since I already had it out from grinding the (really, really, really old) almonds and flours together.
I will probably make these again for guests, except I will use fresh almonds. ;-)
In other news, my pelvic bone is soooo sore today! That bike seat was seriously murder on my sit-bones. But I'll be back in the saddle tomorrow and hopefully I will be able to do the whole class again, albeit in a modified form.
My weight is hanging out right around 140. I'm gonna stop weighing every day and just weigh once a week, but honestly, I don't even really care about the number anymore. I know that with exercise and eating clean(er) my body will respond as it needs to. I'm not in weight-loss mode anymore, despite being 10 pounds from goal. Instead, I'm in Living Healthy mode.
I'll post my review and pics of the other Clean Eating meals/desserts I plan to try. I need to get some coconut butter (that stuff is EXPENSIVE--$45 for a 16oz jar!?!?) and then I will be able to make a lot more of the recipes.
Well, all my kiddos are up and in rare form so I best go and settle them before the next World War breaks out.
Happy Thursday!
I made the chocolate almond biscotti yesterday, with the help of my 4 year old son. ;-) It was simple and they turned out well; I prefer my biscotti a bit more on the sweet side, but they are still good. And it's easier to control myself with them. I had my first one this morning with a cup of coffee flavored with peppermint mocha creamer.
Dawnie-I made the recipe out of Clean Eating Recharged.
The dough was REALLY sticky. MEGA MEGA sticky and hard to shape. You're supposed to divide it in two and make two loaves. Basically I just plopped two piles of dough on my cookie sheet and tried to form some semblance of a loaf. Here they are after the first baking:
I know, it doesn't look that appetizing. They smelled a lot better! Once the first baking is done you have to let them cool for 10 minutes, then slice and bake again for 20 more minutes.
I realized after I was done that the almonds I used were expired. By 2 years. :-O I had them in my freezer so I guess they were still ok, just not fresh. Don't ask me how on earth I kept almonds for over 2 years.
In the end you end up with this: (even if you do use really, really, really old almonds)
They weren't hard to make, but they were a little bit more labor-intensive than regular cookies. Especially since you're using clean ingredients. I made these using the Sucanat.
Sucanat smells like really strong molasses. Anyway, you have to mix the Sucanat, egg, egg white, vanilla and almond extracts in a blender for 3-4 minutes until frothy. I used my food processor since I already had it out from grinding the (really, really, really old) almonds and flours together.
I will probably make these again for guests, except I will use fresh almonds. ;-)
In other news, my pelvic bone is soooo sore today! That bike seat was seriously murder on my sit-bones. But I'll be back in the saddle tomorrow and hopefully I will be able to do the whole class again, albeit in a modified form.
My weight is hanging out right around 140. I'm gonna stop weighing every day and just weigh once a week, but honestly, I don't even really care about the number anymore. I know that with exercise and eating clean(er) my body will respond as it needs to. I'm not in weight-loss mode anymore, despite being 10 pounds from goal. Instead, I'm in Living Healthy mode.
I'll post my review and pics of the other Clean Eating meals/desserts I plan to try. I need to get some coconut butter (that stuff is EXPENSIVE--$45 for a 16oz jar!?!?) and then I will be able to make a lot more of the recipes.
Well, all my kiddos are up and in rare form so I best go and settle them before the next World War breaks out.
Happy Thursday!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
SPINNING
Kicked. My. Butt.
Goodness gracious, it's not easy!
For starters, whoever (whomever?) invented the thing must've had some screws loose. It's a bike. You sit on it and pedal. And yet, the seat is as comfy as say... concrete. Or granite. It's HARD. My friend told me after her first spinning class she actually had a blood blister. That's how hard the seats are.
I'm thinking about buying some of those biking shorts with built-in padding.
You know it's gotta be bad if I'm considering spending money on something that looks like that. But anything is better than the burning fire that is created between my crotch and that hard seat.
Then there are the "Pops". And I'm not talking about Jiffy Pop, either. "Popping" means you stand up and cycle. As in, all your weight on your legs, with the resistance turned up. Not leaning on your handlebars to support some of your weight.
I ended up popping probably 5 times out of the 35 the rest of the class did. I wouldn't have been able to finish the class, so I humbled myself and kept my tush on the hard-as-rock seat and pedaled away.
Another phrase I came to dislike today... "Oh Boy". Why? Well, because when the instructor said it, we all had to turn up the resistance on our bikes. When I was already fighting the beginnings of a heart attack, not popping, and now she wanted me to turn it up MORE!!??
So, once again I did my own thing. The rest of the seasoned class was cranking their bikes WAY up and WAY down. I pretty much stayed even-keeled, with a slight increase in resistance when I thought I could manage it without stroking out.
Basically, I did my own workout in a roomful of people who were hardcore and popping and oh boying. But it was fun, and I'll definitely go back. I know it'll take some work, but my stamina will increase. The music alone was interesting; everything from Bob Marley to Def Leppard to Reba McEntire.
Partway through I looked at my friend and said, "Basically spinning requires cardio and strength. Neither of which I have, currently." And it's true. It's a total workout. Cardio and strength training, using gravity and your own body weight.
My plan is to take the hour long class 3 times a week. As I get more fit and in shape, I'll try to add some weights to my workout after class. For now, I'm a wet noodle when I get done. In fact, I turned into a wet noodle 10 minutes into the class. I have no idea how I finished it, besides the fact that I quit popping and oh boying as much as the other peeps.
Moving on....
I went out and bought some of my foundation Clean Eating foods yesterday. Holy Moly that stuff is NOT cheap!
Care to wager a guess how much this set me back? Not including the paper towels, toaster or the jar with the white powder in it.
$66.00! :-O For 13 items! And I didn't even cross off 1/4 of the things I need to stock my pantry with.
I did, however, find Sucanat.
I haven't tried it yet because I'm still lacking some ingredients for my biscotti. =( Hopefully I can make it to TJ's soon; it's at least a half hour away and my days seriously fly by. But I want to make time to finish stocking my Clean Eating supplies so I can start making meals and healthy desserts.
In other news, I will also be purchasing some new workout wear. My kids asked me today why I was going to the gym in my pajamas. :-D I do wear my yoga pants around the house a lot, so I'll be getting some new pants and shirts. Yay!
And one last observation. I bear an uncanny resemblance to Bob the Tomato when I work out.
Goodness gracious, it's not easy!
For starters, whoever (whomever?) invented the thing must've had some screws loose. It's a bike. You sit on it and pedal. And yet, the seat is as comfy as say... concrete. Or granite. It's HARD. My friend told me after her first spinning class she actually had a blood blister. That's how hard the seats are.
I'm thinking about buying some of those biking shorts with built-in padding.
You know it's gotta be bad if I'm considering spending money on something that looks like that. But anything is better than the burning fire that is created between my crotch and that hard seat.
Then there are the "Pops". And I'm not talking about Jiffy Pop, either. "Popping" means you stand up and cycle. As in, all your weight on your legs, with the resistance turned up. Not leaning on your handlebars to support some of your weight.
I ended up popping probably 5 times out of the 35 the rest of the class did. I wouldn't have been able to finish the class, so I humbled myself and kept my tush on the hard-as-rock seat and pedaled away.
Another phrase I came to dislike today... "Oh Boy". Why? Well, because when the instructor said it, we all had to turn up the resistance on our bikes. When I was already fighting the beginnings of a heart attack, not popping, and now she wanted me to turn it up MORE!!??
So, once again I did my own thing. The rest of the seasoned class was cranking their bikes WAY up and WAY down. I pretty much stayed even-keeled, with a slight increase in resistance when I thought I could manage it without stroking out.
Basically, I did my own workout in a roomful of people who were hardcore and popping and oh boying. But it was fun, and I'll definitely go back. I know it'll take some work, but my stamina will increase. The music alone was interesting; everything from Bob Marley to Def Leppard to Reba McEntire.
Partway through I looked at my friend and said, "Basically spinning requires cardio and strength. Neither of which I have, currently." And it's true. It's a total workout. Cardio and strength training, using gravity and your own body weight.
My plan is to take the hour long class 3 times a week. As I get more fit and in shape, I'll try to add some weights to my workout after class. For now, I'm a wet noodle when I get done. In fact, I turned into a wet noodle 10 minutes into the class. I have no idea how I finished it, besides the fact that I quit popping and oh boying as much as the other peeps.
Moving on....
I went out and bought some of my foundation Clean Eating foods yesterday. Holy Moly that stuff is NOT cheap!
Care to wager a guess how much this set me back? Not including the paper towels, toaster or the jar with the white powder in it.
$66.00! :-O For 13 items! And I didn't even cross off 1/4 of the things I need to stock my pantry with.
I did, however, find Sucanat.
I haven't tried it yet because I'm still lacking some ingredients for my biscotti. =( Hopefully I can make it to TJ's soon; it's at least a half hour away and my days seriously fly by. But I want to make time to finish stocking my Clean Eating supplies so I can start making meals and healthy desserts.
In other news, I will also be purchasing some new workout wear. My kids asked me today why I was going to the gym in my pajamas. :-D I do wear my yoga pants around the house a lot, so I'll be getting some new pants and shirts. Yay!
And one last observation. I bear an uncanny resemblance to Bob the Tomato when I work out.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Coffee. Period. End of sentence.
Today I am ohhhhh, so tired. I went to bed late. I've been pretty diligent to stick to my new in-bed-by-9 routine, but last night I was restless and unsettled. I didn't get to bed til 10ish. Fell asleep ok but then Mr. Owen was up at 4:45.
Yelling.
In his bed.
So I stumble in there and he is explaining to me in no uncertain terms that he is OUT of his covers and he doesn't like it one bit. He also wants a "daddy nest". That means he lays on top of his duvet then we fold it over the top of him and tuck it in all around him. Daddy nest, duh.
THEN, he decides he needs his little lovey blanket. Only problem is that I lost it on our last trip home for the wedding. He doesn't even want it 95% of the time, but last night he NEEDED it. So I take him into the kitchen to get him a drink of water to distract him.
Water doesn't cut it. He is hungry. So I grab one of the pumpkin scones out of the fridge, and he starts nodding his head vigorously as if to tell me that THIS is what he wanted all along. How could I not know that when you wake up at 4:45a.m. OUT of your blankets, with your Daddy Nest all messed up and no lovey in sight, that a pumpkin scone will solve everything!?!?
So he toddles on back to bed. MY bed. And I don't even care because I just need to go back to sleep. Which I do. At 6:30a.m. And then Christian comes in at 6:45a.m. and starts bouncing on the bed. And HE is hungry.
I could barely drag myself out of bed and start the coffeemaker. I spilled grounds everywhere. I hate that! It's one of my pet peeves. And worse, the grounds went in the basket, so they would have filtered through to my coffee, and I can't have that. So I had to start all over. Joy.
