Getting Healthy is Hard Work

2011 - My Year

2011-01-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

I feel like I have started over about 100 times...is that normal for weight loss? Probably but it doesn't really make me feel any better. I don't want to be another statistic but here I am again.

I started doing WW again (and I actually signed up for the program this time) on Jan 2nd. I signed up before then but my goal through the holidays was just to maintain and then I would start for real in the New Year. Last week was my first week on the plan and I found it to be extremely easy. I decided to focus on trying to get all my water in and to eat all my veggies and fruit. It was a bit of a different focus rather than just focusing on the weight aspect of it all. I think that focusing on what I HAD to eat and drink instead of what I SHOULDN'T eat or drink really helped to set my frame of mind. Once I got in all that I had to get in, there wasn't much room for the bad stuff. YAY. I hope that this week will go as well but I don't think that it started out as well. Yesterday I craved (and ate) a few little cookies that I had made. I will be sure to track the points but I need to be careful. I have a half marathon on Sunday so I will not be doing any strenuous exercise this week so I can rest up for that. I think that another part of the reason I was so successful last week was because I got in quite a few Activity Points. Those will be harder to come by this week...

New Challenge

2010-09-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

I finished my half marathon! YAY! And, since I think that anyone that reads this blog also reads my personal one, I will spare the stories twice. I am on to the next challenge.

I discovered that I really kept up with my running because I was training for a race. As you guys know, I have had issues losing weight and I thought that once I got on meds for the thyroid it would be a bit easier...well, it hasn't been. I think that if I am being 100% honest, I haven't eaten as good as I possibly could but I have definitely committed to working out. I like working out. I don't think that I ate horribly but I think that I can do better. So, now the problem comes that I am done with my half marathon and since it is about to get miserably cold in Ohio in a couple months and stay that way for a while, it appears that my chances of doing another half will have to wait until the spring. UGH. I would love to say that I am going to continue the running and I sincerely hope that I will but there is nothing like a looming race to keep you motivated. I am still going to do the Ghosts and Goblins race and I am sure the Turkey Trot and whatever they have for xmas here but a 5k seems like a warm up after yesterday's race. Hmm, what to do???

I have been saying for a REALLY long time that I wanted to start training with weights, but I just never started it. I think that I used the excuse that I didn't want to be sore for my long runs and then after I did my long runs, I was sore. It seemed like a vicious cycle and when you add in the travel, it was pretty easy to avoid. After seeing how I felt after some of the long runs (and after the long bike ride) I feel like I definitely need to add weights. I think that doing cardio will prepare the muscles you use to a certain point but I feel like adding in some weights will take me over that hump when the cardio training gives out. I have started to notice that my legs get tired long before my breathing does. I think that I am going to try to get to the gym to do it on the weekends but for now, I am going to start with Jillian's 30 shred. I have it all loaded into my work computer and all I have to do is fire it up every day. It is 20 mins and I can definitely find 20 mins every day (C might make fun of me on vacation but oh well). So, I am going to start with that on Tuesday and I am going to commit to doing it for 30 straight days. After that we will see what is next. I think that one of my coworkers is going to send me a copy of the Insanity workout and I think that might be 90 days so that gets me to Jan...by the time I will be starting on the treadmill again for my spring half...maybe this can work.

If you have any other ideas to keep me motivated through the winter, feel free to share them...I sort of need defined goals (like completing the half or doing the shred for 30 days). If I don't have a schedule and a plan then I am likely to skip. I have yet to figure out how to make myself "just do it" without some end goal. I guess that is what I will work on next. First getting the weight training into my routine...yep, that is first.

Long time!

2010-08-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

Ha! I feel like this blog has been all over the place. I guess that is how getting healthy really is though, huh.

Anyway, I am FINALLY down a few pounds. I got a new scale so I hope it is not just that but whatever it is, it has given me a little confidence boost. I still have a ways to go but at least I am on the right track. I think that a lot of it has to do with the fact that I have been running a few days a week. Say what you will about the boringness of running, but for me, it works. I think that it is the schedule, the routine, and the fact that I can do it in most hotels that keeps me going. I also think that it helps that I travel mostly alone and am able to run after work and then have dinner. I have my half marathon coming up in 3 weeks and I think that I will be ready :-) I am going to do a long run this Friday and maybe one more and then I will keep it to light running.

I haven't really been following any particular diet lately, just eating the foods that I know are healthy and trying not to overdo it. I probably eat less carbs in general than I used to but I am not all together avoiding anymore.

Yesterday I completed a 50 mile bike tour and I am pretty proud of myself. In the last 10 miles I was actually saying that I didn't think that I could do it and it was above my skill level. C was not a fan of the negative attitude. I tried to explain to him that I just do that and that I was still pedaling but he said I need to change it. I think that he might be right. In the final half mile he actually called me "crankypants" HA! Guess I need an attitude check. My body has never been so exhausted in my life...including the 3 marathons that I have done. I do think that I would have been fine if we had stopped at 40 but that last 10 was HARD. I look forward to doing more rides and I actually loved this course! I have improved my times over the "season" and I think that by next year this ride will be a breeze for me :-) The best part about it all is that my legs aren't even sore today!!! I can't believe it!

I am back.....

2010-06-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

I took a little while off (which seems to be about the 4th time that I have done this).

After finding out about my thyroid I thought that I would lose weight easily but it just doesn't seem to be happening. I have stopped gaining so that is great news. Now I think that I am ready to start really trying to lose what I gained. I am also starting my training for my half marathon so hopefully that will help.

I find a "diet" right now to be really challenging. I know that the best diet for me is a low carb one in all likelihood if I want to lose weight since the weight has taken residence in my belly. I am fine with that at home but not so much on the road. I haven't eaten any meat on the road in 6 months and I have really cut down on processed foods. As a result, I have not been sick since late December....that is pretty freakin amazing since I get on at least 10 planes a month with sick people and I made it through flu season. I really don't want to get away from this eating lifestyle because it works for me all except for trying to lose weight. I decided that to kick start the weight loss (since I seem to be able to maintain with my current eating). I am going to allow myself to eat meat on the road until the end of August. Hopefully by then I can get a good head start on the weight loss and if I feel good about it then I will return to not eating meat that isn't organic. I still am not going to go wild with the meat but I do think that I will add it in if it is a choice between that and a carb. I plan to have healthy snacks (yogurt and nuts seem to work well for me). I need suggestions for items I can take in the airport and/or buy in individual packages at stores. They also have to be able to go through security (so no yogurt).

I also have decided to start keeping a food journal....like a real one where if I bite it, I write it. I am hoping that if I really follow this to the T then I might notice things that I snack on which I might forget about or little empty calories here or there. We will see.

I will try to post a little more often :-)

Part of the Mystery Solved??

2010-05-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

I finally went to the doctor today and they took some more blood to see how my thyroid might have changed in the last 5 months. Long story short, I will have to be on meds, just not sure if I will have to be on them yet. I talked to the doctor and after going over my eating/exercising and such, she does think that my weight gain (and more importantly the fact that eating well doesn't make it go away) is related to my thyroid. For that reason only I hope they start me on meds soon .....I don't want to gain more and more and it to get really out of control. I will know on Thursday.

So, for now I have been researching ways to lose weight with hypthyroidism (which is what I have). Looks like a couple of my favorite veggies aren't the best (peas and corn) but with it being summer coming up I think there will be plenty to choose from. It also seems that a low carb diet is the way to go....which is fine at home but I am really worried about the road. no carbs and no meat means very little I can actually eat.

I am a little sad that I will probably be on meds the rest of my life, a little happy that I know I was not insane and there was a reason that doing more healthywise than I have ever done has not gotten results, and also a little motivated. Now that I know I am not alone it makes me feel like the steps I have taken to be healthy are good steps and they weren't for nothing. It gives me motivation to continue to eat well and to know that even if I am not losing weight, at least I am not gaining it (which would probably be the case if I wasn't so careful). I plan to continue to exercise and eat well, and I am going to add weight lifting. We will see what the doc says on Thursday when she gets my results.

Weigh In

2010-05-02T17:43:00.000-07:00

Up .4. At this point I just feel like it is a joke. I work out 6 days a week and eat healthier than most people I know. I am sort of over it. It isn't like I am obese or anything, just chubby. I think that I need a break. I am going to continue to eat well because that is just what I eat now. Most of my meals are almost exclusively veggies except at night when I cook meat because Craig always wants meat.

I am going to the doctor tomorrow to talk them (finally) about my thyroid. I hope that will shed some light into why I am eating healthier than I was two years ago and I was losing weight then but am not now.

I have noticed that certain parts have changed. I think that my stomach is bigger but I feel like my actual waist line is smaller. Weird huh. I might try to take my measurements and see if those move.

I will be strict this week in one last effort before vacation, then I am going to enjoy my vacation and get back on the wagon when I get back.

I feel like I say the same thing every week......it is getting old so I might stop posting for a while.

D115RS

2010-04-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I am finally home from my travels and down to the last 11 days before vacation. Not expecting to lose much weight before then but at least I am going to try to be really strict to get off a pound or two. We will see. I am sort of glad to be at home for a while to have some healthy eating for a while. I am so sick of not knowing what is going into my body and trying to pick the healthiest thing at a restaurant. Cooking at home is so much easier....it is so much yummier and it is so much better for me! I can't wait to enjoy it for the next few days!

Weigh In

2010-04-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

I weighed in yesterday and had a slight loss. I don't feel like it was as much as it should have been for the fact that I worked out 6 days last week, drank my 64ozs of water a day and watched what I ate (and stayed in my points) but it is what it is and I will continue this week. I still have 3 weeks until vacation and at this point I would take 5lbs!!! Oh well, time to stop stressing!

Why Eating Out is Evil

2010-04-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, we all know that eating out is bad for you. Well, today I was reading some forums and I discovered that outback now has their nutritional information online. Seeing as how that is one of my favorite out of town places to eat I wanted to check it out. The salad I used to get (but without the bacon, egg, and almonds so that would take some of the points down) was 1,000 calories. The baked potato I now get is 330 calories! WITH NOTHING ON IT!! (by the way, a normal baked potato like you make at home is 140 calories). I am really at a loss as to what to do. Traveling is part of my life and I obviously do not have a fast enough metabolism to eat that junk they serve on the road. I also can't survive off of lettuce and vinegar. I really need to think on this one for a while. I see a lot of very plain food in my future travels! Sad.

D101RS

2010-04-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

This week I am home and I discovered that other than next week when I will be in Atlanta (which is like home because I can cook there and the cafeteria at work is healthy) I will be in town until my vacation (you know, the one I was supposed to lose 10lbs by but instead have gained a lb). I do have a 2 day trip to Phoenix in there too but I think that I can safely pack some snacks to keep me on track and two days will not ruin a week (I hope).

I have been trying to push the running a bit more and have been exercising pretty regularly since getting home on Friday....I hope it pays off.

I also have a friend who is trying to do WW as well and she is struggling as well so we are checking in with each other all week. We are both hoping that it will help us get back on track. I feel like the eating has been really healthy this week so I hope it sticks :-)

Crabby Update

2010-04-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I did really well the last two days and I even think that I got in all my water yesterday (which was amazing since I had to have some diet coke to ward off the pollen headache....caffeine is the only thing that will help when I am already taking Claritin). Lots of liquid yesterday!! I also got in a run.

I think that the most important part of it all is that I feel really good because of all the water and the good food. I don't feel like I have eaten when not hungry (left food on my plate the past two nights at dinner which is unlike me normally) and I am trying not to stress about it all. I have a friend who gave great advice. She said that she used to really struggle with her weight and she was counting every calorie and working out like crazy. The scale didn't budge. Then she decided to take a more laid back approach and use some common sense and she has been able to shed some pounds. I think that I get so stressed about how to eat healthy when I travel that food is all I think about. I am not like that at home at all....sometimes I can skip meals or whatever but it feels like on the road I am always worried that there will not be a healthy option for me so I better plan, plan, plan. While I do think that some planning is good and necessary (so you don't find yourself in a bad situation with nothing good to eat), I think that I have become obsessed with it and it has become this sick game instead of just being a natural process of me eating to give my body the nutrients it needs. This week I have tried not to obsess about it as much and I do feel better....not sure if that will translate to a loss but even if it doesn't, it is better than stressing all week and being unhappy just to be further disappointed by a loss.

Crabby

2010-04-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

Today when I was on my plane thinking about what I was going to write today I had decided that I wasn't going to care at all this week how I ate. I am beyond frustrated that in the last couple weeks it seems like I eat really healthy and don't lose at all but the minute I put a fry or piece of chocolate in my mouth, 3 lbs go on. UGH. BUT. Somehow between this morning and lunch time I snapped out of it and realized that I was just being a big baby. There are any number of things that could have caused me to have an issue this past month and none of them will be solved by me feeling like crap from eating crap food. So, I am going to try a couple more things this week and see if it will help.

