So far so good

Just a quick check-in. The past two days have went well food wise. I have kept my calories under control and have brought fruits and veggies back into play. I have drank a minimum 84 ounces of water (after I finish off my 20 bottle on the way to work and 2 qts at work I stop keeping track). I found my hardest time is right when I get home from work. While I am here at work I only have so much food to eat but by the time I get home I am really ready for some dinner and I have an entire kitchen of food in front of me. Last night when I got home I finished off some rice in the fridge and Monday evening I had some croutons with ranch dressing and some pepperoni while making our pizzas. I did write it down in my book and counted the calories so it wasn't so bad, I just don't like the feeling. I would like to only eat food when I am sitting down for a meal. It is way to easy to blow 500 calories just snacking on stuff here and there.

I will have two tests this week. The first will be tonight and tomorrow night - I work at the Ear. It is sooooooo easy to grab some fries and pop them in my mouth but.I.must.resist. I plan on having a pulled pork sandwich with some coleslaw for dinner. Not extremely healthy, but one of the best options at a place that serves only fair food. Tomorrow I will have a turkey sausage with peppers and onions and some slaw. My second test will come on Saturday. I will be attending my grandma's 75th birthday party (a pot luck - and my family doesn't eat healthy!) and then on to my sis-in-law's graduation party! I do have a plan! For the pot-luck I am going to find a casserole that is very low cal and can be a main dish. I will eat this and maybe a bite or two of a couple other things if anything looks even remotely low cal (green beans, etc.). I will take my jug of water with me so I can stay away from the pop. At the graduation party I will allow myself to snack on veggies - but no pizza, appetizers or cake. Also, drinking only water and if my calories allow, possibly a Mich Ultra or MGD 64. If my calories are very low, I may allow myself a glass of wine. So that's my plan and I'm stickin' to it.

What happened?

I know, it has been forever. I don't know what happened to me. I was doing so well the beginning and middle of last year, then, stopped. I worked and worked before our vacation and then just half-assed it from then on. I would do good for a week then stray. I have to get back into this. I decided to start blogging again. That was when I had most of my success. It isn't really the blogging that helped me of course, but it doesn't hurt either. I am starting up my spreadsheets again that haven't been updated since October. I am tracking my weight on here again, and if you notice, that number has gone up considerably. I have gained more than 15 pounds since vacation. That is just ridiculous. I am slowly creeping up on the 200 pound mark and I have vowed never to hit that again. 15 pounds is a lot to gain in just three and a half months. So, back on it, as of this morning. I have my notebook next to me and I am going to write down everything that goes in my mouth - no exceptions. I feel like crap, I am tired, and my clothes are tight. Everything will change (again) right now.

Day 2

When my alarm went off at 4:50 this morning I groaned and hit the snooze. Ten minutes later it went off again, once again I hit the snooze. I laid there for about a minute and a half, arguing with myself about whether I should get up and hit the treadmill or not. I went to bed fully dressed for my workout - HRM and everything - to make it an easier decision. After my 90 seconds of arguing I decided that an extra half hour of sleep would not make me any less tired that I already was so I might as well get up and do it. I did just that. After letting the dogs out, I strapped my iPod onto my arm and got on the dreadmill. I didn't make it all the way through the first three minute run, I allowed myself to stop for 10 seconds a little over half way through - it was only 5:10 in the morning after all. I was, however, determined to run the entire 3 minutes on the second set so I slowed the pace down from 6 mph to 5.5. This most definitely helped because I made it through. Maybe when I do my third session on Saturday I will do both at 5.7 mph and see how that goes. I am okay with going slow, I am not doing this for speed - yet. Either way, after working 12+ hours yesterday and not even getting home until 10, I still got my fat rear end out of bed this morning and did my training. 5k race, here I come.

Today was my first official weekly weigh in. 181.6 was the number on the scale, not too bad since just two days ago it was 183. Let's hope next Thursday is in the 170's again. That would be great! This weekend will be fairly easy to stay on track, with the only real challenge being dinner on Saturday night. We are going out to celebrate J's dad's birthday and we think it might be Smokey Bones. I heart Smokey Bones! They have the absolute best ribs ever! I am debating on whether or not I should get the them though. I will check out their website to see what healthier options they have, but honestly, even things I think are healthy probably won't be because of how they prepare things. I do plan on running Saturday morning, and since I will eat very well for breakfast and lunch, I should be able to have 1/2 rack of ribs and a salad or steamed veggies with no problem.