I start the coffee and take a shower, which helps wake me up. As well as makes me smell better. SCORE! When I get out my coffee is done, and me being the copycat that I am, pour my coffee into this sweet little beauty.
Yeah, that's right. I totally copied Megan She has these fun posts of things she is stupid excited about, and that cup was one of them. I ran into them while on a shopping trip at Ross and picked up a pink one for me and a brown one for Joshie boy. We both love them, and they were only $4 each! They are plastic and the lid screws on, so no spillage. And they are insulated. I think we need at least 2 more.
MEGAN-If you're reading this... I just got your emails to my skinnyturtle address. I'm a dope and always forget to check it. Thank you for taking the time to comment and email me!!! Please treat yourself to a large chunk of chocolate, courtesy of moi. And it looks like we're having TWIN days today. I'm blired too.
Anywho, I thought company was coming so I cleaned and cleaned this morning, only to find out that the girls who were coming are sick, so now I have a clean house and time on my hands.
I'm going to run out to Trader Joe's, WINCO, and maybe some other places to stock up on some Clean Eating ingredients. I didn't make the chocolate almond biscotti yet. It calls for sucanat or rapadura sugar. I have no idea what that is, but I'll be trying to buy some today. =)
I'm also baking. This could be dangerous, but I have noticed that when there are no restrictions on me, that I can easily stop at a very moderate portion. The pumpkin scones I made are pretty tasty, but I didn't eat a single one all day yesterday until we shared them after dinner as a family. And then I chose a small, child-size one and was done after that. So that's good progress!
I am digging all things pumpkin right now, so if anyone has any good pumpkin recipes, pass them my way! I'm making a scrumptious pumpkin cranberry loaf today. At least, I hope it turns out scrumptious!
I also wanted to take a moment to thank Julie for taking the time to comment. It means a lot to me, and she has NOT had an easy ride, but she is still warm and caring and takes time out to encourage me. So thanks, Julie!
And Erin-Thanks so much for the recipes!! I will definitely be trying them out. =)
Melissa-AH HA HA HA, you crack me up! Spinning gold thread at a wheel. :-D Spinning is an intense bicycle workout. It's a group thing, and you are on stationary bikes. The music is loud, the lights are off and everyone is pumping their little legs as hard as they can. You turn a dial on the bike to increase/decrease the resistance, as instructed by the teacher. For example, he'll yell, "Going up a hill! Crank up the resistance!" and then everyone pretends we're cycling up a tour-de-France-esque hill, we crank up the resistance and pedal away. Sounds like I've done it before, huh? I haven't. That's just how my friends explained it to me.
But TOMORROW I'll experience it first hand, and you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be back to report how it went!
Well, I should wrap this up and get the boys and I off to the health food stores.
Have a wonderful Tuesday, friends!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Switching Gears
Hiya Folks!
How are you? I am fabulous. Just really, really good. =)
The wedding was wonderful; the bride and groom are totally smitten with each other and had stars in their eyes. =) I received some very nice compliments on my weight-loss and dress. I also got a cute new pair of shoes.
I just spent an exorbitant amount of time trying to find a pic online and wasn't successful. Just take my word for it. They are cute. And comfy!
I quit the HCG. I had been on the fence and on Friday was really on the verge of just losing it. I decided that wasn't healthy and ended my diet early. Despite taking my drops from Dr. Ray to keep my hormones even keeled, the HCG just messed up my hormones too much. I was starting to snap at my kids, and that was the beginning of the end. I will not be a witch to my family just because I want to lose weight.
So Friday night and Saturday I ate moderately. Saturday I had 2 egg whites and an apple for breakfast, baked chicken, green beans and salad for lunch, a couple bites of cake, and a cinnamon, raisin, vanilla english muffin for dinner.
Yesterday I had some scrambled eggs and turkey sausage for breakfast, tuna fish with apples and pickles (sounds crazy but it's seriously DELICIOUS!) eaten on Veggie Chips and for dinner we went to a friend's house and is where my story gets crazy.
We had chicken enchiladas, rice, corn on the cob, salad, guacamole and chips. Even with taking a small portion of each, it was still a lot of food. And then we topped it off with my homemade pumpkin scones with cream cheese frosting and a cup of coffee.
SO. Needless to say, I am out of the running for the treat free September challenge this week.
But you know what? I'm okay with that. I ate with very good portion control; I had only 1/4 of the scone and stopped when I was full. Same with my meal.
This morning I weighed 140.0 I have seen 138.8 on Friday morning, so I am up a bit, but that's to be expected with such a heavy meal last night.
I finally broke out Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Recharged last night. I AM IN LOVE! I am so super excited to start cooking and eating this way. Now I need a good recommendation for where I can get more clean recipes. What is the magazine; Oxygen?? Must get a subscription. There are several just in this book I want to try.
And what's even more exciting is that Josh totally asked if we could find a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's or some sort of health food store near us and stock up on healthy foods. Totally unprompted by me, and before I even read the book! So nice that we're on the same page.
So, I'm stopping the HCG and will be doing Clean Eating and Exercise to lose these last few pounds. And, really, if they don't come off but my body tones up and I get fit in the process, I am just fine with that.
This morning I headed to the gym. :-O YES! I really did! And I surprised myself. Blew my own mind. I thought I'd be really struggling, plodding along, wheezing and sweating and so red-faced that I got strange stares.
I intended to do a spinning class, but it was canceled. So I hopped on the elliptical. I went for an hour, burned 600 calories and went 5 1/3 miles. (8.5KM for you, Dawnie). I am in shock! I wasn't even falling off my machine! I did have a beet red face. It was seriously bright red. But I didn't feel like I was dying and I'm looking forward to going again!
I am very happy with where I am at. I feel good. I am comfortable in my skin and I'm excited to begin eating/cooking/baking clean for the benefit of my whole family. Today I'm making biscotti. BISCOTTI!!! And it's clean!
I plan to hit the gym M, W, F and do the spinning class or elliptical. I'll report back on whether or not I survive spinning. ;-)
I hope you had a great weekend, and I'll be around!!
How are you? I am fabulous. Just really, really good. =)
The wedding was wonderful; the bride and groom are totally smitten with each other and had stars in their eyes. =) I received some very nice compliments on my weight-loss and dress. I also got a cute new pair of shoes.
I just spent an exorbitant amount of time trying to find a pic online and wasn't successful. Just take my word for it. They are cute. And comfy!
I quit the HCG. I had been on the fence and on Friday was really on the verge of just losing it. I decided that wasn't healthy and ended my diet early. Despite taking my drops from Dr. Ray to keep my hormones even keeled, the HCG just messed up my hormones too much. I was starting to snap at my kids, and that was the beginning of the end. I will not be a witch to my family just because I want to lose weight.
So Friday night and Saturday I ate moderately. Saturday I had 2 egg whites and an apple for breakfast, baked chicken, green beans and salad for lunch, a couple bites of cake, and a cinnamon, raisin, vanilla english muffin for dinner.
Yesterday I had some scrambled eggs and turkey sausage for breakfast, tuna fish with apples and pickles (sounds crazy but it's seriously DELICIOUS!) eaten on Veggie Chips and for dinner we went to a friend's house and is where my story gets crazy.
We had chicken enchiladas, rice, corn on the cob, salad, guacamole and chips. Even with taking a small portion of each, it was still a lot of food. And then we topped it off with my homemade pumpkin scones with cream cheese frosting and a cup of coffee.
SO. Needless to say, I am out of the running for the treat free September challenge this week.
But you know what? I'm okay with that. I ate with very good portion control; I had only 1/4 of the scone and stopped when I was full. Same with my meal.
This morning I weighed 140.0 I have seen 138.8 on Friday morning, so I am up a bit, but that's to be expected with such a heavy meal last night.
I finally broke out Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Recharged last night. I AM IN LOVE! I am so super excited to start cooking and eating this way. Now I need a good recommendation for where I can get more clean recipes. What is the magazine; Oxygen?? Must get a subscription. There are several just in this book I want to try.
And what's even more exciting is that Josh totally asked if we could find a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's or some sort of health food store near us and stock up on healthy foods. Totally unprompted by me, and before I even read the book! So nice that we're on the same page.
So, I'm stopping the HCG and will be doing Clean Eating and Exercise to lose these last few pounds. And, really, if they don't come off but my body tones up and I get fit in the process, I am just fine with that.
This morning I headed to the gym. :-O YES! I really did! And I surprised myself. Blew my own mind. I thought I'd be really struggling, plodding along, wheezing and sweating and so red-faced that I got strange stares.
I intended to do a spinning class, but it was canceled. So I hopped on the elliptical. I went for an hour, burned 600 calories and went 5 1/3 miles. (8.5KM for you, Dawnie). I am in shock! I wasn't even falling off my machine! I did have a beet red face. It was seriously bright red. But I didn't feel like I was dying and I'm looking forward to going again!
I am very happy with where I am at. I feel good. I am comfortable in my skin and I'm excited to begin eating/cooking/baking clean for the benefit of my whole family. Today I'm making biscotti. BISCOTTI!!! And it's clean!
I plan to hit the gym M, W, F and do the spinning class or elliptical. I'll report back on whether or not I survive spinning. ;-)
I hope you had a great weekend, and I'll be around!!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Bittersweet
Happy Thursday!
Well, this morning started off a bit bitter as I stepped on the scale. Up 0.6! I am so baffled! I did NOT cheat yesterday. I drank over 2L of water. The only things I can think of that may have contributed are the fact that I did eat a fairly salty bowl of "chicken soup"--totally on the diet, but I added a bit too much salt. I also ate a grissini, which is allowed, but maybe I need to cut out all the extra carbs. Even a skinny breadstick may be too much???
And lastly, I did apply sunless tanner in preparation for the wedding we're going to. I don't want to look like Evan Rachel Wood.
A bit too pale, thank you very much. Anyway, on the diet you have to be extremely careful with all lotions, ointments, potions, etc... as they may contain oil. You may or may not know that your skin is your body's largest organ. I did read the ingredients and didn't see anything that said "oil", but I'm no scientist, so there could've been some in there.
So, that was not so fun. I thought for sure I'd see the 130's today.
HOWEVER. I have a permanent stand on the soap box called It Doesn't Matter What The Scale Says, It Matters How You Look. It's a lonely place, but I stand there faithfully. Because really, when you see people do you immediately think, "Oooh, I bet she weighs 140.6"? No. At least, I hope you don't. You see the person for who they are; you notice the fit of their clothes.
SO, the SWEET part of my post is that I found a dress last night. It's a size 8 LBD (little black dress). It fits like a glove. And it was only $11.99!!!! I love me some Ross. Josh tried to take pictures of me in the dress. It was late at night, and this house is as dark as a cave. So we went to the brightest room in the house-- the kitchen. And for some reason they still turned out really gray/fuzzy. Probably due to the fact that our "camera" was his Blackberry. But here I am, proudly wearing a size 8 dress!!!