--WATER, WATER, WATER!!! I think that this is something that my body needs, and I say it all the time, I see results when I drink water...it is almost like if I don't drink water my body will hold onto every drop from the last month and I have been HORRIBLE about drinking water lately.
--gave up the Ceasar dressing (and salad). I usually order these because 1. I like them and 2. people think it is weird when you order a side salad but don't want the tomatoes and stuff. Well, these days are over (though I might consider ordered the ceasar salad but without the dressing because the lettuce is better for you than a side salad). I always got the dressing on the side but I probably still used too much so now I am ordering side salads with oil and vinegar.
--nothing but butter on my potato. I know, butter, horrible, right? Not really....if that is all I have. But, I used to do the whole "the works on the side thing" and then "dip" in each side. I don't think that my dipping was little enough so I am going to limit myself to butter...and not much of that.
--no more rolls!! I was doing so well at this for a while and then in March all hell broke lose but I am back in the game.

I am hoping that these few things will help to at least keep me from gaining weight, and who knows, maybe I will even be surprised with a little loss. I still have 4 weeks until vacation and even though I don't feel like 10lbs is realistic, I feel like I would be happy with about 5lbs...I am hoping for more but with the way my weigh ins are going, who knows!

Anyway, I know I have said a lot of this before but I guess for me I just have to really see what doesn't work before I can accept what does....hopefully this week will go well.

Weigh In Day

2010-03-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my weigh in and I am down 4lbs...now, does that really sound right for a week for someone of my size? No, it doesn't. The conclusion I have still lies in the belief that I was just retaining water that one week with the really high weigh in from all the sodium on the road. It is the only explanation and this past week on the road I made sure to change dressings and to really watch the sodium.

This week I am in town so I am hoping to get a good loss next Sunday, then I go out (but only for 5 days) and then I am back in for another 10. I think that this week and the week after next might give me a chance to make it close to my goal before vacation...here's to hoping!

I have lots of workouts planned for the week and we are supposed to get beautiful weather so I probably will also get to work in the garden...that will be a few (hundred) extra calories burned and it will be fun at the same time.

D80RS

2010-03-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, after my little outburst yesterday I am re-focused. I have tried to be really careful with eating out the last few days (making sure to get the really low fat dressing on salads instead of ceasar) and I have been not been eating bread, and have left half if not most of my meal, stopping when I am satisfied. I hope that this will work and then next week when I am in town again I will really be able to focus.

UGH!

2010-03-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

I am just frustrated...the weigh in wasn't good for the second week in a row. I am really not understanding how I could have possibly eaten enough in 10 days to gain 3lbs...it just seems ridiculous to me. That is over 10K extra calories and there is just no way!

Oh well, I am back on track and watching what I eat again...this travel is just really killing me. I will luckily be home for about 10 days after this trip but I don't think that will be enough to lose the 10lbs that I wanted to lose in time for our vacation (which is now 13). That part makes me really sad because I was doing so well.... it is also disappointing because now I really feel like I am going to have to watch every single morsel of food that goes in my mouth for the rest of my life and it doesn't seem right that everyone I travel with makes fun of me for eating healthy and they eat like crap but I gain weight.

I guess weight loss has highs and lows....I still would like to add weight lifting to my routine, maybe that will help somewhat....

I am just frustrated.

Weigh In

2010-03-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it wasn't so good this morning. I gained 3lbs in the last two weeks according to the scale. Not good. I hope that it will come off quickly with me eating some meals at home the next two weeks and with my continued running. I have to say that I am also hoping it was just one of those off days on the scale. I probably expected a lb to come back but not 3! I ran 2/3 of the days I was gone, burning around 400 calories at each one and eating pretty well most of the time (it is that most of the time part that will get you every time). I am going to try not to really worry about it and just get back on track, I mean this is real life. Plus, I have a ton of travel for working coming up so I have to be able to figure this out!

D60RS

2010-03-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

I weighed in on Sunday and I was down .6lbs. That isn't too bad considering that I ate a lot of King Cake this week that was sent to me by one of our locations. YUMMY!!!

This week I am out of town and I have been trying to be good. I have pretty much only had water (had one diet coke tonight at dinner) and no beer. Been eating a lot of vegetables and I even have run the past two days (3miles each day). Hopefully that will help me to lose a little. Normally when I am on the road I aim to just maintain but this span of 12 days I have set a goal of losing a pound...hope it works out.

My clothes are starting to fit better so I do feel like I have been making progress. Even though it is really slow, it is still better than the back and forth that I was doing before. I also think that if I make it a few more weeks I will really start to see the lbs drop off because I will be out on my bike and I have decided to train for a half marathon. With all the bike riding and running, I should be able to burn a lot more calories. I also still need to get the weight lifting into the rotation. I have not done that at all and I think that it might be what I need to jump start my losses.....at least I hope.

To hit my goal of 10lbs by my May vacation I have to lose 1lb a week...I can do it!!! Honestly I would be pretty happy with about 5 more lbs if it would come off my stomach.

D37RS

2010-02-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

I realized that I haven't really written that much lately other than my weigh ins. So, I felt like it was time to set some goals.

I have done pretty well with my water goal (though not in the last couple days). I only had one diet coke the whole time I was on the road...unheard of for me and it was during the same meal as the cheese fries...guess I just needed a break :-) I want to continue to drink water and to make sure I get plenty of it.

My next goal will be a weight goal. I would like to lose 10lbs by my vacation in May. I think that is a pretty reasonable goal. It is less than 1lb per week. Of course, with the travel I might have to lose more in some weeks if I just maintain on the road but we will see. I would really like to look good in the pics we take this trip.

This week has been a very strange week for my body. I feel really heavy this week (pillsbury dough like) and have had a lot of snack cravings (though I can count on one hand the number of times I actually felt hungry). There have also been several nights where I literally could not drink enough water...I would have 60oz right before going to bed and not even get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. That is not normal. I also noticed this morning in my spin class that although I didn't feel as though the class was any harder than other classes I have taken, my heart rate was extremely elevated the whole time and I burned 50 more calories than normal. It was only my second spin class of the week with the other days spent on the treadmill so I am not sure when the heart rate sped up. Hmmm. I guess people (and probably girls especially) have different weeks with their body but it just seems really off.

I do not expect a loss this week and with the amount of water I drank (and seemingly retained because I have not been using the bathroom more so it must be staying in my body) I am sure I will have a gain. I go out of town Tues-Fri and then have a guest in town Fri-Mon so it will be a challenge but I am going to try my hardest to stay on track next week. There were a couple days this week where I didn't track at all and I don't think I am to that point yet. I will at least track next week. I do expect it to be a fairly easy week for staying on plan though...I will have 3 dinners out of town. I know where one is and I can pretty much just eat veggies galore there so that will not be an issue. One of the other ones is a work function so not sure where that is and the final one is a dinner with friends where I am sure we will find something healthy...lunches will be easy as there are plenty of on point options and breakfast is never a problem. I am not sure how much I will be able to work out but hopefully the eating right part will help enough this week.

I will report in tomorrow with my weigh in...not expecting much though...probably a gain.

Weigh in

2010-02-07T16:08:00.000-08:00

Today was my weigh in day so I got up and weighed this morning. I did gain .2lbs but I am actually pretty happy about that (not the gain but the fact that I pretty much maintained and at least I didn't gain a lot). I ate pretty well all week minus the one day that I had cheese fries (and a lot of them). I also had a beer almost every night because it was just that kind of week. I think that had I been able to work out more than twice or if I had been able to make it to my spin classes on Saturday like normal I would have done even better. I also found that walking on the treadmill is the perfect exercise for me on the road. If you do it at an incline then you burn almost as many calories in an hour as you do in a spin class but it seems less strenuous so i am more like to do it. The only days I didn't work out were the days when I didn't get back to the hotel until after 11.

This was the first trip that was longer than a couple of days where I ate like a vegetarian. After reading "eating animals" I just couldn't bear to support any form of factory farming which is where most chain restaurants (which is mostly what is in Florence) have. Since I couldn't eat meat I was a little worried that I would be hungry. I am happy report that baked potatoes are my best friend. The baked potato gets a bad rap (or potatoes in general due to them being a carb) but they are pretty low in calories and very filling. Plus, the skin has lots of good stuff for you in it and I love them. I mostly ate that and salad for lunches. Dinners I tried new things like minestrone soup, which I didn't think that I would like and then japanese veggies at the japanese steakhouse. I also snacked on trailmix between meals to help keep down the hunger (though it was barely a problem). Overall I was really proud of myself. I could definitely tell that my stomach got full faster than it used to so I still think that I am on the right path with my eating. It just takes time.

I am now home this week so the plan is to be really strict again to try to get off another pound or two before I go out of town again for a few days and have visitors here. Hopefully if I can lose when in town and maintain while on the road I will eventually get there :-)

Weigh In

2010-01-31T14:26:00.000-08:00

Well, as predicted, I did not lose this week. What was not predicted was the fact that I gained 1.6 lbs. I can't decide if it is was 1. a real gain but I don't feel like I hate over 4k more calories than I burned this week, 2. It is that week every month where no matter what I will weigh more or 3. whether my last two weigh ins were a little low because I had drank the night before and drinking dehydrates you. Whatever the reason, I was not too happy.

I have definitely learned that traveling is one of my trigger points to eat more than I should. Let's face it, even though the food might not make me FEEL so good, it is designed (by scientists) to taste good to me and it does. When I am out of town it is usually more stressful than when I am in town. I am not sure why this is but I find that I am a lot more tired, I am running around and time slips away from me. All this seems to contribute to me eating mainly when I am starving and have to take whatever is available instead of carefully planning it all out. So, in order to try to fix this, I am going to bring snacks for tomorrow with me on the road and then tomorrow night we are going to go to the grocery store to get snacks for the rest of he week. I am not sure exactly what I will get but the goal will be to keep me from getting to the point where I will eat more than I should. We have already picked out our restaurants and I know some of the food will be tempting, plus it is my first time trying to travel without eating meat. It will be quite a challenge.

The other thing for next week is to make sure I leave work at a decent time and go down to the hotel gym for an hour before dinner. I have already told my employee traveling with me that this was my plan and she wanted to join (she just had a baby) so I think that the plan might stick. I am just a little worried because I have to get up so early tomorrow and I am already worn out from last week.

Wish me luck :-)

D23RS

2010-01-26T18:55:00.000-08:00

Well, today was not the best of days. I woke up a little hungry and ate my normal breakfast but still felt really hungry. That is pretty unusual. Usually I don't feel hungry after breakfast and I don't until around 10:30 or 11 when I have a snack. Hmmm. It seems like through the afternoon I was hungry too even though I ate all the normal stuff for the day (and even a little extra because of being so hungry this morning).

Tomorrow I leave town until Saturday. I will still eat most meals at home tonight (not sure what to do about dinner yet since my flight leaves at 7 but gets in at 9, maybe a big lunch and a bar??). I have been pretty good on the points for the week (minus today) so I should have a few saved up that I can use this weekend.

Next week I am pretty worried about. My senior and I have picked out the places we are going to eat (sadly it is all we have to look forward to on the trip) but when I looked up the nutritional facts there were very little items that didn't contain meat (and I really want to avoid it if possible at all) and most of the items that didn't contain meat were very high in calories. I can't eat just lettuce and vinegar and oil for all my meals. I looked up the veggie burger for Ruby Tuesday and it is 923 calories!! That is 20.5 pts on WW and I only get 21 for a whole day! I think that includes the cheese and mayo (and I don't eat mayo) but still. That is a lot of calories. Anyone have any suggestions? We are eating at the following places:
Ruby Tuesday
Outback (there is a salad I like here that comes with chicken salad and isn't too bad caloriewise so will be better without chicken salad on it)
Zaxby's
Random "All-American" type place...I can get a side salad and baked potato there
Japanese Steakhouse - I plan on just getting the rice and veggies..still high in calories but I don't normally eat all of it.
Red Bone Alley

I know that I can maintain because I have done it for the last few trips but after looking up the restaurants tonight, I am not sure that I can lose. So, it will be ok in the future once I reach my goal weight but it sort of sucks when I am on such a roll.

I look forward to any suggestions :-)

Weigh In Day

2010-01-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

I haven't been as good about staying with the blog again, but today is weight in. I am down another 1.6lbs. That is 3 weeks in a row with a loss and down 6.4lbs since Jan 1st. I am pretty excited about that.

I have worked out quite a bit this past week but I also have gotten better about only eating the amount of points that I should eat for the week and it is getting a lot easier. I am still eating unprocessed and wholesome foods.

I am a little nervous about next week because I travel again. I am going to try to make sure I get a lot of exercise in before my trip and then eat healthy while I am there. It might not be so bad since I will only be gone for 3 days. The week after I am going to traveling for 5 days so that might be a little tougher but I have tried to plan out where we will eat for most of our meals (though subway is out now because of the processed meat) so I am hoping that will help. I also booked the hotel that has new treadmills (just installed in Dec) and they have TVs attached. I am hoping to get in an hour walk before dinner each night to try to keep up some of the exercise.

D14RS

2010-01-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

Weigh In Day. Never thought I would get excited about this but I am now that I had a good result this morning. I lost another 2lbs (down a total of 7 since I started). This is a victory for a few reasons. 1. I lost weight for the second week in a row (don't think I have done that since I started this journey). 2. It means I kept the loss from last week off. 3. I didn't really have to stop eating anything that I normally eat (I ate everything the same, but I just measured to make sure I was only eating a serving and also made sure that I stopped when I was satisfied and not full). 4. I had a total of 5 beers this week so I didn't have to sacrifice my social life (as minimal as it is here, I was proud of this fact...especially since it is the most beer I have had in a week in gosh knows how long).