That is all for now, I probably won't be back until Monday unless something post-worthy comes along.

On the right track

So far so good on the 5k training. I did week 3, session 1 last night even though it was raining outside and I really wanted to run at the park with my hubby and dog AND I had a slight headache that got worse as I ran. I still did it. Oh boy can I tell it has been a while since I have last worked out. The plan for yesterday was 5 minute warm up followed by two sets of - run 90 second, walk 90 seconds, run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes - then a 5 minute cool down. I started with week 3 because it sounds pretty easy and like a good starter point for me. The 90 second runs weren't bad, but honestly, I couldn't do the 3 minutes. I stopped for about 10 seconds in the middle of each one. That is completely pathetic. But, I guess I did it and I should be happy about that. I plan to run tomorrow morning and then again on Saturday. Tomorrow morning is really gonna suck because I hate getting up and working out right away. I have no energy and it is twice as hard. Hopefully it will quit raining and be nice on Saturday so J and I can run together.

I ate pretty well yesterday - nothing bad but it seemed like I ate a lot. I have been so hungry lately and it never seems like I am full or even satisfied. After every meal I just want to keep eating. I don't know what is going on. Yesterday I had: a granola bar, some grapes, a little bit of left over pot roast, a toasted sandwich thin bun with some smart balance butter, a yogurt, a banana, a turkey burger, romaine salad, three stalks of asparagus, some green beans, a fit and active ice cream sandwich and some frozen grapes (yummy!). I am not sure of exact calories for yesterday but I would estimate around 1300, not really too bad for all that food that I had. When I look at it, I think I made good choices. I had some fat free dairy, whole grains for fiber, fruits and veggies, protein and carbs.

On another note, Happy Texan is giving away a care package from Pom. Apparently Pom has come out with some iced coffees that, according to Kelly, are wonderful. I REALLY want to win these, and the sauce she is giving away, so please, do not click here.

Good bye for today!

Fresh Start

It has been quite some time since I last blogged. Vacation went VERY well, we all had a great time. On the weight loss side of things - it is not going so well. I have been slipping and getting into bad habits again. I have not been blogging and not been honest with myself and this HAS. TO. STOP. I am picking it up again today, making good decisions and goals for myself. I'm not mad at myself for the past few months, but I am not getting where I would like to be by doing what I am doing either. This morning I opened up some of my older spreadsheets where I logged in my weight. I was at 208 at the beginning of the year - this morning I was 183 - I have only lost 25 pounds in 9 months. That is pretty good, but I thought I would be farther by now. I noticed that in June I was at 185 - so in 3 months I have only netted a 2 pound loss - that is pathetic. I also did not reach either of my goals set for vacation. Not the end of the world, and I am not upset and giving up; I am just going to start new and get back into it. Today is the day.

I have a couple goals for myself. My first goal is exercise. This is probably the worst area for me lately. I can't remember the last time I worked out. I think I did a 5k session once since vacation, maybe. I am getting back into the 5k training, starting with week 2 tonight. I will do 3 sessions per week and will end the training on 11/22, just in time for the turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning. I am going to run this 5k. And, since I have now put it in black and white on the Internet, I absolutely must do it.

My second goal is regarding weight. My ultimate goal weight is about 150 - a very healthy weight for me. I would really like to reach this number by my next vacation. J and I will be going on vacation with our best friends, the extremely fit Molody's, in June of next year. The exact week hasn't been decided yet, so I am using June 17 as my goal date. That is about 32 pounds to lose in 37 weeks. This number is very obtainable, even with the holidays. There is no reason I can't reach this goal and I am determined to do it. I am going to do a weekly post with my weight updated each Thursday, beginning with this Thursday.

Well that is all for today, hopefully I will get more into blogging again as I get back into the groove of all of this.