Now, a model I am not. But you get the general idea. I know technically you aren't supposed to wear black to a wedding, but it was the one that fit and it was only 12 bucks. Besides, all eyes will be on the bride and groom, anyway. =)
I've got a lot of packing to do, meals to be prepped for me, and some tidying up so I'll wrap this up.
I'll be back on Monday... hopefully with a weigh-in that has me solidly in the 130's!
Well, this morning started off a bit bitter as I stepped on the scale. Up 0.6! I am so baffled! I did NOT cheat yesterday. I drank over 2L of water. The only things I can think of that may have contributed are the fact that I did eat a fairly salty bowl of "chicken soup"--totally on the diet, but I added a bit too much salt. I also ate a grissini, which is allowed, but maybe I need to cut out all the extra carbs. Even a skinny breadstick may be too much???
And lastly, I did apply sunless tanner in preparation for the wedding we're going to. I don't want to look like Evan Rachel Wood.
A bit too pale, thank you very much. Anyway, on the diet you have to be extremely careful with all lotions, ointments, potions, etc... as they may contain oil. You may or may not know that your skin is your body's largest organ. I did read the ingredients and didn't see anything that said "oil", but I'm no scientist, so there could've been some in there.So, that was not so fun. I thought for sure I'd see the 130's today.
HOWEVER. I have a permanent stand on the soap box called It Doesn't Matter What The Scale Says, It Matters How You Look. It's a lonely place, but I stand there faithfully. Because really, when you see people do you immediately think, "Oooh, I bet she weighs 140.6"? No. At least, I hope you don't. You see the person for who they are; you notice the fit of their clothes.
SO, the SWEET part of my post is that I found a dress last night. It's a size 8 LBD (little black dress). It fits like a glove. And it was only $11.99!!!! I love me some Ross. Josh tried to take pictures of me in the dress. It was late at night, and this house is as dark as a cave. So we went to the brightest room in the house-- the kitchen. And for some reason they still turned out really gray/fuzzy. Probably due to the fact that our "camera" was his Blackberry. But here I am, proudly wearing a size 8 dress!!!
Now, a model I am not. But you get the general idea. I know technically you aren't supposed to wear black to a wedding, but it was the one that fit and it was only 12 bucks. Besides, all eyes will be on the bride and groom, anyway. =)
I've got a lot of packing to do, meals to be prepped for me, and some tidying up so I'll wrap this up.
I'll be back on Monday... hopefully with a weigh-in that has me solidly in the 130's!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Soooooo close
Morning, Friends!
Thanks for the recommendations on deodorant; Mom, I'd like to try the Melaleuca stuff if you have an extra. I'll buy it from you. If that doesn't work, I'll try Axe and be like Miss Dawnie. =)
Today saw me down to 140.0--soooooooo close to the 130's! Actually, I did see 139.8 on one of the readings, but the next 2 times I stepped on the scale it was back to 140.0. I'm not recording the 130's until I'm really, truly there.
Yesterday was a very bad day; I totally cheated on my diet. I was STARVING. I think it all went off kilter when Christian told me his stomach wanted cookies, and could we bake some. So we did; we made peanut butter oatmeal cookies. They smelled so incredibly good. I wanted to take the whole bowl of dough into my bed and eat it while reading my books. ;-)
It was so intense resisting those cookies!!!! At one point I actually took a bite of one, but then got a grip on myself and spit it out into the garbage. Desperate, much? :-P From then on I was just bumbling around. For lunch I made my chicken and broccoli, but I just couldn't stomach the chicken. So I ate the broccoli and threw the chicken away. Which was, clearly, not enough food. So by dinner I was ravenous.
I ate a couple bites of cereal with milk, a bite of peach, a bite of quesadilla and a grissini. Technically the grissini is allowed, but not on top of the other stuff. There has to be more because I felt like a mouse rummaging through the cupboards nibbling on things.
I was quite shocked and surprised to see that even still I lost 0.4 and I've purposed that today will be a much cleaner eating day. I bought some gala apples and they are so good. They taste like I just picked them off the tree and are super crunchy. Love them. I've eaten one today and will eat my chicken for lunch and some hamburger for dinner.
We're going to a wedding this weekend, traveling back home. So that will be a bit of an inconvenience since I'll have to pack my food and NOT eat wedding cake or the delicious dinner meal. =(
I was thinking really hard last night, because I was thisclose to just quitting the diet. But I figure I'm now 12 days into it, I might as well finish what I start. If I can get down to 135 I will be totally happy. 135 is what I weighed forever and ever amen. Until I got married and had kiddos. So, in the whole scheme of things, I'm really close. 5 pounds! 10 pounds would be fantastic, but I sure won't be crying into my pillow at night if I end up at 135.
Originally I was shooting for 130 to give myself some leeway, but we'll just see where I'm at a week from Friday, as that is my last day of HCG drops. I am going shopping tonight for a dress for the wedding, and I'm actually really excited about it!
When my sister was here I tried on a size 8 dress and it fit, but was a bit snug around my hips. I never did try on size 8 jeans because my beloved husband made a good point. I've spent over $150 on jeans the last 3 months because I keep needing a smaller size (which is great!) but then I end up with basically brand new jeans sitting in my closet and none that fit. SOOOO, instead of trying on and buying anything right now, I'll wait til the diet is really and truly done.
Then I shall shop. :-D
For now, I'm looking forward to hopefully finding a cute dress for the wedding. I generally don't wear dresses because I am a total pear body shape and if it fits my hips, then my chest is swimming in material. But I tried on quite a few dresses with my sister and some of them were cute, so I'll see what I can find. I'll post a picture if I end up with something really cute. ;-)
Another super exciting thing for me is that I *have* to get my rings re-sized. They slide all around my finger; the diamond is constantly hanging upside down on the palm-side of my hand. It also is dangerously close to just slipping right off sometime during the day. I don't know why, but this excites me to no end! I already have a fairly small ring size; 5.5 I think. But it's still exciting that another part of me is getting thinner and needs a smaller size to fit comfortably.
Well, my friends, my housework is calling to me. It's not a very nice sound, but it must be done, so I'm off to whip this place into shape and get a start on packing all our stuff for the weekend. We're leaving Thursday night, so I may not be back to post until Sunday or Monday. Well, I'll post tomorrow, of course, but then not again until after the weekend.
DAWNE: I am checking in now (since I'll be computerless Saturday) to say that I was treat free this week. If anything changes, I'll let you know ASAP. ;-)
Thanks for the recommendations on deodorant; Mom, I'd like to try the Melaleuca stuff if you have an extra. I'll buy it from you. If that doesn't work, I'll try Axe and be like Miss Dawnie. =)
Today saw me down to 140.0--soooooooo close to the 130's! Actually, I did see 139.8 on one of the readings, but the next 2 times I stepped on the scale it was back to 140.0. I'm not recording the 130's until I'm really, truly there.
Yesterday was a very bad day; I totally cheated on my diet. I was STARVING. I think it all went off kilter when Christian told me his stomach wanted cookies, and could we bake some. So we did; we made peanut butter oatmeal cookies. They smelled so incredibly good. I wanted to take the whole bowl of dough into my bed and eat it while reading my books. ;-)
It was so intense resisting those cookies!!!! At one point I actually took a bite of one, but then got a grip on myself and spit it out into the garbage. Desperate, much? :-P From then on I was just bumbling around. For lunch I made my chicken and broccoli, but I just couldn't stomach the chicken. So I ate the broccoli and threw the chicken away. Which was, clearly, not enough food. So by dinner I was ravenous.
I ate a couple bites of cereal with milk, a bite of peach, a bite of quesadilla and a grissini. Technically the grissini is allowed, but not on top of the other stuff. There has to be more because I felt like a mouse rummaging through the cupboards nibbling on things.
I was quite shocked and surprised to see that even still I lost 0.4 and I've purposed that today will be a much cleaner eating day. I bought some gala apples and they are so good. They taste like I just picked them off the tree and are super crunchy. Love them. I've eaten one today and will eat my chicken for lunch and some hamburger for dinner.
We're going to a wedding this weekend, traveling back home. So that will be a bit of an inconvenience since I'll have to pack my food and NOT eat wedding cake or the delicious dinner meal. =(
I was thinking really hard last night, because I was thisclose to just quitting the diet. But I figure I'm now 12 days into it, I might as well finish what I start. If I can get down to 135 I will be totally happy. 135 is what I weighed forever and ever amen. Until I got married and had kiddos. So, in the whole scheme of things, I'm really close. 5 pounds! 10 pounds would be fantastic, but I sure won't be crying into my pillow at night if I end up at 135.
Originally I was shooting for 130 to give myself some leeway, but we'll just see where I'm at a week from Friday, as that is my last day of HCG drops. I am going shopping tonight for a dress for the wedding, and I'm actually really excited about it!
When my sister was here I tried on a size 8 dress and it fit, but was a bit snug around my hips. I never did try on size 8 jeans because my beloved husband made a good point. I've spent over $150 on jeans the last 3 months because I keep needing a smaller size (which is great!) but then I end up with basically brand new jeans sitting in my closet and none that fit. SOOOO, instead of trying on and buying anything right now, I'll wait til the diet is really and truly done.
Then I shall shop. :-D
For now, I'm looking forward to hopefully finding a cute dress for the wedding. I generally don't wear dresses because I am a total pear body shape and if it fits my hips, then my chest is swimming in material. But I tried on quite a few dresses with my sister and some of them were cute, so I'll see what I can find. I'll post a picture if I end up with something really cute. ;-)
Another super exciting thing for me is that I *have* to get my rings re-sized. They slide all around my finger; the diamond is constantly hanging upside down on the palm-side of my hand. It also is dangerously close to just slipping right off sometime during the day. I don't know why, but this excites me to no end! I already have a fairly small ring size; 5.5 I think. But it's still exciting that another part of me is getting thinner and needs a smaller size to fit comfortably.
Well, my friends, my housework is calling to me. It's not a very nice sound, but it must be done, so I'm off to whip this place into shape and get a start on packing all our stuff for the weekend. We're leaving Thursday night, so I may not be back to post until Sunday or Monday. Well, I'll post tomorrow, of course, but then not again until after the weekend.
DAWNE: I am checking in now (since I'll be computerless Saturday) to say that I was treat free this week. If anything changes, I'll let you know ASAP. ;-)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
64 ovals, nerve damage and deodorant
Hola!
Yesterday I drank 4L of pure, unadulterated water. This is huge. Like, Olympic size huge. Bigger than that, even! I didn't drink any coffee or my usual one-a-day Diet Mug Root Beer. Only water. And 4 liters at that! Without Crystal Light!
I also only ate 1 orange and 1 taco salad. I wasn't that hungry after downing all that water, and I wasn't feeling all that great.