This past week I just really made sure that I counted everything that went in my mouth. It was my tough week of the month and so I made sure I counted the multiple servings of cheezits that I snacked on and the two Reese's cups that I ate one day. It really wasn't that bad. I did exercise a lot this week. One hour of spin class gives me 7 pts and I had a total of 36 pts by the end of the week. That is pretty good. You can use the pts to eat more food (which I usually have to do because I get so hungry when I exercise more) but this week I still had 29 of those points unused (though I usually will still lose weight even using all of them). That means that had I not has any of the beer, I would have been within my points. Quite an accomplishment over past weeks and proof that you don't have to eat low fat, fake food (though some of what I ate was) and you can eat wholesome food in moderate quantities and even enjoy yourself and still lose weight. YAY me!

In other news, I contacted the farm that has the cows that are grassfed, here to ask them how much room the 1/4 of a cow would take up in the freezer (we have a whole fridge/freezer downstairs that we never use so why not use it) and to see if they ever had any beef any other time of the year. Well, it turns out that they still had some 1/4s left this year (since they just did it all in dec and since they process all at the same time but didn't sell it all) and so I have emailed her back to get our 1/4 of a cow! I am super excited about this meat. It is probably some of the best for you meat you can get and it is actually a good price. It is $5 a pound which is about what I pay at the local grocery for some of their no hormone/no antibiotic beef (though it is probably still factory farm beef with animals treated bad and with them eating grain), but it is less than I would pay for more quality cuts and a little more than I would pay for ground beef (by only $1 a lb). It kind of sucks to have to go and get the meat because it is far away but it is only a once a year thing so I can suck it up. I am pretty excited about taking these steps into eating beef that is even better for us and not having to sacrifice it because of the factory farming practices.

Now to find some chicken and eggs (actually, I found an egg share that I might join. you get a dozen every other week and it is cheaper than in the store for cage-free which I learned really doesn't mean much). Oh well. If you are interested in finding local meat in your area that is healthier you can go here and search by state. If you are interested in finding a CSA (fruit and veggies) then you can try here. I am not an expert but the more I read, the more I learn.

D11RS

2010-01-14T06:31:00.000-08:00

So far, so good this week. The last two days I have done an hour ride on my bike (at 500 calories burned each time) and then today I am going to a spin class at the gym and possibly staying for a yoga class. I have been wanting to retry yoga for a while because I did it at one time and found it very relaxing and I like the stretching. I would like to try it before they start charging for the classes (that still makes me so mad). Then I plan to do a short ride tomorrow on my bike (about 30 mins) and the two spin classes on Saturday morning. Then it will be time to weigh in again.

As I go on this adventure to lose weight (but also a journey to get healthier in general) I have been reading a lot of books. The latest one that I read Eating Animals has pretty much made me decide that I am no longer going to buy meat that is not raised on a true farm. The book is pretty much an advocate for vegetarianism but I just am not sure I could do that. I don't think that I like enough things that have protein in them but that aren't meat. He also makes the point of if you are going to buy meat, know where it comes from. I have found a farm near here (about an hour and a half drive) that raises cows on their farm (they actually have online pics of them in the pastures and stuff) and then you can purchase packages (some small, some larger) or a 1/4 of a cow. I am considering doing this. Unfortunately it is not available until next Nov/Dec because that is when the cows are ready. Until then I think that there is another farm that comes to a local market on Saturdays that also raise their cattle themselves so I can do that. Their prices are not as good but it shouldn't be about money. I am also considering doing an egg share (like a crop share but eggs, need to research how many you get at a time though because we don't use a ton or maybe I should find more recipes with them in it). Did you know that most chickens that lay eggs only get a cage the size of a piece of paper and the ones they raise for meat COULDN'T walk around, even if they wanted to? That breaks my heart. The book is really sad but I highly recommend it because it really does make you think. He also makes the point that once Americans start demanding that animals are treated better, it will happen. Money talks and that is why I can't give them anymore money (and yes, I know I am only one person but I will feel better and maybe one of you will read it too). I also have decided that I am going to be a vegetarian on the road. I have no way of knowing where the meat that restaurants are using comes from (unless they make a point to say it is grass-fed or organic or something) or if it is even meat. I think that this will be one of the hardest adjustments that I will have ever made. I seem to eat chicken at every meal on the road. Who knew? I am going to really try though so if anyone has any advice, let me know. I am not trying to lecture anyone and everyone has to make their own choices in life, but if learning more about where your meat comes from, this is definitely a good read.

Next up on the list is Good Calories, Bad Calories (thanks Drena) and then the Omnivore's Dilemma (which is actually references a bit in Eating Animals.

D8RS

2010-01-11T17:27:00.000-08:00

I am still feeling a little under the weather and really am having a hard time deciding whether I want to ride my bike tonight or whether I should wait until I am 100% (hopefully in the morning). I think that I am going to do it for an hour tomorrow instead to make up for not doing it tonight. I just am unmotivated and would hate to get sick again because of it.

So, while I am not able to workout, I have been thinking more about some other goals that I want to set for myself. The first goal is to find a way to utilize the gym without being a slave to the treadmill and without my classes. I will still use the credits that I am going to get for my classes (they are going to give us some credits but then charge $1 per class so I will have to cut down on the classes a bit) but after that I will need another way to use the gym without always being on a cardio machine.

Here is what I am thinking, I need a weight training schedule. I have used personal trainers before so I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of HOW to do most exercises (at least ones they would have women do) but I just don't have a good routine. I used this website before and I really liked it. I was lifting a little more at the time and so I did the Intermediate exercises here and I liked the pyramid idea. It didn't seem like it was as boring (and I can sometimes find weight training to be) and you didn't really need a partner (which I don't have). I thought that I had checked this website a few months ago and it was not free to get the workouts but when I just went to look to type this, they were free to print. Guess I will do that and then have a few to choose from. There are 4 weeks in the Intermediate and that will take me through a month and then I could start all over again. I guess I liked to check stuff off as I went and to see progress. Are you guys like that? Do you have a plan or a notebook when you workout or do you just wing it? I am learning that there are very few people in life who wing much of anything. Sure, the small things but it sort of seems to me that the healthy way to live (physically, emotionally, and mentally) is by making plans to help easy stress. I guess I just learned that.

Something else that is sort of new to me is eating just until I am satisfied. I guess technically it is not new because I have known that I should do it for a while but I just feel successful at it in the last few days. I am hoping to hone in on it even more but the way I started was by literally measuring out whatever a serving size was in the recipe I was making and eating only that. I have found that it is a lot smaller than I would have thought but that I am also satisfied (though not full) when I am done eating it. Sometimes I get hungry later but I have been trying to satisfy that with a healthy snack and so far, so good.

Hopefully this funk I have had will be done with after a goo night's sleep tonight and I can get back in my routine..most notably I want to be able to attend my two spin classes on Saturday and my one on Thursday...that alone is about 1500 calories for the week extra.

D8RS

2010-01-10T09:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I did my weigh in this morning and I was down 2 lbs. YAY. I was a little concerned about it because I have been sick since Tuesday which makes it harder for me to eat healthy. I know it might be a little weird but I just don't want to eat veggies or drink as much water when I am sick. I seem to crave bread and stuff. I tried to stay on track as much as I could so I was hoping it would turn out well but I also was only able to exercise twice this week.

I was able to cook my meals each night and even made some beef stew which I froze for future meals (and which is pretty easy, pretty low in calories and all natural ingredients).

Hopefully I am finally kicking this cold and can get to the gym next week.

D3RS

2010-01-05T14:23:00.000-08:00

So far, so good. Still seem to be fighting off this funk that C and I have had but hopefully that will be gone soon.

I have eaten on plan and very healthy for the last three days. I do feel that I get a little hungry in the afternoons and can't really figure out what I want to eat for a snack. I might try some cereal of some sort and a piece of string cheese. I have gotten in all my veggies/fruit and all my water for the last 3 days (only 3 days but you have to start somewhere). I made it to the gym yesterday for a spin class and I am thinking about going to one today (though can't decide with the funk that I have). I have plans to go to at least 3 more classes at the gym this week too. I really do miss them. The snow might mess up that plan but lets hope not!

I am feeling pretty good, really in control, and pretty relaxed about it all. I had no idea how much making weekly menus would help me. I look forward to the cooking and eating of my planned out meals...let's keep it up.

My newest obsession has been couponing! I am completely addicted and am really making an effort to fit it into my healthy eating. I will let you guys know how I do.

D1RS

2010-01-03T17:50:00.000-08:00

That stands for day one, restart :-). I weighed in this morning because it was my normal day to weigh in and I was down 1.3. That is pretty good since I didn't really try last week (didn't go to the gym and did finish up the cookies my mom baked).

So far, so good. I got in all my 5 servings of veggies today, cooked a healthy dinner and have drank all my water for the last 3 days. I am even within my points for today. Tonight I was very careful to make sure that I only ate what was supposed to be a serving and afterward I wasn't full but I also wasn't hungry. I do feel satisfied so I hope that I can keep it up.

I think that one of my crutches for a little while will be a nighttime latte (decaf) if I still feel hungry after dinner. They are filling but are only the calories of a cup of milk so it will be a good way to have a late night snack but not a lot of calories. I am hoping that knowing this will help me to not overeat for dinner.

Since we only ate a serving for dinner, we have yummy leftovers for other days :-) YAY!!

Ramping up.....

2009-12-27T20:24:00.000-08:00

Today was my official weigh in day so I weighed in. My weight was pretty much the same as it has been any other time that I was "up" for the week. I did take some time today to get some recipes together, get my coupons organized and write out some ideas for meals. I am trying to get as much planning done for meal ideas between now and New Year's as I can because that is my official restart date. I have some cookies to finish up but other than that, I really didn't eat that much junk this holiday.

I also bought a new espresso machine today...I am very excited about it because a latte with espresso will replace my morning chai latte which will save me about 140 calories every morning...that should add up after a while, right? ha, that is not the only thing I am cutting out, don't worry, but it is almost 1,000 calories a week saved!

I do DREAD going to the gym next week. I HATE the first 6 weeks of the year when all the NY's resolution people are in there crowding everything up and taking my spot in my classes. It sucks. I always felt that they should have special classes that only people who have been going to the gym regularly could go to, but I know that isn't really nice and fair and doesn't encourage others to get fit. Ugh, I just hate that everything takes twice as long to do as normal. At least they don't usually last very long!

A Plan

2009-12-16T06:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have been a little down about the whole weight loss effort lately. Sort of unmotivated to take the extra step and not really sure how to make my eating a little more strict so I can get those pounds off. Well, I think that I have come up with a plan. My biggest problem seems to be not planning. On the days where I do really well with all of my eating are the days when I have healthy snacks, have either leftovers from a healthy dinner the night before or sandwich ingredients that are high quality and healthy. So, with all this in mind, I have decided to do a little researching (through my own recipes and some on the internet) to get a list of "meals" which are acceptable and within the goals of points per meal that I have set up. I am hoping that if I make a list and make sure that I always have one of those meals on hand, that will make it a little easier to be strict for a little while. That way I still get a variety but I also can keep track of what I am eating. I sort of think of it like my own little "prepackaged" diet. HA! I also need to measure (I have a food scale) to make sure that I really am eating just a serving of whatever I am eating. I think that will also be key for me. The next step will be that I am also going to continue my workouts because I really do think that helps. It seems that the weeks where I do lose are the weeks where I do work out at least 3 times. I have also discovered that they tend to pair a high intensity class with a low intensity class at the gym (spin, then yoga or muscle pump, then step, etc) so I am considering doing 2 classes in a row a couple times a week to help jumpstart it all. It is two hours at the gym but it seems to go by pretty fast and I do sort of enjoy how I feel afterwards. Plus, I see the same people over and over so it is a potential for some new friends. The third item in my trifecta is to DRINK MY WATER. I know this is important to my body but I just fall off track. I am really going to try to get in my 8 cups a day.

So, that is the plan. It will start Jan 1st (though I am still not going nuts now with bad food...I am still eating healthy and trying to be as cautious as I can, but a couple cookies are sneaking in.) Hopefully this will help me to be more effective with Weight Watchers and will get my body a jump start. I clearly have figured out how to maintain, now to lose :-)

Weigh In

2009-12-13T09:52:00.001-08:00

Down 1.2.

Thanks

2009-12-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

Everyone had encouraging words the other day and I am feeling better. Not exactly sure what is up with the weight loss but I am definitely feeling better than I have in a long time and I can see small changes so something is happening. I think that everyone's idea of being a little more strict might just do the trick. Unfortunately there is too much coming up with the holidays for me to be support strict for many days coming up. I am not letting it all go or anything but I am not going to take the extra step until January...might as well suffer with all the New Year's Resolution people :-)

I did weigh myself a couple mornings this week and here is how it went:
Monday: down 3lbs from Sunday
Tuesday: up 1 lb from Monday
Wednesday: up 2lbs from Tuesday
Thursday: down 3 lbs from Tuesday

So, either my body is retarded, the scale is retarded or both. Who knows...hopefully this Sunday will be one of the down days but there is no way that my real weight fluctuated that much in 5 days. sigh......