Finally

For the past few days, Roscoe has been waking me up at 4 am, rather than waiting until 5:20 when my alarm goes off. I am okay with this because he is waking me up because he has to go outside and doesn't want to go in his kennel. I am very happy that I don't have to clean his kennel out and that he is learning to signal us to go out, however not so happy that I get up at 4 am, let him out, head back to bed about 10 minutes later only to lay there for an hour, finally drift off to sleep, only for my alarm to go off 10 minutes after. So last night it hit me. I planned on running after work. I got home, let the dogs out, played a little fetch with Roscoe and J called. He wanted to go to the store. I decided that I didn't feel like cooking dinner, so we decided to head to the store and out for dinner. That meant no running. I couldn't run last night because the music wasn't ready and tonight we are going to observe an obedience class. I was supposed to start my c25k training last week but "something came up" every day and I didn't start it. I was determined to start on week 2 this week. So back to my epiphany. I thought to myself, since I am up at 4 am and don't go back to sleep, why not jump on the treadmill then? I really prefer running after work because it seems to be a little easier when I am not tired, but that just hasn't been happening. So I did it. I went to bed last night with my heart rate monitor and sports bra on, my workout pants, HR watch, socks and shoes on the floor by my bed. When Roscoe woke up at 3:50 this morning I got up, grabbed my stuff, threw my robe on and let him out. Of course, I fought myself on whether or not I really wanted to go into the workout room at that un-Godly hour, but I forced myself to do it. It really wasn't that bad. Don't get me wrong, I was sweating profusely, and I burned 300 calories in about 26 minutes, but once I got going, it felt good. After I was finished I went outside, stretched, wiped the sweat off and laid back down for another 35 minutes. Of course I didn't actually fall asleep until the alarm was about to go off, but still. I forgot how much I missed working out. I still hate doing it, but I can't deny how good it makes me feel. My last bout with exercise was 17 days ago, at the WOW ride. That is ridiculous! So now I just have to keep going.

Weekend Recap

I had a very good weekend, not only food wise but it was a fun one too. Saturday we had one of my favs, beer butt chicken. We also took little Roscoe to the dog park to play with the other dogs. We put him in the "under 25 pound" side first and I think he was a bit bored until someone brought their 4 month old boxer over, they played and played. It was pretty funny. Then we took him down to the beach area where he romped around with the big dogs. He definitely kept up with them. Then, he slept the rest of the night. I really wish Haylie got along with other dogs, she would love that park. Yesterday we took both dogs on a little walk at Mill Creek Park. It was a very nice "family" weekend for us. On Wednesday we are going to check out an obedience class that we are thinking about taking him to after vacation. It starts in October.

On another note I found this website that I have started to follow. Right now she is doing a giveaway for a weight-loss supplement. She has great healthy ideas for those of us on a budget and I have a few things on my list to try. One of the things I already tried and will be doing a post on, maybe this afternoon, is a granola. More to come on that.

A little closer

This week's weigh in - 178.6 - a loss of 1 pound. I am actually very happy with this. As you may or may not know, Tuesday was my birthday. I had a very nice bday bbq on Saturday with my family. There was lots of very good food, but I think I kept it under control, only had one piece of my sister's delicious cookie and fruit pizza - but I had a decent amount to drink. I knew it was coming though, so I expected to not have a great weigh in number. Then on Sunday we had yummy pasta at a b-day party for my little cousin and Monday was spent eating chili cheese fries, dippin dots, and drinking regular Pepsi at Wild Water Kingdom. Then, to top it off, I had a big bowl of cheesy potatoes for dinner. I kind of (very much) slacked on my water until yesterday and I lost 1.6 pounds from yesterday - amazing what water will do! I will take my 1 pound loss, it just means I will need to work a little harder this week. No more alcohol until vacation and I need to try to get my water in every day - even weekends. My eating is generally pretty good so I am not too concerned about that. I have 5.8 pounds to go and 3 weeks to do it in - that is 1.93 pounds per week - very much attainable.

Here are a couple pictures for your enjoyment - Roscoe, our new pup:

Almost on track

Just a little update, my weigh in this morning was 180.8, which is 1.6 pounds less than last Thursday. In order to reach my 2.5 lbs per week, I would need to lose .9 pounds by tomorrow. Highly unlikely but I am at least close and will take it. I think I am going to slightly re-vamp my goal anyway. I want to be at or below 172.8 pounds by 7:30 am on September 11 (right before we leave for the airport). That will make it 50 pounds lost. I know it is only really 2.9 pounds more than the original goal, but it seems a little more do-able. So, new average weekly loss (from last Thursday) is just under 2 pounds per week. I am going to put up a new ticker or something on the side to keep track of this smaller goal.