Guess how much I lost today? Are you ready? Are you sitting down? 0.4. A whopping 0.4 is all I'm down! I almost cried, then I almost threw the scale out the window and then I got over it. As I was showering and reflecting on my feelings after stepping on the scale, I realized that I *hate* the way I have started obsessing about weight. I hate the way it affects me and my day if I don't see what I want to see. So I'm going to work on that. The number on the scale does not dictate who I am. I will not let it rule me.
So, this is me, choosing to be chipper and happy and NOT allowing the scale to rule me. It's also me wearing a size small shirt and looking a bit loopy. But I digress.
Gotta love the grainy, fuzzy phone camera quality. ;-)
Moving on...
Yesterday when I went to pick Kate up from school, her teacher asked if any of the parents wanted to help with a cutting project. I should have taken my cue from all the other experienced parents vigorously shaking their heads and backing away like she was offering a bout of smallpox. But me, being the dumb, goofy Labrador type I am volunteered. I was thinking I'd be cutting 20 or so whatever-she-neededs. The teacher bounded over, plopped a pack of card stock weighing approximately 3 pounds into my arms and happily told me I needed to trace and cut SIXTY FOUR ovals for frames.
Did you know ovals need the middles cut out as well? Yeah, it took forever and I quickly realized my tracing and cutting skills are quite sub par. She may have been better off asking the kids themselves to do it. But, she's a kindergarten teacher, right? There's no way she can be a perfectionist. If she is, she will be having nightmares for many moons to come.
My wonderful husband helped me cut them out, but not before I damaged the nerves in my right thumb. It's seriously numb and it's now the next morning. The indentations from the scissors are still there, too. The things I do for my kids.
Moving on again...
I need some good deodorant recommendations. I currently use Dove or Degree, but neither one seems equipped to handle the sweat glands under my arms known as Niagra Falls. If you are a heavy sweater (and I don't mean the warm, cozy kind you wear!) or if you just love your deodorant, PLEASE help me out and let me know what you use. The people around me thank you in advance.
Have a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day!
Yesterday I drank 4L of pure, unadulterated water. This is huge. Like, Olympic size huge. Bigger than that, even! I didn't drink any coffee or my usual one-a-day Diet Mug Root Beer. Only water. And 4 liters at that! Without Crystal Light!
I also only ate 1 orange and 1 taco salad. I wasn't that hungry after downing all that water, and I wasn't feeling all that great.
Guess how much I lost today? Are you ready? Are you sitting down? 0.4. A whopping 0.4 is all I'm down! I almost cried, then I almost threw the scale out the window and then I got over it. As I was showering and reflecting on my feelings after stepping on the scale, I realized that I *hate* the way I have started obsessing about weight. I hate the way it affects me and my day if I don't see what I want to see. So I'm going to work on that. The number on the scale does not dictate who I am. I will not let it rule me.
So, this is me, choosing to be chipper and happy and NOT allowing the scale to rule me. It's also me wearing a size small shirt and looking a bit loopy. But I digress.
Gotta love the grainy, fuzzy phone camera quality. ;-)Moving on...
Yesterday when I went to pick Kate up from school, her teacher asked if any of the parents wanted to help with a cutting project. I should have taken my cue from all the other experienced parents vigorously shaking their heads and backing away like she was offering a bout of smallpox. But me, being the dumb, goofy Labrador type I am volunteered. I was thinking I'd be cutting 20 or so whatever-she-neededs. The teacher bounded over, plopped a pack of card stock weighing approximately 3 pounds into my arms and happily told me I needed to trace and cut SIXTY FOUR ovals for frames.
Did you know ovals need the middles cut out as well? Yeah, it took forever and I quickly realized my tracing and cutting skills are quite sub par. She may have been better off asking the kids themselves to do it. But, she's a kindergarten teacher, right? There's no way she can be a perfectionist. If she is, she will be having nightmares for many moons to come.
My wonderful husband helped me cut them out, but not before I damaged the nerves in my right thumb. It's seriously numb and it's now the next morning. The indentations from the scissors are still there, too. The things I do for my kids.
Moving on again...
I need some good deodorant recommendations. I currently use Dove or Degree, but neither one seems equipped to handle the sweat glands under my arms known as Niagra Falls. If you are a heavy sweater (and I don't mean the warm, cozy kind you wear!) or if you just love your deodorant, PLEASE help me out and let me know what you use. The people around me thank you in advance.
Have a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Monday Morning Blues
Hiya Pals,
How are you? I've been better. I feel like I got hit by a truck. My head is pounding, my body aches, I feel emotional (sad and weepy) AND my weight is messing with me. On Saturday I was down to 140.6 (I think; I can't remember exactly). Then yesterday I was UP to 141.0. I have NEVER gained while on the low cal part of the diet before. I have NOT been cheating. I've even been drinking all my water! The day I gained I even skipped my last apple because I didn't feel hungry. And I GAINED!?!?!?
Today I was down 0.2. Pppffffttttt. Such a measly loss for the strict diet I've been sticking to! I do need to have some "waste management" movement, but that shouldn't and has never in the past, caused me to gain. Very frustrating and odd.
BUT then I look at the fact that I've lost almost 5 pounds in 1 week. And I'm within 10ish pounds of my goal, so to lose that much so close to goal is remarkable. It just is really hard to see the scale go up when I'm eating 7 ounces of chicken and 7 ounces of vegetables, plus 2 apples a day and that's it.
I was really, really, really tempted to throw in the towel today. I made almond, cinnamon, vanilla crepes for the kids for breakfast and they smelled so incredibly divine. Then, after I dropped Kate off at school all I wanted to do was bake. Oh my, I do so love to bake! I have an extraordinarily cute apron that I like to wear and it makes the house smell good and all warm and cozy. But the problem is, then I want to eat it.
So, I'm guzzling water instead. I'm hoping that will take care of my headache, help things get moving in my plumbing AND fill me up so I don't go into the kitchen and destroy myself with baked goodies. And I lit a pumpkin spice candle and I'm pretending that the smell is coming from a fresh batch of pumpkin scones. Or maybe pumpkin cranberry bread. MMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm.
On a much happier note, I had a wonderful time with my sister this weekend! We hung out, chased after our kids, went shopping (A LOT), and stuck to our diets. I am so proud of us!
I don't know if it's wrong or not, but food really does make things more fun and cozy. At least, for us it does. We decided our next visit we will not be on the diet. Not so we can go crazy and eat all kinds of unhealthy food, but so we can cook and bake together, and then sit and chat with our coffee (AND CREAMER!!!!) and baked treat.
However, I was TREAT FREE this week for the challenge.
I have noticed that while on the HCG diet and in doing this treat free challenge that I think about food/treats much more than I normally do. It bothers me, actually. I feel like I'm almost being forced into a ditch where I obsess about food, when in my "normal" life I don't. I enjoy food, yeah. I bake and cook and eat, for sure. But I don't sit around thinking about all the things I can't have.
I think it's too "all or nothing" for me. For my personality, it's better to indulge in a moderate portion of a treat now and then, when the mood strikes, instead of denying myself to the point of a total gorge fest. So after my diet is done, I'll be going back to eating like I normally do, and if that includes a treat, so be it.
But THIS week, I was treat free. ;-)
I hope you are doing well, and that you have a great week!
How are you? I've been better. I feel like I got hit by a truck. My head is pounding, my body aches, I feel emotional (sad and weepy) AND my weight is messing with me. On Saturday I was down to 140.6 (I think; I can't remember exactly). Then yesterday I was UP to 141.0. I have NEVER gained while on the low cal part of the diet before. I have NOT been cheating. I've even been drinking all my water! The day I gained I even skipped my last apple because I didn't feel hungry. And I GAINED!?!?!?
Today I was down 0.2. Pppffffttttt. Such a measly loss for the strict diet I've been sticking to! I do need to have some "waste management" movement, but that shouldn't and has never in the past, caused me to gain. Very frustrating and odd.
BUT then I look at the fact that I've lost almost 5 pounds in 1 week. And I'm within 10ish pounds of my goal, so to lose that much so close to goal is remarkable. It just is really hard to see the scale go up when I'm eating 7 ounces of chicken and 7 ounces of vegetables, plus 2 apples a day and that's it.
I was really, really, really tempted to throw in the towel today. I made almond, cinnamon, vanilla crepes for the kids for breakfast and they smelled so incredibly divine. Then, after I dropped Kate off at school all I wanted to do was bake. Oh my, I do so love to bake! I have an extraordinarily cute apron that I like to wear and it makes the house smell good and all warm and cozy. But the problem is, then I want to eat it.
So, I'm guzzling water instead. I'm hoping that will take care of my headache, help things get moving in my plumbing AND fill me up so I don't go into the kitchen and destroy myself with baked goodies. And I lit a pumpkin spice candle and I'm pretending that the smell is coming from a fresh batch of pumpkin scones. Or maybe pumpkin cranberry bread. MMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm.
On a much happier note, I had a wonderful time with my sister this weekend! We hung out, chased after our kids, went shopping (A LOT), and stuck to our diets. I am so proud of us!
I don't know if it's wrong or not, but food really does make things more fun and cozy. At least, for us it does. We decided our next visit we will not be on the diet. Not so we can go crazy and eat all kinds of unhealthy food, but so we can cook and bake together, and then sit and chat with our coffee (AND CREAMER!!!!) and baked treat.
However, I was TREAT FREE this week for the challenge.
I have noticed that while on the HCG diet and in doing this treat free challenge that I think about food/treats much more than I normally do. It bothers me, actually. I feel like I'm almost being forced into a ditch where I obsess about food, when in my "normal" life I don't. I enjoy food, yeah. I bake and cook and eat, for sure. But I don't sit around thinking about all the things I can't have.
I think it's too "all or nothing" for me. For my personality, it's better to indulge in a moderate portion of a treat now and then, when the mood strikes, instead of denying myself to the point of a total gorge fest. So after my diet is done, I'll be going back to eating like I normally do, and if that includes a treat, so be it.
But THIS week, I was treat free. ;-)
I hope you are doing well, and that you have a great week!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Quick Post
Happy, Happy Friday!
I didn't lose anything today. =( But, I didn't gain either and I did cheat a little yesterday. I ran out of chicken and haven't bought any beef yet, so for dinner I ate two 97% fat free kosher Hebrew National dogs. They are very salty and probably have more fat than chicken, despite being 97% fat free.
I'm not too worried, but a little disappointed. It's hard to stick to the bare bones diet and when the scale doesn't move, it makes it harder.
My sister comes in today, and she is also on the diet. So we plan to enjoy our chicken and broccoli together, as well as talk and laugh and just hang out. We are both as excited as kids in a candy store. =)
I am so glad it's Friday! It seems like I have hardly seen Josh, or Kate for that matter. It's so different having her in school all day. It's definitely good for her; she loves it. But the day just flies by so much more quickly than before.