Weigh In Day

2009-12-07T10:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I think that I might stop blogging about this for a while...it seems to be the same thing up and down, up and down...it is funny because overall it is going down but it just seems to be such a roller coaster ride....like I will go down a pound and a half, then stay the same, then up a pound and then stay the same, then down a pound and a half and the cycle starts all over again.

The part that doesn't really make sense to me is that I am eating way less calories and working out a bit more than I was a few months ago...so, why isn't anything happening? Could I work out more? Sure. Could I eat less of the things I like? Sure. But, the important thing to me was to find things that were both healthy and that I liked and didn't feel like I was giving up too much. I didn't want to do a strict diet where I lost a bunch of weight and then go back to things that I liked and gain it all back. I wanted to find replacements for the things that I like so I could not "go back" to things that I missed. I feel like I have been pretty successful in that. I mean there are still some places I could cut and I guess that is what I will work on coming up but other than that.....I am not sure there is much else I can do other than be patient and hope that eventually it will work.

I got a little sad when I looked back at when I did weight watchers a couple years ago (2yrs) and I was about 15lbs lighter....not when I started it but when I stopped...when I started I was probably only 4 lbs lighter than now. I want to get back to that weight.

Anyway, I am not sure there is much else to talk about in relation to all of this...it is turning out to be a lot harder than it has ever been when I feel like I am eating a lot healthier than I ever had. (I even feel better healthwise) so I might not blog about it anymore. Maybe I will be better when the new year comes and will jump back on the band wagon with everyone trying to lose weight (not that I am going to stop between now and then with the eating healthy and cooking and stuff).

So Far, So Good

2009-12-01T18:20:00.000-08:00

Well, day two of being out of town and I feel like things are going pretty well for me so far. I stuck with Subway for the last two days for lunch (and it is fine and all but I am STARVING by the afternoon). I also took two apples for snacks during the day today and ordered a healthy version of Chinese food tonight. I also got on the elliptical tonight for an hour and burned about 500 calories. Hopefully the next two and a half days will go well too.

I can't help but hope that this extra work will help the scale but then I get a feeling that it won't. I never lose when out of town...oh well.....

Weigh In Day

2009-11-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I weigh exactly, ounce for ounce, what I did last week. I am a little torn by all of this. On the one hand, with Thanksgiving being this week, I am glad that I did gain anything but I also made an effort to make Thanksgiving healthier. Since I have learned that C will eat whatever, I made my stuffing from scratch...yep, with stale bread and stuff. It was a WW recipe and it was AWESOME. It tasted really good and the only thing I would change is to use less sage next time. The good news was that it was only 2 pts per serving instead of the 6-8 of normal stuffing. I also made green bean casserole with frozen green beans and 98% ff soup, and skim milk. I did put the onions on top but how could I not?? I also made myself a yummy pumpkin cheesecake that was a WW recipe and not many points at all. So, I ate pretty healthy compared to how Thanksgiving could have gone.

Now, the frustrating part is that I am not losing like I feel like I should. I am eating WAY better than I was a few months ago and the scale doesn't seem to move at all. I do feel a TON better and my pants are a little looser and I have lost 5lbs but that just doesn't seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things and when I want to lose about 15-18 more. UGH. I try to focus on the positive but I just feel like if I am working out 5 days a week and eating healthy that the weight should leave me a little faster.....guess I am wrong and at least the scale is going down.

This week I am traveling but have CPE during most of my lunch times so I will not be forced to eat with clients at unhealthy places. I think that I might do Subway most days. I can get a decent for me lunch (though it is not my favorite but it will do) and then I will have a little more room for dinners, which I am going to try to plan out. I also am taking my Jillian DVD that I did the other day (and it was surprisingly hard and I was sore for 2 days even though I spin 5 times a week) and am going to force myself to do it at least 3 times.

Wish me luck.....

Weigh In

2009-11-22T15:32:00.000-08:00

It went well today. I was down about 1.4 from last which is good but since I was up last week by a pound, I am really only down .4. Oh well. It is still down. I can deal with the two pounds down, one pound up that comes with traveling because it still nets to be having lost over 4 lbs....just taking forever for me to do it. I suppose I could follow a stricter diet but if I do that I don't feel like it will something that I can do long term. For me, I need something I can live with so I will just have to take the slower loss (or stop traveling). I did give into a few cravings last week so that probably had an affect on it. This week should be easier and since it is just C and I for Thanksgiving I can make everything and make sure it is all healthy.....that will certainly help!!

Day 107

2009-11-20T06:29:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted this week because there wasn't much to report. I wasn't around on Sunday to weigh so I did it on Monday and was up a little. It wasn't my official weigh in day (which I am sure would have been worse since I had Taco Bell at 1:30am on Saturday night) but it was the closest I could get.

This week I have felt the urge to eat a lot. That sucks but I have tried to at least pick some healthy things. I also have worked out all 4 days this week! 3 spin classes and a muscle pump class! I am really proud of myself and hoping that it will pay off. I am also going to a spin AND muscle pump class tomorrow. I am trying to get more weight lifting into my routine but I feel silly doing it in the main gym part because I am so weak. I need to get some heavier than 5 lb weights to work with at home for a while....

Anyway, I will check back in on Sunday for the weigh in.

Day 98

2009-11-11T19:10:00.000-08:00

Well, after three days of traveling, I feel like I have done pretty well. I have been really bad about the water though...darn it.. I really wanted to improve on that....I have counted everything that I have eaten and I am still doing well with my points for the week. That is good. I am not sure I have ever been this ahead on points on Wednesday of a travel week. If I could just get in some exercise then I would really be good with everything.

I think that so far I have done enough to maintain. I just have to worry about the next 3 days which will be the hardest because I will be in Atlanta with all my friends and lots of drinking :-) I will just make sure to count it all and hope that I don't go over and do well.

Day 96 - weigh in

2009-11-09T02:11:00.000-08:00

Well, that was yesterday but I didn't report in. I was down .2lbs. Not much but there were a couple days when I ate poorly and I went over my points for the week by a little bit so I was just happy to lose.

Yesterday was a great point day and I even got on some exercise raking leaves. According to my heart rate monitor I burned over 500 calories by raking leaves for an hour. It was beautiful in OH this weekend so it was much better to be outside rather than inside.

I also made a healthy potato soup yesterday (nothing super processed) that I will share when I am not on my blackberry. I am not sure it is for everyone but we liked it :-). Definitely not the super rich kind you get in the restaurants.

Day 92 - Feeling Better

2009-11-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

Sorry for my mini freak out yesterday. I shouldn't step on the scale in my clothes and not at my normal time....it just frustrates me. I had to step back and think about it a little bit (and vent on here) because I know I am eating healthy...minus that stupid pumpkin bread and I know it will eventually work.

I have been really good about the water this week. Normally I would have a diet coke with lunch but this week I have had water. I have to admit that I sometimes don't feel as full but I think that is just the bubbles talking :-) I also have added some tea before bedtime. I have always wanted to be a tea drinker...it seems like there are so many that are so good for you, but I just couldn't get into it. I think that they smell so good but then never taste as good as the smell. The other night I had some Chai tea and I liked it a little bit better than I have in the past so yesterday I bought some bedtime tea....it is chamomile and peppermint and is supposed to help you relax. It also helps me get in another cup of water for the day. So, at least I am getting that goal in this week....small changes.

Next is looking up the nutrition of the restaurants that I know I can eat at next week and then making decisions about what I will order so that I don't slip up......I hate having to do all this and wish I was one of those people that could eat whatever they wanted but oh well, not going to happen for me :-)

Day 91 - shouldn't I have seen more progress

2009-11-04T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well, today I am feeling a bit discouraged. I ate some pumpkin bread when I went out to lunch with a coworker yesterday and when I got back and looked up the points it was 20!! 20!! I only get 21 in a day! UGH, I was sick. I did really well the whole rest of the day but since I normally use all my weekly points I am now over for the whole week with 3.5 days to go. I also peeked at the scale and it was up again....that doesn't really make sense...it is not like I overate yet....probably by the end of the week I will be over but as of today I am right on.....very frustrating and just hoping that it has to do with the outside factors that I deal with.

I have cooked really good for us stuff this week....we had roast beef (vegetarian, hormone/antibiotic free beef) and roasted potatoes the other night, then homemade french onion soup last night and tonight I am cooking a turkey breast (like the kind with all the bones still in and stuff). This is the first time I have made just a turkey breast (or a turkey when it wasn't Thanksgiving) but I am looking forward to it and then we should be set with leftovers for most of the weekend. I have a healthy potato soup recipe that I got off a WW site that I will probably try one night when we don't want anymore leftovers.

I also went to the gym twice this week...only problem is that now I feel like I HAVE to go because I need to earn some more pts so I will hopefully lose this week. I tried to run today but it went horribly....I was sucking wind way too early and never really could catch my breath....I think that I am more out of shape than I thought.

The good news is that I think that next week is the only week I will travel between now and the end of the year minus the week I go home for xmas so I should be able to really get some good eating in while I am in town (and some time with C, which is always a bonus).

Anyway, just had to vent today....but trying not to get down about it all.....I just feel like for being on day 91 I should be a lot further along....but then I guess that I have learned a lot in those 91 days and should see much better progress in the next 91. It can't be worse.....

Day 88 - 2.6!!!!!

2009-11-01T15:19:00.000-08:00

That is how many pounds I lost this week! YAY!!! Of course, it is just the 2 lbs that I gained on vacation but to get them plus a little gone 7 days after I returned I consider to be an accomplishment for me. What did I do different? Well, I ate every single meal at home for 6 straight days. That streak ended this weekend with Dudley here and we had Mexican (and a big beer) on Friday and then pizza and cheese dip while watching the Dawgs get their ass kicked by Florida and topped it off today with a grilled cheese at a restaurant. Oh, and Waffle House yesterday. That was a HUGE mistake...after eating nothing processed all week, Wafflhouse and hashbrowns was a BAD idea ...I felt like crap all day yesterday after that.

I went to the store today (and have to hit up the local one for the fresh stuff) and got lots of good stuff. I am now trying to find some crockpot recipes to make. I think that lunch is my challenge. I find it hard to eat stuff that isn't easy (read processed) for lunch. This past week I had a sandwich and mixed greens each day made with quality Boar's Head products and I think that it filled me up but yet wasn't really bad for me. I know I will get sick of sandwiches but I feel like soup could also fill that void or some other sort of thing I could throw in the crockpot then reheat in individual servings for lunch each day. If anyone out there (drena) has a good receipe, send it my way. Trying to stay away from processed stuff so I prefer fresh ingredients to other ones.

Anyway, I already started the water consumption and am doing pretty good today. I bought some coke today for C but didn't buy any diet for myself....baby steps!! I am just happy about the weight loss and I have one more week in town to lose a little more before going out of town for a week (including the Auburn game so I will have to save up some points for that one).

Day 86 - Water, Water, Water

2009-10-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Why do I struggle with the water consumption that I wasn't able to live without a few years ago? I am still really struggling to get it all in (or any of it in some days). It is very frustrating but it is what I am going to work on next week.

This week the focus was getting more fruits and veggies into my meals and I am happy to report that I had at least one serving (sometimes two) of either fruit or veggies for every meal so far this week. I also sneaked a peak at the scale and if it holds true then I will be down over 2lbs for the week. I have been 100% within my points for the week and I even have a few banked up for this weekend. I think that the weekend will be a challenge because Dudley is coming to visit and we will probably eat out a lot. Hopefully I can keep it reasonable though and not overeat. I did save some points to help me out so that will be good.

I will check in on Sunday for my official weigh in!

Food Inc and King Corn

2009-10-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

I highly suggest watching these two documentaries. Caution though...it will probably change the way you look at most of the food that you eat. I know it did for me. It goes well with my eating healthy, that is for sure, but in a way I feel like it makes it harder. I think that starting to eat healthier, and by that I mean actual real food, will be harder than just cramming in the low fat food that everyone seems to eat when they diet (and no offense to people who do that, it is just not for me and doesn't really work for me). So here is a quick rundown so you can see if you are interested in the two documentaries...

Food Inc: This is done by the same guys that did Fast Food Nation and In Defense of Food. It is really good but makes you feel really sorry for the animals that they raise for our food.

King Corn: This one is done by two guys that I would guess are around 25-30 or something. They learn all about corn after finding out that it is in their hair...sounds weird but it is mildly entertaining and will anger you with how much the government is at fault for the health of our country.

One main theme in both of these and the few books I have read on the subject is that we now only spend about 10-15% of our income on food. When people were healthier that percent was more like 30%. I am going to try to use this information to not freak out when I see prices for organic or grass fed meat. If I think about the fact that my chances of diabetes and all other kinds of health problems will be reduced should save me enough to pay a little extra for food. I also am thinking about joining a CSA in the spring. I posted it on my other blog but there didn't seem to be anyone who had any thoughts on it so I will just keep the health related stuff here :-)

Day 81 - Weigh In

2009-10-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I came home a day early from vacation and so I was able to weigh in this morning. We ate HORRIBLY the entire time I was gone...I think that I had fries almost daily and barely any veggies or water at all. By the end of the week I could definitely tell and my stomach was not happy with me. Well, last night when I got home I went to the grocery store and got all kinds of yummy (and mostly organic) stuff. Last night I cooked dinner and in the car on the way home yesterday I made a little menu for the week. I really hope that it will all go well and I can use these few weeks at home to really get back on track.