So obviously I have lost weight, and obviously I have gotten smaller, but I don't feel smaller. Sure, I wear smaller clothes and that feels great, but yesterday when I was looking in the full length mirror at work I thought to myself, "I look the same." I thought, back when I was a 16 and almost 18, that if I got to a size 12 I would be happy and that would be a good place to be. Now I am a size 12 - maybe even almost a 10 in some clothes - and it's not much different than a 16. Yes, I love going into a store and buying a size 12, but inside I don't feel any different about my body than I did at 16 - I feel just as heavy and overweight. I guess I thought that I would change and that I would feel completely different when I got into a regular size rather than a plus size but I don't. I am still the same old overweight Jenn and when I look in the mirror, I don't see a difference. What's up with that?

I did it!

I did it - an entire 40 miles! Let me just pat myself on the back for a minute. Okay, done with that. I am actually very shocked at myself really. Going into it I knew I really wanted to do the 40 rather than the 20, but I was scared. That is a very long ride, especially for me, someone who has only ridden a total of about 50 miles over a span of 5 rides and, let's face it, is not exactly the picture of perfect health. I was also scared because, and this will sound silly, I didn't really have anyone telling me that I could do it. I am not sure why I feel that I need that reassurance. If I really wanted to do it, and I thought I could do it, then why isn't that enough? Why does J need to say to me, "yes, you can make it the entire 40 miles"? Why when I hear Molody say to me, "you will never do 40 miles" does that make me second guess myself? To be perfectly honest, if Marc would not have said to me on Friday the he thought I could do the 40 miles, I probably wouldn't have attempted it. Don't get me wrong, when I asked, J said I could probably do it, but I didn't feel that he felt confident in my success so I didn't feel confident in my success. It is sad really, that I needed someone else to confirm my confidence. I guess it is one of those little things that you find out about yourself as you go along your journey. I need to not worry about what other people think I can do and just do what I feel is right.

I do want to thank you mom for your text messages and facebook comments. They really do make me feel good and I appreciate them very much! I love you!

Also, I would like to take this time to congratulate my hubby - he rode 64.5 miles yesterday - in 95 degree weather. That is absolutely unbelievable. I am so proud of you! You made it (even if you never do it again)!

So, onto my 2.5 pound per week goal. So far it isn't looking too good. Today's weigh-in was 182. Only .4 less than last Thursday. That means I need to lose about 2.1 pounds in the next 4 days, not impossible, but not likely either. I am thinking I may loose some water weight today - hopefully. I am going to stay very strict on my food and water intake, and workout every day this week. I am starting my c25k training tonight. If it is raining I will do it on the treadmill then hop on the weight machine for a few minutes. Tomorrow I will do my 30 day shred video and Wednesday is the c25k again.

Plan for the day:
Breakfast:
Yogurt - 100
banana - 100

Lunch:
2 turkey hot dogs - 140
1 bun - 120
zucchini - 25

Dinner:
Mediterranean Chicken and Orzo - 400
vita top - 100

total - 985 - whoa, I guess I better add a little more food! I will throw some veggies in with dinner and when I add in condiments on my hot dogs, that should put me right around 1100 for the day which is good.

21 days and counting

21 days - that is how long it has been since my last post. I haven't forgotten, I can't forget because J won't let me. I just haven't had any moving thoughts lately. My weight definitely hasn't moved, other than up and down the same pounds over and over. That is definitely attributed to lots of bad food and even more alcohol the past few weeks. A week after my last post I spent 3 nights in Geneva on the Lake with my family. I had a great time but gained about 5-6 pounds. It did come off quickly -almost all of it in the first week, but then I gained another 3 pounds last weekend when I drank a bottle of wine on Friday and then what would probably equal 2 bottles on Saturday - not so good. I buckled down this week and have gotten most of it off. No alcohol and lots of good eating this weekend for me. Sunday is the WOW ride and I am excited to do it. I am going to ride the first 10, and if I am feeling good, keep on going for another 10. That means I will have 20 miles I have to ride back too, for a total of 40 miles. I know it will take me a while and I am okay with that. I would love to just be able to say that I did it, ya know? Even if I only do the 20, that will be pretty good, but the 40 will be better. August is going to be a tough month for me only because of my birthday. I am going to keep it as good as I can and only have *one* splurge day. The rest of them need to be really good. My goal is to hit the 160's by vacation - which is about 12 pounds in 35 days, or 2.5 pounds per week. I know it is a steep goal, but I really want it. I am going to have to work my ass off - literally!