So I'm really, really looking forward to a relaxing weekend with my family, my sis and my niece.
Oh! I had sort of an epiphany yesterday as I made my salad for lunch. I sprinkled some of my spices-the Smokehouse Maple- on top and it totally added some nice crunch and flavor! Score! (Yes, I just said SCORE!) I put a bit too much and it was too salty, but now I know for future reference.
I still need to check out the Crystal Light and Talking Rain. Thanks for the tips, girls!
I hope you all have a fabulously great weekend!
I didn't lose anything today. =( But, I didn't gain either and I did cheat a little yesterday. I ran out of chicken and haven't bought any beef yet, so for dinner I ate two 97% fat free kosher Hebrew National dogs. They are very salty and probably have more fat than chicken, despite being 97% fat free.
I'm not too worried, but a little disappointed. It's hard to stick to the bare bones diet and when the scale doesn't move, it makes it harder.
My sister comes in today, and she is also on the diet. So we plan to enjoy our chicken and broccoli together, as well as talk and laugh and just hang out. We are both as excited as kids in a candy store. =)
I am so glad it's Friday! It seems like I have hardly seen Josh, or Kate for that matter. It's so different having her in school all day. It's definitely good for her; she loves it. But the day just flies by so much more quickly than before.
So I'm really, really looking forward to a relaxing weekend with my family, my sis and my niece.
Oh! I had sort of an epiphany yesterday as I made my salad for lunch. I sprinkled some of my spices-the Smokehouse Maple- on top and it totally added some nice crunch and flavor! Score! (Yes, I just said SCORE!) I put a bit too much and it was too salty, but now I know for future reference.
I still need to check out the Crystal Light and Talking Rain. Thanks for the tips, girls!
I hope you all have a fabulously great weekend!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Chicken
Hello Folks!
I've been having some issues with my internet, but I think they are resolved now. Crossing my fingers!
I was down a bit today, a little less than half a pound. I forgot to eat my second apple yesterday. I enjoyed two salads with seasoned chicken, sweet onion, tomatoes and romaine. They were really quite good!
I also went grocery shopping yesterday. My goodness, I forget what torture it is to shop when you're hungry/can't have all the goodness spread out before you!! I went to Costco and the smells of the samples/deli were almost too much. My stomach was roaring at me, because I hadn't eaten dinner before I went and it was fairly late.
I made it through, though. I'm sad to report there are no honeycrisp apples in the stores here. =( I am constantly on an endeavor to find a crisp, sweet, crunchy apple. Mushy apples are the WORST.
I am enjoying the spices I bought for my chicken. So far the Fiesta Lime is my favorite. It packs a lot of flavor and covers up the "gamey" taste of the chicken. I'm weird and after a bit chicken starts to really gross me out. So I have to slather it with some other flavor and trick myself into eating it.
I also need to get some extra lean ground beef, for variety.
Other than that, not much to report. I'm doing pretty good at getting all my water in. I'm taking my vitamins and getting to bed before 9:30 each night. I'm not always asleep by then, and I don't always sleep through the night, but at least my body is in bed and resting.
I have felt pretty tired the last 2 days. Not during the day, necessarily, but it is so hard to get out of my soft, cozy, warm bed in the morning. Hopefully it passes soon.
I am wearing a Nike warm up type jacket and get this... it's a size S (4/6). That's what the tag says, and I can zip it up no problem without it being skin tight! WOOT! My 9/10 pants are also really sagging, but they are nowhere near size 4/6. ;-) I've always been a pear shape. Smaller on top, bigger on bottom. I do plan to go shopping while my sis is here so maybe I'll try on some size 8 jeans and see how they fit.
My sister comes tomorrow and I can't wait! It's so nice to have something to look forward to, and a motivator to clean the house. ;-)
I've been having some issues with my internet, but I think they are resolved now. Crossing my fingers!
I was down a bit today, a little less than half a pound. I forgot to eat my second apple yesterday. I enjoyed two salads with seasoned chicken, sweet onion, tomatoes and romaine. They were really quite good!
I also went grocery shopping yesterday. My goodness, I forget what torture it is to shop when you're hungry/can't have all the goodness spread out before you!! I went to Costco and the smells of the samples/deli were almost too much. My stomach was roaring at me, because I hadn't eaten dinner before I went and it was fairly late.
I made it through, though. I'm sad to report there are no honeycrisp apples in the stores here. =( I am constantly on an endeavor to find a crisp, sweet, crunchy apple. Mushy apples are the WORST.
I am enjoying the spices I bought for my chicken. So far the Fiesta Lime is my favorite. It packs a lot of flavor and covers up the "gamey" taste of the chicken. I'm weird and after a bit chicken starts to really gross me out. So I have to slather it with some other flavor and trick myself into eating it.
I also need to get some extra lean ground beef, for variety.
Other than that, not much to report. I'm doing pretty good at getting all my water in. I'm taking my vitamins and getting to bed before 9:30 each night. I'm not always asleep by then, and I don't always sleep through the night, but at least my body is in bed and resting.
I have felt pretty tired the last 2 days. Not during the day, necessarily, but it is so hard to get out of my soft, cozy, warm bed in the morning. Hopefully it passes soon.
I am wearing a Nike warm up type jacket and get this... it's a size S (4/6). That's what the tag says, and I can zip it up no problem without it being skin tight! WOOT! My 9/10 pants are also really sagging, but they are nowhere near size 4/6. ;-) I've always been a pear shape. Smaller on top, bigger on bottom. I do plan to go shopping while my sis is here so maybe I'll try on some size 8 jeans and see how they fit.
My sister comes tomorrow and I can't wait! It's so nice to have something to look forward to, and a motivator to clean the house. ;-)
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Happy Hump Day!
Hee hee, I always snicker whenever anyone says that. ;-) But it IS Wednesday, so we ARE getting over the "hump" of the week. And I AM happy. So there. :-D
I was down another 1.2 pounds today! I really hope I'm able to hit my goal of 130 within the 21 days of the diet this time. That would make me so very happy! I am going down to visit my dear friend Jen at the end of this month, when she has her baby girl (YAY YAY YAY YAY) and I would love to be done with the diet at that point.
I currently weigh 141.6; sooooo close to the 130's! I will be ecstatic when I'm actually IN the 130's, but I gotta say, I'm pretty darn happy with the way things are going. =)
My sister comes in this Friday to visit for the weekend, and that makes my heart sing! She hasn't been here since we moved, and she is bringing my sweetie pie niece, Savannah with her. Savannah is a little over a year old and such a cuddlebug. Love her to bits and pieces!
Yesterday I was a little more hungry and was really, really tempted by the strawberry ice cream my family had for dessert. BUT, with me on the HCG and the Challenge, there was no way I was going to indulge. So I ate my apple and pretended it was just as good as the ice cream. ;-)
I need to see if anyone around here still carries the honey crisp apples. They are really sweet and crunchy and basically they are just as good as ice cream. Gotta check that out.
I have a friend coming over with her kiddos for a playdate, so I gotta scoot.
Have a great Hump Day! :-D
I was down another 1.2 pounds today! I really hope I'm able to hit my goal of 130 within the 21 days of the diet this time. That would make me so very happy! I am going down to visit my dear friend Jen at the end of this month, when she has her baby girl (YAY YAY YAY YAY) and I would love to be done with the diet at that point.
I currently weigh 141.6; sooooo close to the 130's! I will be ecstatic when I'm actually IN the 130's, but I gotta say, I'm pretty darn happy with the way things are going. =)
My sister comes in this Friday to visit for the weekend, and that makes my heart sing! She hasn't been here since we moved, and she is bringing my sweetie pie niece, Savannah with her. Savannah is a little over a year old and such a cuddlebug. Love her to bits and pieces!
Yesterday I was a little more hungry and was really, really tempted by the strawberry ice cream my family had for dessert. BUT, with me on the HCG and the Challenge, there was no way I was going to indulge. So I ate my apple and pretended it was just as good as the ice cream. ;-)
I need to see if anyone around here still carries the honey crisp apples. They are really sweet and crunchy and basically they are just as good as ice cream. Gotta check that out.
I have a friend coming over with her kiddos for a playdate, so I gotta scoot.
Have a great Hump Day! :-D
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Whoopdy Doo!
Well, today was a wonderful surprise! I was down 2.6 pounds, and that was AFTER I'd had a cup of coffee.
I woke up at 6:15 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to make use of the time by drinking a cup of coffee (it was already made, since Josh sets it for 5:00a.m.) and reading in bed. So I did just that and it wasn't until after I finished my cup that I remembered I needed to weigh myself. I am just 0.2oz shy of my lowest weight from my last round. I am really, really hoping this will be my final round.
Since I gave myself the entire month of August off from dieting of any sort, I'm hoping my body will be more willing to let those pounds go, and quickly.
Yesterday was really easy, eating wise. I didn't get too hungry and didn't crave things I shouldn't have. I also managed to get in over 2L of water yesterday. I'm going to have to check out Erin's suggestion of Crystal Light Sport, which is flavored naturally. I suspect it has calories, though, as almost all Crystal Light has 5 or 10 calories per serving. Keeping my fingers crossed, though.
I need to get back to drinking tea, but haven't found one I like without creamer. That will really help me get my water in, keep me from wanting to snack, and help keep me warm on the cold days ahead.
Oh, and my dear mom informed me today that binging (even though Blogger doesn't tell me so) is incorrect. It should be bingeing. But see, now Blogger says THAT is incorrect, so I don't know. I like saying binging, just cuz it reminds me of Chandler Bing and I am a fan of Friends. So I may just keep spelling it that way. ;-)
Hope you all are having a wonderful week!
I woke up at 6:15 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to make use of the time by drinking a cup of coffee (it was already made, since Josh sets it for 5:00a.m.) and reading in bed. So I did just that and it wasn't until after I finished my cup that I remembered I needed to weigh myself. I am just 0.2oz shy of my lowest weight from my last round. I am really, really hoping this will be my final round.
Since I gave myself the entire month of August off from dieting of any sort, I'm hoping my body will be more willing to let those pounds go, and quickly.
Yesterday was really easy, eating wise. I didn't get too hungry and didn't crave things I shouldn't have. I also managed to get in over 2L of water yesterday. I'm going to have to check out Erin's suggestion of Crystal Light Sport, which is flavored naturally. I suspect it has calories, though, as almost all Crystal Light has 5 or 10 calories per serving. Keeping my fingers crossed, though.
I need to get back to drinking tea, but haven't found one I like without creamer. That will really help me get my water in, keep me from wanting to snack, and help keep me warm on the cold days ahead.