So, in the weigh in I gained about 2.5 pounds. Seriously not that bad considering all the bad stuff I ate. i was expecting like 5 or 6!!

Day 76 0 Cheese, Cheese, and Cheese

2009-10-20T20:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I am in America's Dairyland and we have taken full advantage. Definitely not having an on plan week this week. It is pretty bad but hopefully all the walking will help. I did weight myself last Friday morning and hadn't gained anything so my plan of maintaining while on the road is working. Now, I will in town for several weeks (until December minus one week) after vacation so that should help tremendously with the actual loss part...the maintain I seem to have down.

Anyway, I will not be able to weigh in on Sunday but will on Monday....I hope the damage is not too bad. It is hard to find anything healthy when you have two places (sometimes just one) to choose from.....

Day 70- Improvements?

2009-10-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

This week I have really stayed on the WW plan. I think that signing up for the online tracking and website was probably a good move for me. I never thought that I would be the type who would need that website to lose weight. The last time I did WW I just did it on my own using an excel spreadsheet, but for some reason this time I needed to sign up.

Another development is that I actually exercised twice this week. I know, I know....I really need to do it more often but it just hasn't happened in the last few weeks. After doing the exercise I realized that I really like how I feel when I am done and I need to do it more often.

I also worked on my travel schedule for work and it looks like after this week of vacation I will only be out of town one week between now and December. I think that this will go a long way in helping me to get a good start on my weight loss. I truly think that I can maintain on the road if I could just lose the weight.

Also, since I wasn't able to weigh in last week, won't be home this Sunday or next Sunday, I am going to weigh in this Friday, just to check the progress. I hope that flying will not skew it...we shall see.

Day 68

2009-10-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was supposed to be my weigh in day but since I am in Atlanta with no scale, you will have to wait. The bad part is that I will not be in town this Sunday with my scale or next Sunday either. That makes it a little hard for me to know how I am doing. Since I signed up for the WW website again I feel like I am tracking better and hope that will help me to lose even if I can't weigh myself. Maybe I will be really surprised when I get back from vacation. Wouldn't that be nice?

The thing that I am enjoying the most about my WW online thing is that it works on my blackberry so I can look up points anytime. Lord knows that I always have that with me so hopefully this will help me even more and I can really stick with it for a few months. I really think that if I could just lose that I would be able to maintain because I feel like I have gotten that part of being out of town down.

Day 63

2009-10-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

I have struggled this week. I already know I need to just suck it up and be good but I just find it so hard lately. I decided that I should go ahead and sign up for the WW website. They have a get one month free thing right now and I did well the last time I actually signed up for it. The thing is, since I have been eating healthier, I haven't gained anything and I have at least maintained (and lost a little) so I am thinking that if I can just jump start it and lose a bit then I will be able to maintain after that. Here is to hoping. I haven't really used up all my points for the week but I am not feeling like I am doing a good job on the road this week at all (though still eating lots of salads and stuff to get my veggies in).

Day 61- 1.4 down

2009-10-05T02:19:00.000-07:00

Yay! I weighed in yesterday and was not sure I would be down. I ate within my points all week (stats later, I am on my bb) but when I did a couple of sneak peak weigh ins the scale had not moved so I wasn't super confident. I was glad to be done with the plateau and/or gains (at least I hope). The next few weeks will be hard because I am on the road all three weeks. This week I am sort of on my own (or can at least make excuses to be) next week I am in Atlanta and not really "on the road" so as long as I can be careful when meeting friends, I should be good. The third week is a different story and is vacation! I am just going to have a goal of not gaining anything on that trip :-)

More later but right now I am going to nap on the plane. I had to get up at 3:45am today. Yuck!

Day 57 - Ode to Brita Filter

2009-10-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

How I love thee!! It makes the yucky water taste perfect and I am drinking away. So happy to have water back in the routine. The only complaint I have is that the lid doesn't stay on the pitcher too well...anyone else with that problem? Did I get a defective one?

I have been really good with my points this week and have barely used any of the extra ones...that is really good for me since last week I used twice as many as you get. I did step on the scale this morning for a peak and it wasn't any different but maybe that will change by the official weigh in date. Out of town for the next two weeks so I need to make sure to stay on track!

Here are my stats for Sunday:
Daily pts: 21/21 (remained counted in weekly pts used up)
Activity pts: 0
Weekly pts used up (running total):0/35
Veggies: 2/5
Milk: 2/2
Water: 8/8

Here are my stats for Monday:
Daily pts: 23/21 (remained counted in weekly pts used up)
Activity pts: 5
Weekly pts used up (running total):2/35
Veggies: 1/5
Milk: 2/2
Water: 5/8

Here are my stats for Tuesday:
Daily pts: 26/21 (remained counted in weekly pts used up)
Activity pts: 5
Weekly pts used up (running total):7/35
Veggies: 1/5
Milk: 2/2
Water: 5/8

Day 55- Weigh In Day

2009-09-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

I weighed in this morning and have relost the few pounds I had gained in the last few weeks. That was good news. I sort of wish that I had lost some more but I will take a loss and then today is the start of a new week. I went over my points last week by 35.5 pts which is almost a whole extra week's worth of points. That isn't good but it is still better than in other weeks.

I decided yesterday that I was going to try to plan out my meals for the week somewhat. I went to the grocery store and shopped all at once instead of going a few days a week. I thought that maybe I would try to plan out what we would have a few nights this week so it would be easier to stay in my points. I also bought some stuff for me for lunch during the week that is low in points. The one problem that I ran into is that the grocery store (at least the one closest to use) is already really low on vegetables that are fresh. No green beans or snap peas or a few other things that I was going to buy. That is a bit disappointing but I am hoping it is just that Kroger and I will be able to find some at another Kroger because I haven't done that well with fruits and veggies the last few days.

Here are my stats for Thursday:
Daily pts: 31/21 (remainer counted in weekly pts used up)
Activity pts: 0
Weekly pts used up (running total): 37/35
Veggies: 4/5
Milk: 2/2
Water: 8/8

Here are my stats for Friday:
Daily pts:44/21 (remainer counted in weekly pts used up)
Activity pts: 0
Weekly pts used up (running total): 58/35
Veggies: 2/5
Milk: 2/2
Water: 4/8

Here are my stats for Saturday:
Daily pts: 33.5/21 (remained counted in weekly pts used up)
Activity pts: 0
Weekly pts used up (running total): 70.5/35
Veggies: 0/5
Milk: 1/2
Water: 8/8

Day 52

2009-09-24T06:31:00.000-07:00

Not much else going on here. I was pretty hungry this morning so I had a pancake at work. Hopefully that will not throw me over for the day anymore than usual. I feel like I have done extremely well this week and stayed more within my points than in the last few weeks so I really hope to see a loss on Sunday!

Here are my stats for yesterday:
Daily pts: 33/21 (remained counted in weekly pts used up)
Activity pts: 0
Weekly pts used up (running total): 27/35
Veggies: 5/5
Milk: 2/2
Water: 8/8

YAY I got all my water in yesterday. Looking for a similar day today! The reason I went over my point so much was because I had a lot of protein yesterday which costs more points. Even though I went over a bit, it wasn't with junk food and actually I don't think that I had anything that was processed yesterday other than some wheat pasta at lunch. I consider that a pretty good day!

Day 51

2009-09-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

I am feeling much better about everything today. I thought about the fact that Zane had said he was reading blogs about Nutrisystem and I decided to find some weight watchers blogs to add to my blog roll :-) I found this one and look at this yummy dessert..I am going to make it for this weekend I think....

Here are my stats for yesterday:
Daily pts: 29/21 (remained counted in weekly pts used up)
Activity pts: 0
Weekly pts used up (running total): 15/35
Veggies: 3/5
Milk: 2/2
Water: 5/8

Today I did even better on the water so it is starting to come around. I also noticed that a pair of pants that I had worn last time I was in Atlanta (a month ago) were looser than they were the last time I wore them. They are a pair of my "fat pants" and all day I spent pulling them up. That was a good feeling.

I also have discovered another trend for me. It seems as though every time I have something salty, I seem to crave something sweet afterwards. It happened to me today with pasta at lunch (tomato based but seemed a little on the salty side) and then tonight with my stir fry (has more of a salty taste than sweet). Both times I wanted something sweet afterward. Maybe the key to not eating sweets is to eat less salty stuff. That theme has come up before and the week that I did the detox I definitely felt less bloated all week. Food for thought for sure. Aren't you guys glad you get to come on this journey with me :-)

Day 50

2009-09-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

So, I couldn't believe that I had gained weight last week so I had to weigh in again this morning. My weigh in this morning was no weight gained...much better but I will not count it as my official weigh. This week so far has been much better. I have stayed within my points each day with counting the weekly points so I hope that I can keep it up for the rest of the week and see a little bit of loss on Sunday. I know that breakfasts and lunches will be easy this week so the main challenge will be dinner. Tomorrow I am going to one of my favorite restaurants in Atlanta and will be sure to load up my plate with lots of veggies instead of noodles and meat (though I will have some). I plan to have a salad as part of my lunch and then whatever else there is that is healthy in the cafeteria. They post the nutritional facts online so I can look it all up. I was down yesterday but I feel renewed today. Day 50 is way too far into this for me to still be going back and forth...time to get serious!! As you can see from the stats, there is still room for improvements :-)

Here are my stats for yesterday:
Daily pts: 24/21 (remained counted in weekly pts used up)
Activity pts: 0
Weekly pts used up (running total): 7/35
Veggies: 3/5
Milk: 1/2
Water: 2/8

Thoroughly Frustrated

2009-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

That is how I feel right now. I was not able to weigh in yesterday morning because I was still at the beach so I had do it this morning and I had gained another pound. WTF? I didn't do great this weekend at the beach (had 2 hamburgers and some mac n' cheese) but during the week I was really careful and I felt like I made better decisions than I have other weeks when my weight stayed the same. This helped me to decide that I really think that I need to post the points I eat everyday or something.

I think that the reason that I am frustrated is because I have never had this problem before. Usually if I decide to eat healthier then I tend to lose weight. Now, I feel like I make much healthier choices than I did a few months ago and I lost a couple of pounds and then it seems to be coming back. I am not sure why that is. I am not perfect on the diet but I have never been perfect before and I have always lost weight. It is a bit discouraging for me and it makes it a little hard to concentrate on it going forward. Maybe posting the points here will help me, maybe not but I am going to keep trying and hope that this is just a bump in the road.....

I am thinking about trying to read the message boards a little more on the weight watchers website. I just don't want to eat a lot of the processed food that people use with ww so I need to figure that out a bit.

Good Choices

2009-09-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

I feel like this week I have made good choices so I wanted to share a few with you guys:

1. I love the pumpkin spice latte but when I looked it up it is 4 pts more than my normal latte so I only had it one day this week. Everything in moderation.
2. Yesterday the auction had lunch brought in....pizza and subway sandwiches. I chose the turkey sandwich from Subway and just got a tiny piece of pizza and took a couple bites just to get a little taste but so I didn't eat too much.
3. I have made sure to snack on fruit twice a day instead of something that is bad for me. It helps to get in some of my 5 servings that I need a day and keeps me from eating anything that isn't good for me.
4. Today I had a grilled chicken breast, salad (oil and vinegar dressing), and a potato with only a touch of butter (less than one of those small containers they give you at the restaurant).
5. Tonight I had snap peas and teriyaki chicken/steak/shrimp skewer.
6. Worked out last night in order to earn 4pts....that is a first in a long time.

Not bad for being on the road. I did have ice cream once but I planned it into the day so it wasn't bad.

I am feeling pretty good about my eating this week. Still need to drink more water and less diet coke...why is that such a battle when it never used to be. I must need to go cold turkey or limit it somehow but they just constantly fill up your glass at restaurants. I am considering only drinking water at restaurants and then maybe getting a can out of the vending machine or something if I want some diet coke...that way I know exactly how much I am drinking. Hopefully I can keep it up for a while and see some results on the scale. It looks like I might have to travel a lot more so I definitely need to get it down for travel :-)

Mistake

2009-09-14T18:50:00.001-07:00

That is what I made yesterday. Right after I got done talking about how good I was going to be and how I was going to start the week off right and then it happened. C and I went on a 25 mile bike ride where I burned 800 calories and at the end, I was starving. I was going to figure out food but C suggested we stop on the way home. We stopped at McDonald's where I normally get nuggets (1pt a piece) and kid sized fries. Well, yesterday C said we should try the Angus burger and I was under the impression that it was better for you than a regular burger (6pts). It was GOOD but when I looked up the nutritional value it was over 700 calories (17 pts and I only get 21 a day). Ugh!!! Luckily I had burned over 1000 calories between the gym and the bike ride but I was so upset that I didn't look up the nutrition before eating it. Lesson learned and it will NOT happened again!!! Luckily since it was my first day of my new week, I can still catch up to get back some of my "extra" points to use this weekend. I get 35 a week so even with my mistake I still have most of them (thank goodness for exercise!!)

Also, I have been thinking that I need a new format for this blog but I am not sure what yet. I want some more consistency and to use this to make me more accountable. I am going to think of ideas this week so look for it soon!