Salad

So last week J and I were watching food network, which is something we almost never do, but since there was nothing on, we stopped there. Alton Brown from "Good Eats" was making this grilled romaine thing that looked sooooo good. I decided to make it this week and oh my God it is wonderful. I had one Tuesday night and last night with my dinner. It is fairly easy to make and the flavors go together so well! I am definitely having another tonight. Here it is:



Makes 2 salads

Ingredients:
1 Romaine Heart
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 T olive oil

The ingredients above are not exact (except the lettuce) but it will give you an idea of about how much you will need. You won't use all of it. For the Parmesan cheese, I bought the stuff from Rulli's in the small containers - it tastes so much better than Kraft because it is fresh.

First, place the vinegar in a freezer bag and place in the freezer for about 2 hours, or until frozen. After it is frozen, smash it a little with either a rolling pin, meat tenderizer or something like that to make it into little pieces - almost like a vinegar slushie :) Next, cut the lettuce in half. Be sure to cut the root in half to keep all or most of the pieces together. Place the cheese in a pan or dish that is big enough for the lettuce. Spray or brush the cut side of the lettuce very well with the oil, be sure to get it in the grooves. Press the cut side of the lettuce into the cheese. You will need to make sure you press it really good to get the cheese to stick really well. Top with some black pepper if you like. Heat a non-stick skillet (I used my Pampered chef grill pan and press to get the grill lines) sprayed very generously with Pam over medium-high heat. Once hot, place the lettuce in the skillet, cut side down. Leave on for about 1-2 minutes, until the cheese browns. You will really smell the cheese when it is about done. Carefully remove from skillet and place on a plate. Top with the vinegar shavings and eat immediately.

Side note - I do not recommend putting it on a plate that has any food that you don't want to share in the vinegar taste. As you see in the photo above, I put my sausage on the same plate and by the time I got to eating it, there was a small amount of vinegar soaked into the bun.

Another Milestone

Well, I hit another milestone yesterday - I jogged non-stop for 1 mile. That's right, I jogged at 5 miles per hour for 12 minutes straight! Honestly, I probably could have kept going, but dinner was just about ready and I needed a quick cool down. Oh, and this was after an hour of aerobics/body sculpting. I have never in my life jogged an entire mile- to be perfectly honest, I have probably never jogged a quarter mile (that is one lap around a track). Here is a picture of me after the jog- and no, that is not water on my upper chest.

So I decided to try a "green drink." I have read about them on some other blogs and decided I was going to try them - since I am all into trying new things lately. Basically, it is a smoothie that is made of fruits and veggies and usually has a green leafy vegetable in it, which makes it green. I made one on Saturday that we drank on Sunday - after having to go out and buy a new blender. It was a recipe that Dr. Oz did on Oprah. It had spinach, celery, ginger root, lemon and lime juice, and an apple. It wasn't horrible, but it definitely wasn't tasty either. We did drink the entire pitcher of it and it definitely kept me full for a while. I decided to try something a little different this morning. Last night I threw some different stuff together and this one turned out really good actually - okay so not really good as in a chocolate milkshake, but really good for getting spinach into me! Today's green drink consisted of 1 banana, some chocolate protein shake mix, some fat free vanilla yogurt, a branch (if that is what you want to call it) of kale and a handful of spinach. Here it is:

I am going to try some other vegetables tonight, maybe some zucchini because we have a bunch of it. I also purchased some brussel sprouts over the weekend that I am going to attempt to roast. We will see how those come out - I will let you know. They may end up in my green drink too!

I am going to leave you with some pictures and even a video from Sunday. I went to Pioneer waterland with my hubby and family. Got some cute pictures of the kids.

TGIF!!!

I am so glad it is Friday - and so is my body! I worked out every single day this week and boy do I feel it. Today is my day of rest.