Oh, and my dear mom informed me today that binging (even though Blogger doesn't tell me so) is incorrect. It should be bingeing. But see, now Blogger says THAT is incorrect, so I don't know. I like saying binging, just cuz it reminds me of Chandler Bing and I am a fan of Friends. So I may just keep spelling it that way. ;-)
Hope you all are having a wonderful week!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Day 1 of Low Calorie
Hello Friends!
I hope you're having a marvelous holiday weekend! I guess it's coming to a close now, but I still hope it was great. =)
I had a good time. Chilling with my kiddos and Josh, we've had friends over for dinner the last two days, and I was binging. Now, when I say binging, pictures of me cramming food hand over fist come to mind, no? Well, that's not how it went down. When I binge for my HCG diets, it doesn't mean I consume copious amounts of food. It means I eat high fat, high sugar foods that I wouldn't normally eat.
I had apple turnovers, apple crisp (homemade and it was delicious if I do say so myself!), pasta, garlic bread, chocolate, and lots of homemade strawberry jam. Not all at once, and not in huge quantities. But I definitely didn't stop myself from eating whatever I desired. I'm gonna miss that strawberry jam. It'll probably all be gone by the time I can have it again. *sigh*
I haven't weighed myself since last Wed, when I was 144.2 so I really had no idea how much I was going to weigh today. I was hoping to not weigh more than 146 after my binges, and my wish was fulfilled. =)
I start my third round of HCG at 145.4, which is a bit more than 2 pounds up from my lowest weight. I'm good with that. I'm thinking that I'll stay on the HCG until I get to 130; 15 pounds to lose. I'll reevaluate that as the end of my 21 days gets closer and I see how close to my goal I am.
Today is my first low calorie day and so far it's gone well. I wasn't tempted to eat breakfast; I rarely am hungry in the morning. So I had a cup of coffee with fat free creamer; now, this is technically cheating. You aren't supposed to have anything extra, but since it's fat free I am allowing myself to enjoy it. It does have sugar, so I have to be careful how much I have. If you know me, my coffee is half creamer, so I have to cut waaaaay back.
I had baked chicken and salad for lunch. I'll have baked chicken and grilled asparagus for dinner. Can you believe it!? No broccoli! Yet. ;-)
I am not a huge fan of chicken; it makes me a little queasy. And since I eat chicken and sometimes extra extra lean hamburger on this diet, I need to find a way to get around that little obstacle. Enter spices/sauces.
I've got Fiest Lime, Smokehouse Maple, Garlic and Herb and Orange sauce. I have to use the orange sauce really sparingly, as it is high in sugar/calories. The others I sprinkle to my heart's content.
Here's the weird part about me. I can eat COLD chicken just fine, no problemo. It's when it's baked and warm that it creeps me out. I just baked a pan of 6 chicken breasts, which equals 12 or 13 meals for me. I seasoned them with my spices/sauces and now they are chilling in the fridge. I'll either cut them up over salad, or else I'm contemplating making a sort of chicken soup. Basically it'll be broth with onions and some celery and my chicken but I think it will be good on cold days.
I still struggle to drink enough water. I'm supposed to drink 2L a day, and today I've only had probably 12oz. I need to work on that, and work on finding a tea I can drink without cream. It's easier to get my 2L in if I flavor it with Crystal Light type stuff, but again, I don't really fancy putting all those chemicals into my body. If only I liked plain ol' water this would be so much easier.
Anyhoo, now that you all are bored out of your heads, I'll wrap this up. I'll probably continue with weekly weigh-ins, unless I have a big drop in weight, in which case I'll shout it out on this here blog. :-D
Hope you had a fabulous weekend!!
I hope you're having a marvelous holiday weekend! I guess it's coming to a close now, but I still hope it was great. =)
I had a good time. Chilling with my kiddos and Josh, we've had friends over for dinner the last two days, and I was binging. Now, when I say binging, pictures of me cramming food hand over fist come to mind, no? Well, that's not how it went down. When I binge for my HCG diets, it doesn't mean I consume copious amounts of food. It means I eat high fat, high sugar foods that I wouldn't normally eat.
I had apple turnovers, apple crisp (homemade and it was delicious if I do say so myself!), pasta, garlic bread, chocolate, and lots of homemade strawberry jam. Not all at once, and not in huge quantities. But I definitely didn't stop myself from eating whatever I desired. I'm gonna miss that strawberry jam. It'll probably all be gone by the time I can have it again. *sigh*
I haven't weighed myself since last Wed, when I was 144.2 so I really had no idea how much I was going to weigh today. I was hoping to not weigh more than 146 after my binges, and my wish was fulfilled. =)
I start my third round of HCG at 145.4, which is a bit more than 2 pounds up from my lowest weight. I'm good with that. I'm thinking that I'll stay on the HCG until I get to 130; 15 pounds to lose. I'll reevaluate that as the end of my 21 days gets closer and I see how close to my goal I am.
Today is my first low calorie day and so far it's gone well. I wasn't tempted to eat breakfast; I rarely am hungry in the morning. So I had a cup of coffee with fat free creamer; now, this is technically cheating. You aren't supposed to have anything extra, but since it's fat free I am allowing myself to enjoy it. It does have sugar, so I have to be careful how much I have. If you know me, my coffee is half creamer, so I have to cut waaaaay back.
I had baked chicken and salad for lunch. I'll have baked chicken and grilled asparagus for dinner. Can you believe it!? No broccoli! Yet. ;-)
I am not a huge fan of chicken; it makes me a little queasy. And since I eat chicken and sometimes extra extra lean hamburger on this diet, I need to find a way to get around that little obstacle. Enter spices/sauces.
I've got Fiest Lime, Smokehouse Maple, Garlic and Herb and Orange sauce. I have to use the orange sauce really sparingly, as it is high in sugar/calories. The others I sprinkle to my heart's content.Here's the weird part about me. I can eat COLD chicken just fine, no problemo. It's when it's baked and warm that it creeps me out. I just baked a pan of 6 chicken breasts, which equals 12 or 13 meals for me. I seasoned them with my spices/sauces and now they are chilling in the fridge. I'll either cut them up over salad, or else I'm contemplating making a sort of chicken soup. Basically it'll be broth with onions and some celery and my chicken but I think it will be good on cold days.
I still struggle to drink enough water. I'm supposed to drink 2L a day, and today I've only had probably 12oz. I need to work on that, and work on finding a tea I can drink without cream. It's easier to get my 2L in if I flavor it with Crystal Light type stuff, but again, I don't really fancy putting all those chemicals into my body. If only I liked plain ol' water this would be so much easier.
Anyhoo, now that you all are bored out of your heads, I'll wrap this up. I'll probably continue with weekly weigh-ins, unless I have a big drop in weight, in which case I'll shout it out on this here blog. :-D
Hope you had a fabulous weekend!!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Bikinis, Challenges, Freudian Slips and Kidnappers
Good title, no? :-D
Ok, first up is bikinis. While we were on vacay I wore my bikini to the pool, and felt fine in it. I knew I wasn't the hottest babe around, but I also wasn't the biggest. I could lay out with my hubby and not feel self-conscious. However... there was quite a bit of flab still hanging on for dear life, which is what spurred me to do the HCG one more time.
Now, I was gonna be all clever and say I'd post a pic of me in my bikini and then what I'd REALLY post was a picture/drawing of a turtle in a bikini. And although I won 12 swagbucks for searching for "turtle in a bikini", apparently there are NO images, either real or drawn, of a turtle wearing a bikini.
I did find, however, a picture of a turtle in wedding garb:
But I'm already married, so I don't need a wedding dress.
I also found a starfish in a bikini. And a santa hat.
And many, many, many other images I did not need to see. Lawsamercy! You have to be careful what you search for, otherwise your eyes can be seared into blindness with what google brings up.
Moving on to Challenges.
I am doing Dawne's Challenge... except not quite yet. :-D I am dropping out of the first week of the challenge, because in order to do HCG the "right" way you are supposed to binge the first two days. Originally I was going to do that without treats, but then I thought... Am I crazy!? I'll be living on chicken and broccoli for the next 3 weeks and I was also starting to go a little bit crazy. So I ate some monkey bread. And disqualified myself from the first week of the challenge. But starting MONDAY, I am all over the Treat Free September challenge!
Freudian Slips. Back in my recap of the vacation post, I made a Freudian slip and it's been bothering me ever since. I stated that Indio, CA is smack dab in the middle of the dessert. Now, I'd like to see the size of THAT pie, eh!? I mean, if Indio, CA was in the middle of a brownie, that'd be one heckuva huge brownie!! What I meant to say was desert. As in, barren, dry, sandy, sun-baked land. Phew, glad I got that off my back.
On to kidnapping, and this one is seriously freaky/weird/unnerving/gross/scary. Kate started school, as you all know, and yesterday she came home with a little folder full of papers for me. She got 3 stars for good behavior her first 3 days of school. GO KATE!! And the menu. Dude, have things changed since I went to school! I mean, they get stuff like Asian salad, BBQ burgers and twisty fries, shrimp poppers, beef teriyaki dippers, chicken poppers and sweet potato fries, etc... Can you believe that!? Too bad for Kate I'm packing her lunch, and it's turkey and cheddar on whole wheat.
ANYWAY, moving on. We ALSO got another paper. A paper that would change our entire evening, and in reality, our lives. Sort of. Apparently there is a kidnapper/sex offender who has just been released from prison. Because he lives near the school (2 minutes away), they have to send out a flier. Well, guess who else lives two minutes from the school? Yep, us. And guess who is basically next door neighbors with this convicted kidnapper/sex offender? Yep, us. =( Did your stomach just drop? Mine did.
Since we haven't lived here all that long we didn't recognize the address on the flier until our other neighbor (totally NOT kidnappers OR sex offenders, but they do buy live goats, kill them and roast them in their backyard) came over and talked to us about it.
See, our house faces a street. If you're into feng shui at all, we basically have a death arrow situation going on. Good thing I'm not superstitious, huh? Anyway, our front door faces a side road. And the kidnapper/sex offender is the first house on that side road. EEEEKKKK!!!!
Apparently our neighbors know the owner of the house and have contacted him and let him know we're all very concerned. Our whole street is FULL of families with small children. They usually play out in the yards, ride their bikes up and down the street. Like as if we were back in the good ol' days when it was safe to do those things. And now there is this creepy, sick, messed up man living right smack dab in the middle of our little safety zone.
I sure hope the owner of the house (who OBVIOUSLY didn't do a background check. HELLO!?!?) is able to evict him and have him move somewhere far, far away from children. And my family.
Ugh, I get sick every time I think about it and will now be fretting and keeping our doors and windows locked 24/7.
Ok, enough about that for now.
So, I decided to "binge" correctly. Speaking of binging, does anyone else read that word as "bing-ing" and immediately think of Chandler Bing?
I don't know what is up with the small pictures, but I'm not technologically inclined, so whatev.