Uh Oh, up a pound

2009-09-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

Sadly, I am up a pound this week. I am sad by it but not surprised by it. Part of losing weight is knowing where your weaknesses are and dealing with them. Now, this might be too much info for some people but it is something that a part of life so hopefully everyone can be mature about it or just don't read this post. I want to be as realistic as I can with all of this.

Anyway, this week I lost a little bit of control over my cravings. This happens about once a month and even though I know I am doing it, I just have a really hard time stopping it. After a couple of months of healthy eating it gets much easier but only being a month in, I gave in. I didn't eat as much as in prior months when I completely gave in but I did have ice cream a couple times and more Reese's that I should have (and with my sister here last Sunday I had smores and pizza and stuff). I definitely didn't eat enough to gain a pound though and actually exercised and mostly stayed in my points. I think that the 1 pound is due to me just being a girl and the fact that for the last 15-17 years I tend to gain about 2 lbs once a month. It is just a symptom that I get with all the loveliness. I really hope that it why the pound showed up this week but I guess we will find out next week.

Today is the start of my next week and I have a few challenges this week. I am leaving town EARLY tomorrow to go out of town for the week for work and then to spend a few days at the beach with the girls. I am going to try to be really good with my eating and exercising all week so I can really enjoy my time with the girls without having to worry too much about what I am eating. I am not going to go crazy and eat chips and soda all day but a few beers and maybe some desserts with dinner would be nice. I am working with another guy out of town which tends to give me problems because we all go to lunch and sometimes dinner together so I don't always get to pick the place. Also, I have to be ready to eat when they are so it is not always the best for working out but I am committed to working out this week. I want to earn at least 3 Activity points a day! Wish my luck.

As for today...I went to the gym this morning and got about 3 pts and now Craig and I are about to go on a bike ride so that will be probably another 5-6 pts or so! YAY! Starting off the week really well!

What Al Taught Me....

2009-09-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was asked if I used my heart rate monitor anymore. The answer is definitely YES! I love that thing. I named him (well, actually a friend of mine named him) Fat Albert and I call him Al for short. Al is the best friend a girl could have because no matter what, he will not lie to me. He teaches me more about how my body burns calories than any article I could read. Because you take your resting heart rate and you do a little thing called OZone (where you measure how your heart reacts at certain levels of activity) to give you a fitness score, it is one of the more accurate ways to measure your calories burned for YOU. Here are a couple of things that I have learned from Al.

1. I DO NOT burn 600-800 calories in a one hour spin class. I don't want to burst anyone's bubble but according to my buddy Al, I only burn 300-400 (a little over 400 if they class is really good). Now, this does vary by person and your weight and stuff does matter, but I cringe every time I hear my instructor say that we are burning between 600 and 800 calories. As a matter of fact, the more in shape you are, the less work your heart does so the less calories you burn for the same work. I know she is saying that as motivation but I hope that no one uses it to eat extra treats.

2. The treadmill's calories are not accurate. I think that most people know that but just in case. It is sort of funny because when you start exercising, the calories are close, about 15 mins in they start to vary from each other and by the end of a one hour session my heart rate monitor says I have burned a full 50 extra calories. So, depending on how long you work out, your calories may be off one way or the other.

3. I really don't get a good benefit from walking until after 10-12 mins. The first few minutes my heart rate is not much more than it would normally be with me walking around. After that time though it starts to pick up and I seem to get into a mode where it will hover a little elevated for the remainder of the workout. So, I try to never do less than 20 mins.

4. Just because you sweat, doesn't mean you are burning more calories. I used to use that as an indicator....not a very accurate one or concrete one but I used to love to go to spin classes because I sweat more in them so I felt like I was working out harder. Now, while there is no doubt a benefit to sweating out toxins, if you are just looking at burning calories, I actually burn more calories walking (at a 3.8pace) on the treadmill in the "interval mode". It is 2 mins with no incline and then 2 mins with a 3 incline. I burn over 500 calories doing that (as opposed to my 300-400 in spin) but I don't sweat nearly as much as I do in spin class....sometimes I barely sweat.

5. You can't cheat. There is no way to burn calories without actually doing the work. I used to just say I was going to do 20 mins of biking at the gym and think that I was still doing well...the truth is that while this might be good for my leg muscles, it did very little to raise my heart rate at all.

6. Lifting weights elevates your heart rate more than you think. I used to think that because I didn't sweat that much (though I did with a person trainer but not really on my own) with lifting, that meant that I wasn't really working out (see #4). Turns out that I was completely wrong. I have started to notice that I burn a good amount of calories when lifting weights and my heart rate seems to ebb and flow with the lifting.

7. I can tell when something is off....like the post a did last week where my heart rate was really elevated when I had barely done anything. It was an isolated incident but had it not been, I might have discovered something that I wouldn't have otherwise.

I highly recommend that anyone who is going to use calories that you burn through exercise as part of your weight loss plan, gets a HRM. (for WW you get to add in Activity points based on every 100 cals burned but they do not replace 1 for 1 the calories you eat. I think that this is a good way to go about it because it teaches you not to use exercise for a crutch to eat whatever you want.)

.6 down

2009-09-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I weighed in on Sunday morning (though I had to move the scale to weigh in and I never know if that messes with it or not) and I lost .6 lbs. It is not the amount that I was hoping for. I was hoping that since I was at home all week and since I did the detox at the beginning of the week (and snuck a peek at the scale) that I would have lost over a pound but it didn't happen. When I look back, I know why it didn't happen. I went out two nights last week and had about 3 beers each night and I had some very fattening ice cream while my sister was here on Saturday night. It all makes sense and I will just be better about it all this week. I still think that it was good that I lost and didn't gain anything but hopefully in the next couple weeks I can get some more off. I am back on the road next week for the next two weeks so it could be a little harder. The bright side of being on the road is that I don't have to make the food but then again, I don't make the food so it is harder to control what goes into it. I also have become accustomed to eating more fruits and veggies and nuts than previously so I will definitely be making a stop at the grocery store.

Yesterday I had a snack of some Doritos and probably ate more than a serving and my stomach didn't feel good afterward. That is a good sign to me. That means that my eating habits are starting to adjust and my stomach (and body) recognize when I give it junk food and it makes me feel yucky (which it should). Hopefully this will continue. I can take the .6lbs at a time as long as it keeps going down each week. Eventually I will get there...even if it takes me 6 months and that is all that matters.

Day 3 Detox

2009-09-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

I made it!! I think that I am going to try to keep up the extra fruit and veggies up but am going to definitely have my latte tomorrow and will probably reintroduce meat in as well. I will try to hold down the salt content and will use more herbs and natural seasonings because they really do taste better.

Here are my eats for the day:
breakfast - pear, sunflower seeds
snack - sunflower seeds
lunch - Panera side salad (with some balsamic vinegar) and panera summer corn chowder (this was not the best choice because it was a bit creamy (not thick but still)).
Snack - trailmix (raisins and other nuts, no salt)
Dinner - Wendy's baked potato (had to put a tiny amount of buttery spread because it wasn't tasting too good with the pepper) and side salad without dressing (sadly I like the taste of lettuce).

When I was reading all these websites about the detox and cleansing, a lot of them said that it would cause you to go to the bathroom a lot more....and some of them even suggested taking laxatives to help things along. I didn't really experience that in the first two days but then tonight, I did have a little tummy ache. I say this just to make the point that just because you do a detox, it doesn't mean that you will spend the whole day on the toilet.

Day 2 of Detox

2009-09-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a rough day for me. My headache was awful all day and I found it hard to concentrate at work. When I got home I went for a bike ride with C and where my heart rate is normally around 130, it was spiked to 160. I am not sure if that related to the fact that the night before I had not slept well and the cats seemed to bother me so my asthma was acting up or if it had to do with something else. Once I calmed down and got into the ride, it slowed back down and was more normal but I just found it weird.

I still feel more full than I normally do and think that I can tell that my blood sugar seems more stable. I have eaten a lot of nuts though and those have fat in them....unfortunately. Without all the salt to retain water, I feel like I pee a lot more.

Last night I had to give in and have some caffeine. My headache was unbearable and I don't plan on giving it up for good so I figured it wouldn't hurt. I think that my recommendation to anyone trying to do this would be to either ween yourself off the caffeine before you start or just to not give up the caffeine. I fully realize that this means that it might not have the full effect that it is supposed to have but I also seriously doubt that one cup of a caffeinated beverage will really derail it completely.

Here are my eats for yesterday and I honestly didn't feel hungry until right before dinner:
breakfast: peach, nuts
snack: grapes, nuts
lunch: brown rice, nuts
dinner: cod with lemon and pepper, snap peas, mashed potatoes (no butter, salt or milk)

Today and probably tonight I will have to eat out so I am going to try to stick to the most unprocessed items I can get but I think that I might struggle a little here. Overall, I feel like the affect is still really good. I haven't eaten anything processed since noon on Saturday so it has been three days and I still feel good (minus the headaches...which someone said could be the toxins leaving, not sure I buy that and I think that it is just caffeine related). I think that I have found easy ways to replace items I would have eaten before and I think that I can follow a healthier diet now than before. So, while I might not have been as strict about the caffeine as I should have been, and while I might have to eat out tonight, I am still WAY better off than I was a week ago. I have also been drinking more water so that has helped a lot too. I think that if I slowly adjust my eating habits to be more like these three days (but adding back in milk and meat) then I think that I will slowly get rid of whatever it is that processed food puts in your body. I am not looking for a quick fix but I do think that these three days have been a good jump start.

Day 1 of Detox

2009-08-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

I weighed in this morning and losts .8 lbs. Not a bad number considering I was on the road last week and I had Mexican (read as: huge bowls of cheese dip and chips) twice while traveling. That is right in line with healthy weight loss and it might take me a while to get to my goal weight but at least I know I can live that way and I am not doing something that I can't keep up.

So, today is my official day of Detox and I am not sure how it is going. I have a headache and I am sure it is because of the lack of caffeine this morning. Sad, but true. I have often read that the benefits of caffeine outweigh the negatives but it is part of the detox to not have any coffee, which I assume means espresso (which is what is in my lattes). It does say that you can have herbal teas so I am headed to the grocery soon to get some green tea or something to see if it will help the headache. Other than that, it has not been that bad. I can have fish so I think that I am going to attempt to cook some fish tonight...we will see.

I will update after the day is done what I ate today.

Update: Ok, it is 9:30 now so I am pretty confident that I am done eating for the day. Here is a run down and a recipe :-)

Breakfast: Bowl of grapes, peach, and 1/4 cup of unsalted nuts
Lunch: 1/4 cup of unsalted nuts, leftover potatoes from last night
Snack: 1/4 cup of unsalted nuts (I know, a lot of nuts)
Dinner: Halibut with lemon, garlic, and dill (see recipe below), brown rice plain, snap peas

Honestly, I was not really hungry throughout the day...Granted, all of this was eaten between 10am and 7pm so there weren't tons of hours to get hungry during but I will say that I felt more satisfied without ever feeling full. I am taking some of the brown rice to work tomorrow for lunch. The one thing that I have realized so far from this (other than the fact that I get a huge headache with no caffeine) is that I put salt on a lot of items. I am not too concerned about it since the amount of salt we get from table salt is really small in comparison to the salt in the processed foods we eat, but I really do miss it. I would have put it on the rice tonight and the potatoes. Pepper will have to do.

Halibut Recipe (halibut is pricey but this was good).

2 Halibut steaks
1 tablespoon dill (I used fresh from my garden)
1/2 Lemon (fresh)
1 clove of garlic (fresh)

Rinse and pat down the fish, cut up the lemon and squeeze it on the fish, chop up the dill and garlic and place that on there. Bake in the oven at 375 for about 20 mins....yummy!!

It was super easy and tasted good. The dill and lemon was strong but I like both of those flavors. If you don't you might want to sub in something.

Day .5

2009-08-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

I am starting the detox process today. I say Day .5 because I wasn't able to start after lunch. I am not actually going to seriously count this day but figured that I would do all the shopping and then start the process. Not sure how it is going to go but I am going to do it for 3 days at first and then see if I want to try to make it a week.

Basically the only things I can't eat are processed foods, dairy, and meat (plus no salt or butter, but I can use herbs, garlic, and olive oil). Right now I have some potatoes roasting in the oven with some olive oil and italian seasoning. I think that brown rice and potatoes are going to be key to this for me. They seem more filling than the fruit and veggies that I had for lunch but we will see.

I am also allowed to have unsalted nuts and popcorn but good luck finding that anywhere. I am going to try a health food store tomorrow but no luck at Kroger (either that or it was just too packed for me to look that long).

Other than that, the weigh in is tomorrow....not sure it will be good but at least I will be in town the next two weeks so I am going to make some progress there!!

Exercise

2009-08-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

I don't feel like doing it. I just don't and I struggle with that. For some reason when I am home I love going to the gym and I love sweating but lately I haven't felt like it on the road. I know that it can be a vital part of losing weight and I like the extra points that it gives me to eat but I guess not enough to make me actually do the exercise. I am hoping that today it is just because I am still on the very edge of a somewhat cold. The only real symptom I have left is a little tightness in my breathing....that is not too bad but it makes it even less appealing to exercise.