Monday - 10.5 mile bike ride (580 cals)
Tuesday - aerobics (550 cals)
Wednesday - we went to body sculpting rather than aerobics so I also got on the treadmill and jogged for about 15 minutes and walked 5 to get more cardio (680 cals)
Last night - aerobics. (550 cals)

Total calories burned - 2360

Whew, I am tired! I plan to go to aerobics in the a.m. which is an hour and a half. Last time I went I burned 820 calories! If it isn't raining, I would like to attempt a 20 mile ride as well. So, if all goes as planned, I should burn about 3980 calories for the week.

I have done really well with eating:

Monday - 1389 calories
Tuesday - 1221 calories
Wednesday - 1389 calories
Thursday - 1247 calories

Total calories consumed - 5246

Now, here's the problem I am having. 3500 calories = 1 pound. My BMR is 1800. That means that netting 1800 calories per day results in a maintain. Anything below should result in a loss. So for the first 4 days of the week I would need to net 7200 calories to maintain. I netted 2886 (5246-2360). So, I came out 4314 less than my maintain area. That would be a loss of 1.233 pounds - right? WRONG!!!!! The.scale.isn't.moving. Actually, it did move on Tuesday - it went up! I was at 182.4-ish on Monday - Tuesday it went up a pound and hasn't moved since. WHAT.THE.HELL? I just don't get it! It is so frustrating to work so hard and be so careful about everything I eat and see nothing - nothing at all. I just want to break through to the 170's. I remember this happened to me at the 192 mark - it seemed like I was there forever and just couldn't reach those 180's. I was really hoping to be down to 175 by vacation on the 23rd but I am not seeing that happening since it is only two weeks away.

Well that is my whining for the day. Hopefully my next post will bring better news!

That's a size WHAT???

I know, I know, it has been forever since I have blogged. No reason for it really, just busy at work and I don't have the extra time I used to. I have a few minutes before I have to get started on something so I thought I would update. Last weekend I actually got my *ss out of bed and went to aerobics on Saturday, even though I didn't go to bed until almost 2 on Friday night. It was really fun and I burned 820 calories!!! Then, J and I went on a 10 mile bike ride. I know it isn't the Tour de France but it is a lot for me. Originally, I had planned on going on the WOW ride - which would be a 20 mile ride (J is doing 60 miles this year!!!). Anyway, I am not able to go this year, but I still want to get up to at lease 20 miles so I am on my way.

On Sunday we went to the village - a local thrift shop - to try to find some pants for me because none of mine fit anymore. A good thing in a way. I told J before we went that I wanted to get one pair of size 12's just so I would have them at home and could try them on periodically so I would know when I could move down. Well, guess what - here they are:

Yes - they fit - right now. I couldn't believe it!!! I haven't worn a size 12 since 2000!

So, that is my good news for the week - well that and the new weight posted on the right.

It's been a while

Not sure what my deal is lately but I just haven't been blogging - maybe it's because I am so incredibly swamped at work right now since Sandy is off on sick leave. That's my excuse I guess. To be honest, I make time to read all new blogs from my list of fellow "weight" losers I just for some reason haven't blogged myself. I have been doing fine, until the Columbus trip. After that weekend of eating crap, I still lost weight - I am giving credit to the aerobics classes that I had done prior to leaving. Then, last week, I ate better (during the week) but I only went to class one day last week and did no other workouts. No excuse other than being lazy. This past weekend was a train wreck with pizza (only two slices) and wine (two glasses) on Friday and then God only knows what on Saturday at our wine tasting. I drank over a bottle of wine and ate tons of cheese, dip, chips and chocolate. Sunday wasn't too much better. I gained almost 3 pounds over the course of last week. I am happy to report that I have lost almost all of it already this week so I am sure it will come off fast. Went to aerobics last night, burned almost 500 calories which isn't bad since we were just learning the routines. I don't think I like the new routines as much as last session, but that could be just because I don't really know them yet. I feel like I just finally got the other ones down pat and could focus on intensifying them and now I have new ones to learn. Oh well. We (Mom Fellows) and I are going again tonight and tomorrow night. I hope to go on Saturday as well, which will give me 4 days of working out. I also am going for a bike ride on Saturday and hopefully some swimming - yeah, Saturday will knock me on my butt!

update

I promise I will do an update post soon. J and I went to Columbus over the weekend and had a blast. I have pictures to share, just need to sit down and do it! I will let you know though, we ate like crap while there and did no workouts, however, my weight is going down as you can see on my ticker, which makes me nervous that the weekend just hasn't caught up with me yet. I am afraid that one of these mornings I am going to step on the scale and it will say 190. I guess we will have to weight (haha) and see!