MOVING ON... as I was saying, I decided to do this HCG thing correctly and, as instructed, load up on fat the first 2 days. So this morning I made monkey bread, oatmeal pancakes and (turkey) bacon for breakfast. It was so delicious. I didn't gorge myself. I didn't eat past full. But I enjoyed every bite of it. I have one more day of eating what I want, and then it's on to the low cal part. Not nearly as fun.
If you have stayed with me this far, and ignored all the "anyways" and "moving ons", I applaud you. Bravo!
Ok, so I think that's all I have to say for now. I'll be back on Monday with a weigh-in. I haven't weighed the last two days, although when I weighed on Thursday I was back down to 144.2; so I'm hoping I won't blow myself out of the water with this binging (CHANDLER! (Said in Janice's nasal, pinched, really loud voice)).
Happy Weekend!
Ok, first up is bikinis. While we were on vacay I wore my bikini to the pool, and felt fine in it. I knew I wasn't the hottest babe around, but I also wasn't the biggest. I could lay out with my hubby and not feel self-conscious. However... there was quite a bit of flab still hanging on for dear life, which is what spurred me to do the HCG one more time.
Now, I was gonna be all clever and say I'd post a pic of me in my bikini and then what I'd REALLY post was a picture/drawing of a turtle in a bikini. And although I won 12 swagbucks for searching for "turtle in a bikini", apparently there are NO images, either real or drawn, of a turtle wearing a bikini.
I did find, however, a picture of a turtle in wedding garb:
But I'm already married, so I don't need a wedding dress.
I also found a starfish in a bikini. And a santa hat.
And many, many, many other images I did not need to see. Lawsamercy! You have to be careful what you search for, otherwise your eyes can be seared into blindness with what google brings up.
Moving on to Challenges.
I am doing Dawne's Challenge... except not quite yet. :-D I am dropping out of the first week of the challenge, because in order to do HCG the "right" way you are supposed to binge the first two days. Originally I was going to do that without treats, but then I thought... Am I crazy!? I'll be living on chicken and broccoli for the next 3 weeks and I was also starting to go a little bit crazy. So I ate some monkey bread. And disqualified myself from the first week of the challenge. But starting MONDAY, I am all over the Treat Free September challenge!Freudian Slips. Back in my recap of the vacation post, I made a Freudian slip and it's been bothering me ever since. I stated that Indio, CA is smack dab in the middle of the dessert. Now, I'd like to see the size of THAT pie, eh!? I mean, if Indio, CA was in the middle of a brownie, that'd be one heckuva huge brownie!! What I meant to say was desert. As in, barren, dry, sandy, sun-baked land. Phew, glad I got that off my back.
On to kidnapping, and this one is seriously freaky/weird/unnerving/gross/scary. Kate started school, as you all know, and yesterday she came home with a little folder full of papers for me. She got 3 stars for good behavior her first 3 days of school. GO KATE!! And the menu. Dude, have things changed since I went to school! I mean, they get stuff like Asian salad, BBQ burgers and twisty fries, shrimp poppers, beef teriyaki dippers, chicken poppers and sweet potato fries, etc... Can you believe that!? Too bad for Kate I'm packing her lunch, and it's turkey and cheddar on whole wheat.
ANYWAY, moving on. We ALSO got another paper. A paper that would change our entire evening, and in reality, our lives. Sort of. Apparently there is a kidnapper/sex offender who has just been released from prison. Because he lives near the school (2 minutes away), they have to send out a flier. Well, guess who else lives two minutes from the school? Yep, us. And guess who is basically next door neighbors with this convicted kidnapper/sex offender? Yep, us. =( Did your stomach just drop? Mine did.
Since we haven't lived here all that long we didn't recognize the address on the flier until our other neighbor (totally NOT kidnappers OR sex offenders, but they do buy live goats, kill them and roast them in their backyard) came over and talked to us about it.
See, our house faces a street. If you're into feng shui at all, we basically have a death arrow situation going on. Good thing I'm not superstitious, huh? Anyway, our front door faces a side road. And the kidnapper/sex offender is the first house on that side road. EEEEKKKK!!!!
Apparently our neighbors know the owner of the house and have contacted him and let him know we're all very concerned. Our whole street is FULL of families with small children. They usually play out in the yards, ride their bikes up and down the street. Like as if we were back in the good ol' days when it was safe to do those things. And now there is this creepy, sick, messed up man living right smack dab in the middle of our little safety zone.
I sure hope the owner of the house (who OBVIOUSLY didn't do a background check. HELLO!?!?) is able to evict him and have him move somewhere far, far away from children. And my family.
Ugh, I get sick every time I think about it and will now be fretting and keeping our doors and windows locked 24/7.
Ok, enough about that for now.
So, I decided to "binge" correctly. Speaking of binging, does anyone else read that word as "bing-ing" and immediately think of Chandler Bing?
I don't know what is up with the small pictures, but I'm not technologically inclined, so whatev.MOVING ON... as I was saying, I decided to do this HCG thing correctly and, as instructed, load up on fat the first 2 days. So this morning I made monkey bread, oatmeal pancakes and (turkey) bacon for breakfast. It was so delicious. I didn't gorge myself. I didn't eat past full. But I enjoyed every bite of it. I have one more day of eating what I want, and then it's on to the low cal part. Not nearly as fun.
If you have stayed with me this far, and ignored all the "anyways" and "moving ons", I applaud you. Bravo!
Ok, so I think that's all I have to say for now. I'll be back on Monday with a weigh-in. I haven't weighed the last two days, although when I weighed on Thursday I was back down to 144.2; so I'm hoping I won't blow myself out of the water with this binging (CHANDLER! (Said in Janice's nasal, pinched, really loud voice)).
Happy Weekend!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Sleep
Good Day, Mateys!
I forgot to mention in my post yesterday one very vital, important thing that I need to work on bettering. Sleep. It's SO important!!
While we were on vacation I went to bed every night by 9pm. I didn't always fall asleep immediately, but I got some GREAT sleep. We're talking 9+ hours. Solid. That is unheard of in my "normal" life. And I woke up on my own every day feeling refreshed, usually around 6:30a.m.
So in addition to researching eating clean (thanks for the recommendation, Dawne!), losing these last 15 pounds, hitting the gym and drinking more water, I'll be making a conscious effort to get to bed earlier.
Last night I was in bed by 9, but didn't fall asleep until after 11!!! It was so frustrating and maddening. Then, I woke up at 3:15 and didn't go back to sleep until after 5. And when I did, I had horrible, awful, gut wrenching, realistic dreams. Dreams that there was a plane crash, and although my family wasn't on the plane they were in the area where the plane crashed and I didn't know if it had killed them or not. I managed to find them and there was water everywhere and I was trying to hold Owen and Christian above the water so they wouldn't drown. And then there were rabid dogs trying to eat our pup, Charisma.
Can you imagine wild dogs trying to tear into this sweet thing?
Anyway, needless to say it wasn't a very good night of sleep. I got up at 7 and have been going ever since. BUT, I will be making an effort to be in bed most night by 9:30p.m.
In other, totally unrelated news... I remembered this earlier today. When we were in Cali driving down the freeway we saw a guy. A really stupid, reckless, immature guy. Know what this fool was doing!? Riding his motorcycle down the freeway, POPPING A WHEELIE. At 70-80mph, the guy pops a wheelie on the freeway and rides like that, surrounded by cars and semi-trucks going just as fast.
I about died of a heart attack. I always get scared/nervous for people. It's why I can't go to rodeos (What if someone gets hurt!? What if someone DIES!? What if they are hurting the calves!?) or watch the Olympics in real time (ARGH! All the pressure!!!!). I instantly told Josh I was glad that guy wasn't a man in my life... as a brother, husband, son, brother-in-law, whatever. I would be a hot, nervous mess all of the time.
As part of Dawne's challenge I've given up treats for the month of Sept. It is HARD! I don't start my HCG until Monday and I'm supposed to binge for 2 days before starting. Guess I won't be binging on chips, ice cream, cookies, pastries, etc!! :-P I hope I can make it through the whole month. I didn't realize how much little treats are a part of my day. A salt water taffy here, a mini Reese's PB cup there.
It's good to be aware, conscious of what I'm putting into my body. I haven't started a food journal or anything like that yet, but I might. We'll see how it goes.
Hope you're all having a good Thursday! I have absolutely ZERO plans for the weekend, and I couldn't be more excited about it. I figure Kate will have some de-stressing to do from school, the boys are still out of sorts, and Josh and I have had a bit of a hard time adjusting back to "real life". The vacation was SO nice, just the two of us, all the time in the world to chat, and our normal routine is nothing like that.
Have a great evening!
I forgot to mention in my post yesterday one very vital, important thing that I need to work on bettering. Sleep. It's SO important!!
While we were on vacation I went to bed every night by 9pm. I didn't always fall asleep immediately, but I got some GREAT sleep. We're talking 9+ hours. Solid. That is unheard of in my "normal" life. And I woke up on my own every day feeling refreshed, usually around 6:30a.m.
So in addition to researching eating clean (thanks for the recommendation, Dawne!), losing these last 15 pounds, hitting the gym and drinking more water, I'll be making a conscious effort to get to bed earlier.
Last night I was in bed by 9, but didn't fall asleep until after 11!!! It was so frustrating and maddening. Then, I woke up at 3:15 and didn't go back to sleep until after 5. And when I did, I had horrible, awful, gut wrenching, realistic dreams. Dreams that there was a plane crash, and although my family wasn't on the plane they were in the area where the plane crashed and I didn't know if it had killed them or not. I managed to find them and there was water everywhere and I was trying to hold Owen and Christian above the water so they wouldn't drown. And then there were rabid dogs trying to eat our pup, Charisma.
Can you imagine wild dogs trying to tear into this sweet thing?
Anyway, needless to say it wasn't a very good night of sleep. I got up at 7 and have been going ever since. BUT, I will be making an effort to be in bed most night by 9:30p.m.
In other, totally unrelated news... I remembered this earlier today. When we were in Cali driving down the freeway we saw a guy. A really stupid, reckless, immature guy. Know what this fool was doing!? Riding his motorcycle down the freeway, POPPING A WHEELIE. At 70-80mph, the guy pops a wheelie on the freeway and rides like that, surrounded by cars and semi-trucks going just as fast.
I about died of a heart attack. I always get scared/nervous for people. It's why I can't go to rodeos (What if someone gets hurt!? What if someone DIES!? What if they are hurting the calves!?) or watch the Olympics in real time (ARGH! All the pressure!!!!). I instantly told Josh I was glad that guy wasn't a man in my life... as a brother, husband, son, brother-in-law, whatever. I would be a hot, nervous mess all of the time.