Other than that, the eating went pretty well until lunch yesterday and today. Yesterday was Mexican and I cannot resist cheese dip. I just can't do it. I don't ever suggest Mexican restaurants if I am trying to be healthy for this very reason but yesterday I went to lunch with the location personnel and I had to eat there. I did get fajitas without the tortilla but I also inhaled the cheese dip as always. Sadly, the cheese is not the bad part for you, the bad part is the tortillas. Today was Italian. I went to an Italian place the other night but picked the fish entree instead of pasta but today I gave in. I did still get a chicken scampi dish and mostly ate the chicken but there was still butter and pasta involved.

I am going to be home tomorrow night and for two weeks after that so I am hoping to really make some progress in that time. I found a cleanse that I like and I think that I might try to do it. Some websites say to only do it for 3 days but the one I found says 7. I am not sure if I could keep it up for 7 days but I could definitely do it for 3. The only thing that I don't understand about this stuff is that most of them tell you that you might feel flu like symptoms while your body is getting rid of the stuff. So, if they are already in your body, how come you start to feel bad when they are leaving? Doesn't seem logical to me but we will see....not sure what day I will start with.

Day 22

2009-08-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day for me as far as making good choices. I stuck with my breakfast of my latte (for the milk and caffeine), the nectarine and then around 10am the powerbar. It worked pretty well. We went to lunch around 12:30 and I was pretty hungry but I made it. At lunch we went to Panera and normally I would order the french onion soup in a bread bowl and eat the whole bread bowl (total of 12 points and mostly bread) but today I had a half a chicken salad sandwhich on multigrain bread and then french onion soup with no cheese or croutons (but had a baggette) so it was 10.5 points and I had lettuce and the protein of the chicken so I feel like it was a better use of points as well.

Tonight at dinner I had fish with some potatoes and a touch of bread and pasta. I only ate about half of my meal and was satisfied and then I had some dried cranberries as a snack about 3 hours later.

All in all, I think that I had a good eating day today. I feel good about it all and I think that even though I might have eaten close to the same calories for some things but I think that the calories were more useful....less processed stuff and more that my body can use. I also didn't get to the water recommendation but I did drink more water today than I have the last few days.

I am considering trying to do a natural foods detox plan if I ever get 7 days in a row in town. It is not one of those crazy "drink this pepper/maple syrup/lemonade" mixture and laxatives detox, it is more just eating raw stuff and cutting out meat and dairy for a week. You basically just eat all natural stuff (fruit, veggies, potatoes, brown rice, fish, unsalted nuts, unsalted seeds, honey, garlic, olive oil, that type of stuff). I think that it wouldn't be that much different from what I do now with the exception of the meat, bread, and dairy...the dairy might be the hardest because I would have to give up my lattes and my caffeine (no coffee either). I might try to do it even on a week I am traveling but I have a feeling I would have to eat a lot of plain salads and I am not sure I could sustain it. I think that I would have better luck at home where I could get stuff that was good at the grocery...only problem is that that could take a month before I will have a whole week at home. Has anyone tried anything like this before? I feel like it would be in line with my eating less processed food and would be good for my body...win/win. You can't do it for very long cause there is no protein but the website I found recommended a week.

.4 sticks...

2009-08-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

I moved the scale into the bathroom last night and C promptly told me to move it back out until it was ready (the bathroom). I explained that I needed it today and he suggested that I use it on the carpet...clearly coming from someone who has never had to weight himself. UGH. Anyway, it stayed all night in the bathroom but still didn't work until the 3rd time I stepped on it this morning but the .4 stuck.

Yesterday I did really well with the eating. If I hadn't had a tiny bit of ice cream (I actually measured it this time so it was about half the amount I normally have :-)) I would have right in my points. I even did pretty well today....I used a few of my weekly points today but I felt like I ate really healthy and the only thing I had that was processed was a powerbar.

I did go to the grocery here to get some nectarines, dried cranberries, and supreme bars. I checked the cranberries and there is only cranberries and sugar (no ingredients I didn't know) and then the supreme bars aren't great but I feel like they will be better for me than the other things I could get at the hotel. My plan for the next few days is to have a bar, a piece of fruit and my latte. Unfortunately, that is 9 of the 21 points I get for the day but I am hoping it will help with the hunger the rest of the day. I still need to work more on the drinking water part!

.4

2009-08-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

Not much but I will take it. I still am not sure how accurate that is though. My scale was still on the carpet and I moved it into the bathroom to weigh in but they first time I stepped on it, I was told that I lost 18 pounds. While I ate pretty well last week, 18 lbs in one week seems a bit extreme and sure enough, right after that I got an error. I let the scale sit and went back after a little while and it registered at .4 less than last week (and I did it three times to be sure). I am a little disappointed that it wasn't more but at the same time, my goal was just to not gain while I was on the road and that mission was accomplished. I still had to have Wendy's yesterday because we were busy all day and then I was hungry right then and needed to eat. To avoid that from happening again today when I ran my errands this morning I picked up some roast beef, locally grown potatoes and locally grown green beans and corn. I was able to get all the locally grown stuff at Kroger. I was pretty proud of Kroger and pretty happy that the items were on sale. It is part of my eating less processed food.

There is actually a new kind of Kroger here called Fresh Fare and they have a lot more local and fresh stuff. I guess since the Kroger I went to was close to the new one they decided to carry some of that stuff too. Of course Kroger is based out of Cinci so we should be able to get the good stuff here. I actually noticed that the green beans were not as perfect and the corn looked bigger than normal. I had often read that more locally grown items do not look as pretty but can be bigger. It is due to the fact that they don't use all the fast growing stuff to make them pretty but they also don't pick them premature to allow for traveling time. I am happy with both of those options.

So far the eating is going well today. I had a bigger breakfast with my latte, eggs, and a whole grain english muffin. Other than that, mostly fruit today and then I just told you about my dinner. I am not feeling well so I am a little worried about the travel I have this week but hopefully with some medicine and a good night's sleep I will feel better.

Day 19

2009-08-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

If I was counting days then this would be Day 19 and since I can't come up with a better title, here I am :-)

This week I was on the road until last night and faced with the challenges of traveling and having to eat out all week. I think that I did pretty well. I definitely had breakfast under control the first few days and I made good decisions for lunch. Dinner was a little harder and all my extra points for the week are gone. I did exercise 4 times this week so that was a good step for me.

One thing that I learned this week is that maybe I should find something more filling to eat for breakfast. Normally I have a latte and then some frosted wheat or honeynut cheerios. I did this on Monday and Tuesday and actually Wednesday too, but on Wednesday I was still starving. I decided to go downstairs and get pancakes. I had no idea how big they were and I ate all of it. I wasn't hungry again until 2pm and even then I could have waited longer. So, to test my theory, on Thursday I had a pancake again (only one this time) and I was full again until about 1:30 and wasn't starving then. Now I am trying to think of what I can eat at home to have the same effect. I think that it will help start my day better. Any ideas (and it must be stuff I can get on the run or out of town), let me know.

Weigh in is on Sunday so hopefully I did well this week. It will be my first week on the road but I will be gone again next week so it will be good to see if I was able to make good choices or not.

8/21 stats:
Daily Points: 21
Activity Points: 3.5
Points Used: 19 (still have dinner and pizza is planned)
Flex Points Left: 0
Water Consumed: 8 ozs (really bad!!)

Week 3 on WW

2009-08-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

So, I have not been good at all about posting. I really need to be better about it.

It is week three for me on Weight Watchers, and I feel like it is going pretty well. I had to switch my weigh in days to Sundays since I have been traveling so much and I don't mind that much. It sort of helps me to split up the weekend a little bit, even though a week is a week. I tried to weigh myself on Sunday but my scale was on carpet due to renovations. That doesn't work well. I tried to move it to the bathroom but it kept giving me an error so I don't really know what my weight was. I did go over my points a bit for the week but not by as much as last week and I did work out 4 days last week so I am hoping I lost something at least. Hopefully this Sunday I will be able to weigh in again and hopefully the bathroom renovations will be done by then :-)

As for some tips that I have come up with to make things a little easier, here are a few. I try to keep things as normal as possible and I am still trying to use more natural and unprocessed foods (though it doesn't always work).

1. When I made zucchini the other day I replaced the whole 2 cups of sugar with honey. I did it because honey is less processed than sugar, but I will say that it was also more calories and it did give the bread a honey taste. I probably wouldn't replace it all again but I would try half and half next time.
2. I replaced the oil in the recipe with unsweetened applesauce. The recipe called for 1 cup of oil and that amounted to almost 2,000 calories and 220 grams of fat (granted, healthy fats but fat nonetheless) and I used a cup of applesauce for 50 calories and 1 gram of fat. I believe I will do this from now on because it didn't effect the bread at all.
3. I put my Reeses' buttercup minis in the freezer. Now when I crave some chocolate I will go and get one but it takes longer to eat because I have to suck on it for a while before it is soft enough. This keeps me from popping them quickly into my mouth.

Those are all the tips that I have now but I will continue to add them as I find ones that work. If anyone else has any tips let me know!

This week and next week are going to be a big challenge for me because I am on the road most of this week and all of next week. Traveling just makes it harder to find things that taste good and are ok for you to eat. Hopefully it will go ok. My goal is to maintain my weight on the weeks that I travel and to lose weight on the weeks that I don't. I will keep you guys updated.

Week 2 on WW

2009-08-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

Well, i did a really bad job of posting every day last week about my weight watchers, but I did much better in the actual eating department. I lost 2.4 pounds last week! YAY!! I am so excited and hope that this will start me on the right path to lose even more. I feel comforted by the fact that ww is the only thing that I have successfully lost weight on.

I need to get back into the exercise and drinking water. That always seems to help me so hopefully I will see even better results when I add that in....

A New Start

2009-08-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder how many times I will have a title like that. I am hoping that this is the last time for the foreseeable future or ever!!

I have decided that after gaining a few more pounds in the last few weeks that I need to start doing Weight Watchers. I have done it before on my own and I was successful with it. I think that after being at the beach and watching those around me I realized that I am not necessarily eating the wrong things but I am definitely eating too much of the right things (or semi right, I still had ice cream and candy). The last time I did WW I was able to better control the portions and for some odd reason it was like a little challenge every day (but more fun than just counting calories). For some reason I feel embarrassed to admit that I need to do this and to be on a "diet" in order to get in shape, but it is just reality. I tried on my own and it didn't work. I think that I like the Weight Watchers program because I can still have what i want (maybe less of it but still). I feel like it better enables me to treat myself without getting out of hand and it helps me to control the portions which is my biggest problem.

Yesterday was my first day and I did pretty well. I get 21 points a day and then 35 flex points a week plus any daily activity points I earn. I plan to put my stats at the bottom of each post to help keep me on track.

Also on the agenda is to drink more water! I realized that there were whole days last week where I had NO WATER. That is not good for you. I am not sure how I went from the days when I would drink 80 ozs a day and crave it to the days where I would drink NONE. Ridiculous!

8/3 stats:
Daily Points: 21
Activity Points: 4
Points Used: 27
Flex Points Left: 32
Water Consumed: 32 ozs

Biking

2009-07-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

Part of my wanting to get healthier involves me wanting to incorporate exercise into normal activities that I like to do. Not be a slave to the treadmill. So, today I went on a 25 mile bike ride with C. It was really good. I felt pretty good the whole time and on the way back I sped it up a bit. I think that we made it back about 5-10 mins faster than we went. That is good in my book!

Another part of the wanting to get healthy is not just losing weight (which I don't feel is going well) but doing other things as well. I think that I might start to feature some of these other things once or twice a week.

I will be weighing myself tomorrow. I don't really feel like I have lost any weight this week but I have tried to pay attention to what I eat. I am wondering if the whole writing everything down deal might work best for me. I had to have to do that but if I think that I am eating well but I am not losing weight, something isn't working. Something to think about.

I did manage to exercise a lot this week. I am pretty proud of that because I got in 5 days this week! Yay me!

More tomorrow after I weight myself :-(

Progress is slow...

2009-07-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

but it is my own fault. I had ice cream almost every day last week. I know, i know, but ever just crave something? I do and then I eat it for a while and then it is gone. I feel like since it will not be a permanent fixture and since I would crave it more if I didn't, then I should have it. Not the best way to lose weight per se, but I kept the portions small and I think that had I tried to avoid it then I would have ended up eating more actually calories trying to avoid it.

Other than that, I have been cooking a lot and even though the weight loss was not a lot this week, it was still some. I just finished reading In Defense of Food and it will really change your perspective on food. Since I have read it I have tried to really only eat fresh food. It hasn't been too difficult (and obviously ice cream is not all natural) so far. I am not sure I can do it completely and even if I did, I would have to eat out when I go out of town. I am going to do a full review on it a little later but I just wanted to post really quickly to say hi! I need to post more often but I just feel like I would be saying the same things over and over again. I guess that is the journey to get healthy though....and hence the title of the blog.

2009-06-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Well, this week I didn't lose any weight but I also didn't gain any. Hopefully this upcoming week will be different and I will actually lose some. I thought that I ate really well last week so I am a little disappointed that I didn't lose any but at the same time, I did eat out for every meal and had ice cream twice (though not that much). Since being back I have been eating lots of fruits and veggies and cooking every night so hopefully I will reap the benefits soon.