Weigh In

I had a good weekend. I probably ate a few too many calories but I definitely kept it reasonable and I don't think I went over my "maintain" calories. No exercising :( I am not sure why it is so much easier to do it during the week but it is. Saturday morning I was all prepared to go to aerobics and was actually in the car driving there when my stomach decided that it didn't want to go and made me turn around and head home. It was all downhill from there. I will go to aerobics Monday, Wednesday and Thursday this week and do 30 day shred on Tuesday and Saturday. We are going to Columbus this weekend and maybe I will even get up and hit the hotel gym on Sunday morning while Jason is sleeping. I am going to try to find a hotel with a pool so we can get some exercise in that way too. We are also going to pack as much of our food as we can, especially breakfasts. Now onto the important stuff: my weigh in

Last Monday's weight: 188.6
According to my calculations based on my calorie deficit for the week I should have lost .842 pounds
Weight this morning: 187

That's a loss of 1.6 pounds and I will take it! It's not a ton of weight but anything is good!

It was brought to my attention that my last post did not include the recipe I promised. I apologize, I completely forgot to post it. I have edited that post and the recipe now resides at the bottom for your viewing pleasure.

Deeeeeee-licious!

Couple things I wanted to mention today. First was my "small" victory yesterday - and I would say a victory for J as well. Last night for dinner we tried a new meatloaf recipe, as many of you know, meatloaf is one of J's most fav dinners. This was a turkey taco meatloaf from a Hungry Girl cookbook. 1/6th of the loaf is only 127 calories and it was dee-freakin-licious! I am going to post the recipe below in case you would like to enjoy it as well. We also had boiled red potatoes and sweet corn on the cob. I expected the corn to be ehhh, okay since the corn that my mom had on Sunday was not very soft or sweet and corn just isn't in season right now, but this corn was guuh-hood. So what is the victory you ask? J and I only ate only the pre-measured portions that were on our plates. That consisted of 1/4 of the loaf for me and 1/3 for J, 1 small red potato for me and 1 medium one for J, and one ear of corn each - even though there was more of everything left in the kitchen! Now, I don't think that neither J nor I have ever eaten just 1 ear of corn, especially when it is this good. And J, well when it comes to meatloaf, he can devour 3/4 of it with no problem. Even though neither of us were actually full, we both stopped because we weren't actually hungry - of course we saved room for some fat free frozen yogurt though!



Yesterday's food log:

fruit and yogurt parfait
spaghetti with dirusso's turkey sausage
zucchini/red peppers/onions
English muffin with low sugar jelly
meatloaf, potatoes, corn on the cop
fat free frozen yogurt
100 oz water


calories consumed: 1250
calories burned: 2360 (560 from 60 minutes at aerobics)
calorie deficit: 1110 (0.32 pounds)



Now for a little story: Isn't it weird how we feel scared in certain situations? I am (was) in need of a new pair of workout shoes. My shox hurt my feel very badly when I jog and do my 30 minute shred dvd. J and I went to Shoe Carnival on Sunday but they just didn't have a good selection, and to be honest, I don't know exactly what I need. I know there are certain shoes that support different things during running that help you depending on how your feet are shaped and how your feet strike the ground. So I decided that I needed to go somewhere that specializes in athletic shoes and talk to someone who knows what they are doing. I found that Second Sole in Boardman does just that. So that was where I wanted to go. But I was scared. I was scared to go in there because after looking on their website I saw that all of their employees were thin, athletic types and I was afraid that when I walked in there they were just going to look at me and laugh and say, "What is she doing here? She probably meant to go into the bakery next door." I surely could not want to purchase shoes that are meant for physical activity. I finally got the nerve to go in yesterday, well I guess I was more forced to do it than anything else. Since it was raining, I really needed to wear different shoes than what I would be working out in because if I didn't I probably would have slipped and ended up on the ground. So I pull into the parking lot and out walks these two high school guys that probably ran track. I waited until they left the parking lot before I got out of my car - how freaking pathetic is that? But I did because I was embarrassed. After they were gone, I went in. There was a kid, probably about 17 that asked me if he could help me - that was good because I didn't want to walk over to the wall of shoes and stare at them, looking like a buffoon. I told him that I needed shoes but I had no idea what kind or anything about them really. He showed me over to the wall, had me take off my shoes and walk the catwalk - ok, not a catwalk, but across the store and back. He and some other guy (owner?) decided that I needed a higher support because me feet are rather flat and my ankles tend to roll inward. Okay, great, I got past that awkward moment and on to the next. As he was showing me a few styles on the wall, I noticed that they were $110 to $130! I decided to tell him what kinds of workouts I am doing and then let him know how much I wanted to spend. So, awkward moment #2 - not only am I fat, but I am poor too. He was as nice as could be though and he and the other guy went into the back to see if they could find older styles that were left over and could be discounted for me. He brought out 3 different pairs, I tried them on and decided on the Asics. At the register he took my name and then asked for my address, when I told him what it was he laughed and said that he used to live there, about 7 years ago! What a small freaking world! Anyway, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought, even though the entire time I felt completely out of place. I just can't wait to get to the point in my life that I am not embarrassed by my body any more. It really is pathetic that I am embarrassed to go into a store because of my weight.