As part of Dawne's challenge I've given up treats for the month of Sept. It is HARD! I don't start my HCG until Monday and I'm supposed to binge for 2 days before starting. Guess I won't be binging on chips, ice cream, cookies, pastries, etc!! :-P I hope I can make it through the whole month. I didn't realize how much little treats are a part of my day. A salt water taffy here, a mini Reese's PB cup there.
It's good to be aware, conscious of what I'm putting into my body. I haven't started a food journal or anything like that yet, but I might. We'll see how it goes.
Hope you're all having a good Thursday! I have absolutely ZERO plans for the weekend, and I couldn't be more excited about it. I figure Kate will have some de-stressing to do from school, the boys are still out of sorts, and Josh and I have had a bit of a hard time adjusting back to "real life". The vacation was SO nice, just the two of us, all the time in the world to chat, and our normal routine is nothing like that.
Have a great evening!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Award from Miss Dawne
My lovely friend Dawne gave me an award while I was on vacation and I'd like to dedicate this post to accepting it. :-D Two posts in one day, oh my!
The Rules:
1. Answer this question: If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?
Hmmm, nothing springs to mind immediately of what I would change. I think I would have continued working out. Somewhere along the way I stopped and got out of the habit. Things would have been a lot easier, weight wise, if I'd kept that base of physical fitness.
If I didn't have my faith, I'd say I would rather not have had my dad die at a young age. But I know that everything happens for a reason, and I'm content and happy with where my life is now, so I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
2. Pick 6 people and give them this award. Then inform them that you've given it to them.
I pick:
Sunshine Mama
Matt
Tammy
Greta
Nicole
Megan
Now, some of those bloggers may not even know who I am, as I may or may not have been lurking on their sites. And Megan doesn't even write about weight loss, but she is seriously HILARIOUS and she has a little dude named Owen who is MY Owen's long lost twin. Except HER Owen already has an in real life twin. But I digress... In any case, all of those blogs have something with the "little bit extra". Like a cherry on top.
3. Thank the person who gave you the award.
This one I can do with GUSTO! Dearest Dawnie. Thank you so much for the award and for being my cyberfriend. I love reading your blog, and I love seeing what you've accomplished in the past year. I hope one day we meet in person and can share a Tim Tam Slam! :-D
Back to Reality... with a Crash Landing
Hey folks!
Well, Kate is at school. It's really weird. The boys are totally out of sorts and don't know what to do without their "leader". We took her as a family; Josh went to work late so he could see her off on her first day. She was so excited and a little nervous. The school she is going to is doing all day kindergarten for the first time this year, so everything is a little hectic and in transition.
We walked Kate down to her classroom where she got a necklace ID with her name on it, then she sat down next to a sweet girl named Hayley and they immediately started coloring the princess coloring pages and chatting away. =) No tears were shed by her or me. Well, when I got home I cried a little bit.
I forgot her lunch, and when I took it back to her she acted like she'd been in school all her life. "Oh, hi mom. Thanks for bringing my lunch. You can put it by my backpack. I'm coloring with Hayley." :-D Put me right at ease.
I think school will be such a blessing for her. She is smart and intuitive and has an inquiring mind. I think she'll love learning. I only hope she isn't the smarty pants kiddo who is endlessly raising their hands, bouncing up and down in her chair and yelling, "Ooooh, Ooooh, I know it! I know the answer!" Not that she is a child genius or anything, and I may be biased a bit. ;-)
Anyhoo, now that one big milestone is successfully completed, I can try to get out my thoughts regarding my weight loss and where to go from here.
Running through the airport and nearly keeling over was a big wake up call for me. I already knew that being thin does not equal being healthy, or fit. But whoa nelly. I didn't really realize how UNHEALTHY, UNFIT, OUT OF SHAPE I really was. Am. So what am I going to do about it?
Well, for starters, let's look at my weight. I gained a bit on vacation and am sitting right around 145. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. I'm not worried. There are several factors contributing to this, besides the food I ate. I'm constipated. I'm bloated. I know that once I get some movement going and start my cycle that it will go down. I'm trying to drink lots of water and watch what I eat.
Yesterday I had an oatmeal pancake with homemade strawberry jam, a short (8oz) chai latte from Starbucks, a corndog, a handful of nuts, 3 mini Reese's PB cups and then dinner. Meatloaf, chicken/cheese noodles and green beans.
I am going to research eating clean. I know it's something I want to lean more towards, I just have to get the energy up to do the research and implement it. Any recommendations for books or websites to get me started? I know I won't be throwing away all the food made with white flour, just as I know I won't quit baking. But I will strive to have healthier choices on hand and limit the white flour and sugar.
I also really need to focus on drinking more water. This is a big one for me, and not easy. I don't really like water that much, but I also don't want to fill myself full of chemicals from sugar free drink sweeteners.
I am going to do at least one more round of HCG, starting next Monday. My goal is to get down to 130. I'm about 15 pounds away from that right now. I'm not sure if one round of HCG will do the trick; depending on how things go I may go longer than 21 days, just so I can reach my goal. I know I'll gain 2-3 pounds back, and I'm okay with that. Honestly, 130 is optimistic for me. I was 135 for many years, until I got married and had kiddos. So shooting for 130 gives me that wiggle room I need.
Once I'm at goal, I will begin going to the gym. Now that Miss Kate will be in school, it will be easy to just head straight to the gym after dropping her off at school. Christian loves the gym and Owen is just gonna have to get used to it. :-P I plan to use the elliptical and if I get brave try out a spinning class. I'm also going to try to add in some weights.
So, to start myself off with a great big BANG, I'm joining Dawne's challenge. Treat Free September Challenge. Basically, I'm going to go the entire month of September without any "treats". This will be easy while I'm on my HCG, but once that's done is when the real self-control will come in. For me, "treats" means a sugar and flour filled pastry/baked good or chocolate. That's pretty much my go to for treats. Chocolate or some sort of baked good. So I'll say good-bye to those for September, along with basically everything outside of my regular meals and healthy snacks (fruit or nuts). Wish me luck!
I plan to tackle all of this with the mindset of the Skinny Turtle... Slow and Steady. I know I can't eat clean, do HCG and hit the gym overnight. But I will be conscious each day of what I eat, of my physical fitness, of my water intake. I feel like I really need to focus on it and do it until it becomes a natural way of life. Right now the gym is so foreign to me. It's NOT a part of my normal routine and I dread it.
I don't need to train like an Olympic athlete. I just need to get my body moving. Strengthen my heart and lungs, train my muscles, burn some fat. Baby steps. Little, tiny, baby turtle steps. :-D
So that's where I'm at for now. Let me know if you have any clean eating resources, or even workout/weight training resources for that matter!
Well, Kate is at school. It's really weird. The boys are totally out of sorts and don't know what to do without their "leader". We took her as a family; Josh went to work late so he could see her off on her first day. She was so excited and a little nervous. The school she is going to is doing all day kindergarten for the first time this year, so everything is a little hectic and in transition.
We walked Kate down to her classroom where she got a necklace ID with her name on it, then she sat down next to a sweet girl named Hayley and they immediately started coloring the princess coloring pages and chatting away. =) No tears were shed by her or me. Well, when I got home I cried a little bit.
I forgot her lunch, and when I took it back to her she acted like she'd been in school all her life. "Oh, hi mom. Thanks for bringing my lunch. You can put it by my backpack. I'm coloring with Hayley." :-D Put me right at ease.
I think school will be such a blessing for her. She is smart and intuitive and has an inquiring mind. I think she'll love learning. I only hope she isn't the smarty pants kiddo who is endlessly raising their hands, bouncing up and down in her chair and yelling, "Ooooh, Ooooh, I know it! I know the answer!" Not that she is a child genius or anything, and I may be biased a bit. ;-)
Anyhoo, now that one big milestone is successfully completed, I can try to get out my thoughts regarding my weight loss and where to go from here.
Running through the airport and nearly keeling over was a big wake up call for me. I already knew that being thin does not equal being healthy, or fit. But whoa nelly. I didn't really realize how UNHEALTHY, UNFIT, OUT OF SHAPE I really was. Am. So what am I going to do about it?
Well, for starters, let's look at my weight. I gained a bit on vacation and am sitting right around 145. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. I'm not worried. There are several factors contributing to this, besides the food I ate. I'm constipated. I'm bloated. I know that once I get some movement going and start my cycle that it will go down. I'm trying to drink lots of water and watch what I eat.
Yesterday I had an oatmeal pancake with homemade strawberry jam, a short (8oz) chai latte from Starbucks, a corndog, a handful of nuts, 3 mini Reese's PB cups and then dinner. Meatloaf, chicken/cheese noodles and green beans.
I am going to research eating clean. I know it's something I want to lean more towards, I just have to get the energy up to do the research and implement it. Any recommendations for books or websites to get me started? I know I won't be throwing away all the food made with white flour, just as I know I won't quit baking. But I will strive to have healthier choices on hand and limit the white flour and sugar.
I also really need to focus on drinking more water. This is a big one for me, and not easy. I don't really like water that much, but I also don't want to fill myself full of chemicals from sugar free drink sweeteners.
I am going to do at least one more round of HCG, starting next Monday. My goal is to get down to 130. I'm about 15 pounds away from that right now. I'm not sure if one round of HCG will do the trick; depending on how things go I may go longer than 21 days, just so I can reach my goal. I know I'll gain 2-3 pounds back, and I'm okay with that. Honestly, 130 is optimistic for me. I was 135 for many years, until I got married and had kiddos. So shooting for 130 gives me that wiggle room I need.
Once I'm at goal, I will begin going to the gym. Now that Miss Kate will be in school, it will be easy to just head straight to the gym after dropping her off at school. Christian loves the gym and Owen is just gonna have to get used to it. :-P I plan to use the elliptical and if I get brave try out a spinning class. I'm also going to try to add in some weights.
So, to start myself off with a great big BANG, I'm joining Dawne's challenge. Treat Free September Challenge. Basically, I'm going to go the entire month of September without any "treats". This will be easy while I'm on my HCG, but once that's done is when the real self-control will come in. For me, "treats" means a sugar and flour filled pastry/baked good or chocolate. That's pretty much my go to for treats. Chocolate or some sort of baked good. So I'll say good-bye to those for September, along with basically everything outside of my regular meals and healthy snacks (fruit or nuts). Wish me luck!
I plan to tackle all of this with the mindset of the Skinny Turtle... Slow and Steady. I know I can't eat clean, do HCG and hit the gym overnight. But I will be conscious each day of what I eat, of my physical fitness, of my water intake. I feel like I really need to focus on it and do it until it becomes a natural way of life. Right now the gym is so foreign to me. It's NOT a part of my normal routine and I dread it.
I don't need to train like an Olympic athlete. I just need to get my body moving. Strengthen my heart and lungs, train my muscles, burn some fat. Baby steps. Little, tiny, baby turtle steps. :-D
So that's where I'm at for now. Let me know if you have any clean eating resources, or even workout/weight training resources for that matter!
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