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!