**edit**

Taco Turkey Meatloaf

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup canned corn
1/4 cup chopped green pepper (we skipped)
1/4 cup chopped onion (we skipped)
1/2 packet reduced sodium taco seasoning
1/2 cup salsa (we puree ours so it's not chunky)
1/2 cup 2% shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Cook onions and peppers over medium-high heat for 3 minutes in a pan coated with non-stick spray. Mix turkey, corn, onions, peppers and taco seasoning. Spread mixture in a 9x5 loaf pan. Top with salsa. Bake for 45 minutes. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and bake another 15 minutes.

Results

Well, as most of you know, the results of my May plan were devastating - a mere .4 pounds lost in the entire month. I did a lot of thinking about it yesterday and I think I know why this happened. First of all, not weighing myself for a month was not a good idea. I need to weigh and post a minimum of once a week, to keep me on the right track. I need to know where I am and when so I can make any necessary adjustments. Next, my exercising wasn't where it should have been. The first week of May I did a little treadmill - but only averaged about 17 minutes when I did it which isn't good. Second week - not too bad, did aerobics 3 times, but that was it. Third week was terrible and only did aerobics once and the last week I did aerobics twice. Not exactly the exercise needed to burn the calories I want to. My final observation of last month was the "free" days I gave myself. There was too much alcohol consumed - an average of 5 drinks per week I would say. I also had probably 7 days of eating WAY too many calories and the rest of the days were eating the right amount of calories or just a little above. All of these things added together equal failure in the weight loss department.

So, what can I do about it? I HAVE to start tracking every calorie that I put in my mouth rather than just the big meals or guessing. I will start weighing my food more often to be sure my calories are accurate. I am also going to try to stick to places that have calories posted on their website when eating out. I know this isn't completely possible, but I am going to do it as best I can. I was going out to lunch with people from work on Fridays a lot and I have no idea how many calories I was consuming in their food. I am going to stick to Subway because I know what I am getting. I have bought a heart rate monitor that will show me how many calories I am burning during my workouts and it also links to a website that will show me minutes, calories, etc. during the week so I will have a true record of what I am doing workout wise. Each day, I am posting in a spreadsheet how many calories I have consumed as well as how many I have burned from normal activities (I get 1800 a day just for my normal daily activities) plus my workouts. I will subtract my burned calories from the consumed to get a number. The goal is to have a deficit every day - and hopefully a significant one. We are going to Tokyo House tonight so I am trying to keep my calories low during the day and hopefully not end up too terrible at the end of the day. After that, my week will consist of healthy foods including lots of veggies, and I hope to go to aerobics on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and do 30 day shred on Friday and Sunday. Also - no alcohol this week.

So, we'll see how this goes - it can't get too much worse than May!

Oh - and I have decided that when I get into the 170's - I am going for a 1 hour massage at my spa! That is my treat to myself!

Monday:
100 oz water
Fruit & yogurt parfait
zucchini & onions
1/2 can soup
apple
pretzels
English muffin w/ jelly
Panera Turkey sandwich
Panera broccoli cheddar soup
french baguette
ice cream sundae

1500 calories in
2360 calories out (560 at aerobics)
860 calorie deficit (.2457 pounds)