Even though I didn't lose while I was on the road, I did maintain and I felt better overall. I tried to pick healthy options and I always ordered a house salad as a starter but only used oil and vinegar as the dressing. I think that helped because then I didn't fill up on bread and I was getting some healthy fats in the oil (which I used sparingly). For the first time in a really long time I felt like I was able to make good choices while traveling. That gives me hope that if I can lose weight on the weeks that I am home then maybe I can at least maintain it while I am on the road. We will see how it goes.

Better

2009-06-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

This week I have been much better. I don't know it if is because I have been so busy at work or because I have made a real effort but whatever it is, I have done better. I went to the grocery store and got mini wheats and fruit. I still drink my latte in the morning but I snack on mini wheats and fruit. I have been looking up where we were going to lunch and eating the healthiest thing that they have caloriewise. I also always order a side salad and get oil and vinegar as my dressing but only put a little on. So far I feel like it has worked. I haven't worked out at all though. I brought all the stuff but then I have been busy and my neck has been bothering me, that makes it hard to do a whole lot with weights and stuff.

I hope that my weigh in on Monday will show my progress and I am in town for the next 3 weeks with access to more healthy food and the gym :-) I am pretty excited about it. Unfortunately I am going to be on the road a bit more than I had wanted to be so I am glad that I have been able to eat better on the road.

Good news/Bad news

2009-06-22T03:50:00.000-07:00

Bad news is that I didn't lose any weight last week. Good news is that I didn't gain any weight last week. I am over the whole 'wanting to eat everything in sight' thing and am back to being rational about it all.

I am traveling for work for the next 5 days but I am going to set a goal of getting all my water in and eating at least 3-5 servings of fruit and veggies per day. I also have a new protein bar that D gave me that I will probably try out later this morning. So far, so good, I had an apple with my breakfast latte.

I am a little worried about the restaurant choices in the town I am going to because it is a really small town. When my employees travled there most of their receipts were from fast food. I am going to have to try hard to get all the healthy stuff in :-). Mentally I feel like I am ready again after my little relapse.

Today Went Better

2009-06-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

I was pretty good today. The one disappointing thing that happened was that I went downstairs and got a cheese omelet in the morning. I thought 3 eggs, some cheese, and some oliver oil couldn't be that bad, right? WRONG. it was over 500 calories and 42g of fat according to the website of the company that runs our cafeteria. That sucks. I have no idea what they put it that mix to make it that fattening and I thought I was being all healthy. That has happened to me a lot in the dining room so I have decided that they just don't have any healthy options other than fruit for breakfast. I will be purchasing cereal like whole grain cheerios to bring next time I am in town. Live and learn. Plus, hopefully by the next time I get here I will be eating healthier.

The good news is that I have been writing down everything I eat so I am going to add up the calories. I did that for yesterday and I had eaten 2425 cals...YIKES!! That is about 500-600 above what I normally eat or at least normally since I started to try to eat well.

This is harder than I thought...or at least the traveling part is harder than I thought.

I took some before pictures today in my studio. I took them in a tank top and jeans because that is my favorite outfit and what I really want to look good in. I might get brave enough to post them but it might not be until I have gotten some progress under my belt :-)

Not Getting Better

2009-06-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was hard and today hasn't been much better. I feel like I just want to eat everything in sight. I know that part of it is the fact that I am a woman and one week a month I literally want to eat everything that I can get my hands on. I haven't really ever come up with a good way to control it and I am not sure I will ever be able to...I know you are supposed to eat less sodium and that should help so I am trying that and I have eaten a lot of fruit so that at least if I am eating a lot it will be somewhat good for me. UGH.

Tonight I had dinner with the girls....Mexican. Normally at Mexican I will pretty much polish off the cheese dip on my own and will be stuffed afterwards but I feel like I did a little bit better tonight. I didn't do so well to say no to the cheese dip (good job D, you were so good) but I did eat less. I also tried to be somewhat healthy with my meal choice of tacos and a side salad. The dressing was really spicey so I didn't eat a lot of it. I didn't do as well as I could have by eating ahead of time but I don't really have anything here to eat ahead of time.

I am starting to worry that I will not lose again this week and might even gain. The thing is, I could use the excuse of being out of town but I just can't. Half my life is spent out of town and I have got to learn to do it. I feel like I am making better choices but still not the best choices.

The other day a friend of mine told me that she learned to stop eating when she was full. She said it was harder than dieting and I believe her. I really struggle with that. I hate leaving food on my plate and I eat fast so I always feel like I should keep eating when other people are still eating. Obviously these are some of the additional obstacles that I need to cross and I hope that I can. This has not been as easy as I thought. The first week was easy but not being home and in my comfort zone has been hard.

The good news is that I did go to a spin class today so that is at least a few hundred calories that I burned....and I had a few servings of fruit today which is more than I normally have. Baby steps....

Long Day

2009-06-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

Today was a bit hard for me. I feel like all I have done is eat all day. I haven't added up all the calories yet but most of it was fruit so hopefully it will not be too bad when I do add them up. I am hoping that it is just the fact that I go up super early today that has made me so hungry. I also meant to go to the grocery store tonight but I didn't get a chance to so now I don't have any snacks for tomorrow. I am going to try to go in the morning when they serve breakfast and get some fruit and stuff. We will see :-) I just really wanted to complain because today was a hard day eating wise and sadly I didn't work out either :-(

On the bright side, I ordered chinese tonight and I got steamed chicken and veggies with no sauce really...it was actually pretty good so I was glad that I chose the healthy thing :-) Baby steps.

Vacation was harder than I thought!

2009-06-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

So, as you can see by the ticker, vacation didn't go as well and I had hoped that it would as far as eating goes. I will say that I did pretty well on the snacking and stuff (cause I was prepared) but it was really hard to find healthy things to eat in the national parks. It was a lot of burgers and sandwiches that you would think would be healthy but then it would come out with all this butter and stuff on it. I knew that I wasn't making the best choices but at the same time, we were walking A LOT and it was only 1 week into my plan so I didn't feel like I really had a good enough handle on it all to be really good on vacation. I am done with that now and I am moving on though. I am hoping that I didn't really gain all that weight back because sometimes when I fly it distorts my weight a bit. I know that is an excuse and notice that I still recorded the weight but I can still hope, right? I will be out of town for the next few days so I will not be able to weigh in again in the morning until next Monday.

One thing that I did think a lot about on vacation is the amount of processed food that our country (and I) consume. Nearly everything at the restaurants in the parks was processed or prepackaged or what not. It isn't good for us! I don't do that too much at home (except when I lazily use the lean cuisines at lunch) when I am cooking and making an effort so I think that I am going to try to incorporate that idea into my diet. I am going to try to really cut out a lot of the processed foods that I eat. I started thinking about it and I really do eat more that is processed than I thought I did. So, over the next few weeks (the next two being out of town) I am going to try to reduce the amount of processed food and really pay attention to what I am eating and what is and isn't processed. I plan on going to the grocery when I get back in a couple weeks and trying to find somewhere here that I can get some fresh food (I miss you Dekalb Farmer's Market). Hopefully the next two weeks will go better than the vacation week went. Plus, we need to have a break every now and again, right? If I only ate really bad for 4 weeks a year I would be in great shape overall. I also tend to think that as I get healthier I will automatically make better choices (at least that is what I hope).....here is to hoping.

1.8 down, 18.2 to go!

2009-06-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

I weighed myself this morning and I was down some more. YAY! I am excited that my eating well and working out is paying off! I do not feel well at all today. I am not sure what the deal is but I think that it might have been something I ate (which was a salad from Wendy's last night...I know, fast food but it was a side salad). Anyway. It hit me all of a sudden this morning and I haven't really felt the same ever since. It worries me a bit since I am going on vacation tomorrow but hopefully it is just a one day thing.

Due to the fact that I haven't felt well, the only thing I have eaten today is Honeynut Cheerios. I ate lots of them (like 3 cups at different times) but it is the only thing I have eaten. I am going to try to get some bread for some toast tonight and hope that will help.

So, in prep for vacation I looked at the towns we are staying in and there were some regular restaurants (where I know I will have ok options) and there were grocery stores. We also have a hotel room with a fridge so that is good. My plan is to take fruit from the breakfast bar (apples and such) every morning and to use the trail mix that I made out of healthy cereal. The goal is really just to not gain any weight while on vacation. I doubt I will be able to lose any...wish me luck!

Week 1

2009-06-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

I am not quite finished with week one and I have already had a couple of hard times. Yesterday I did the whole ice cream thing..bad calories and ended pretty high for the day but not terrible....really....

Last night I had packed my little frozen pizza for lunch today to take to Craig's house. When I got to his house though Chloe was playing in my bag (it was unzipped) and I didn't want her to get out anything that would be bad for her so I zipped it up. Well, this morning when I went to get my clothes I realized that I had also forgotten to take out the pizza...oops. Not sure if those are still good. It was out of the freezer for 8 hours, but I am sure it took a while to thaw. Anyone have any idea? Anyway, that left me in a pinch for lunch today. I saw a sign for this store that I remember Craig and I going to once and it was sort of like Whole Foods on steriods so I decided to check that out. I even went to the healthy food section and started looking at some of their frozen pizzas and they were worse for you then the lean cuisine ones....hmmm. So, I decided to get the macaroni lean cuisine and I just ate it. Not too bad. I can't say that it has tons of nutrition in it but at least I am full without many calories.

I am going to try to stay away from frozen foods but they are sort of my version of fast food right now. I was so tempted to go by Wendy's or McDonald's or something today. I figured that the frozen food (and 300 calories) was much better for me than nuggets and fries. Baby steps. At least I don't have the urge to snack on everything in sight today. That is another baby step (or just a good day I guess).

I am going to skip the gym tonight. I have pretty much worked out every day since last Tuesday and I just feel like I need a little mini break. Plus, I walked a fair distance at the mall today so I am going to count that...and I have more errands to run tonight.

Tipping off the wagon....

2009-06-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

oops, I had some ice cream tonight. I have had one of those days where I just wanted to snack all day. I am not sure what happened....it might have been that I was stuck in traffic this morning and got to work really late so I was a little off on my morning snack...or it could just be one of those days. I did refrain from eating everything in sight today but I couldn't do without the ice cream. My tongue was a little tender from the sunflower seeds so it made it feel better...

I did go to an awesome new workout class tonight though...I will definitely be going back to that one! I also have a feeling that my body will be hating me tomorrow!

Ever have those days when you just want to eat everything?

I can't believe it is yogurt...

2009-06-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Yogurt and I have never really gotten along very well. I don't particularly love the texture of it and it seems to have a funny aftertaste to me so I don't really eat it that much. However, with this new healthy kick and it being good for you and the fact that I saw a coupon in the paper on Sunday and then it was also on sale at the grocery, made me feel like it was a sign. So, I have decided to try it again. I don't really like the fruit flavors that much but I got the yoplait cinnamon roll and boston creme pie (you know those awful commercials..ugh). I had to think of something to deal with the whole texture issue (yes, I am a baby) so I was going to do granola but that is really fattening so I started thinking about other ideas and settled on oatmeal. SO, last night I had some boston creme pie yogurt with half a cup of oatmeal mixed in....it wasn't so bad. I had it for dinner last night because I wasn't that hungry and figured that the protein in the yogurt would be good for me after my spin class. It was pretty good for a 250 calorie dinner with good for you stuff in it. I might have to do it again. It also is a pretty good snack (depending on how many calories you want in your snack). The yogurt without the oatmeal was only 100 calories and probably much better for me than any 100 calorie pack I can think of :-) I will consider this a victory.

Other than that, I continue to drink the water and I seem to feel a difference (or it is all in my head, who knows). I made a rule that I can't have any diet soda for the day until I have had 64 ounces of water and for the last week I have stuck with it! I have also continued to chomp on sunflower seeds during the day but now my mouth hurts from the salt so I must find some that are not salted...anyone have any ideas on that one?

Next week is vacation and I am not going to kill myself on vacation. I will eat healthy as much as I can and just try not to gain any weight. Other than that I am going to enjoy myself while I am gone. Hopefully that will be enough.

Time to go get another bottle of water.....

.4 lbs down, 19.6 to go

2009-06-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

I survived the weekend! YAY! I drank all my water (minus a little on Sunday but I was really close) and I curbed some of my normal tenancies.

On Friday I ate less pizza because I had a veggie snack beforehand.

On Saturday at brunch I had turkey bacon, buckwheat pancakes, and sugar free syrup.

I also bought some fruit this weekend to snack on and cooked a yummy dinner last night.

I was really happy to see the scale move at least a little...I know it is not much but it is something and you have to start somewhere. Today I have been snacking on sunflower seeds...those are a bit addicting though so I need to curb that a bit. I also bought some cereals to make some trail mix for our trip next week, I hope that will help too. And finally, I got a little notebook and I am keeping track of all the things that I eat...even if it is only a little grab here and there. We will see how this keeps up....

Today is a spin class at the gym.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

It's the little things

2009-05-29T20:37:00.001-07:00

That is what I have decided and that is how I am going to look at this whole process. Start out with the little things. I talked yesterday about how I was struggling to drink water. Well, today I had completed my 64 ounces by 4:30. Pretty good and it meant that I could have my diet coke with dinner tonight. I know it seems like a really small step but I also know that water is really good for me so I am trying...one step at a time.

I did discover today and yesterday that snacking on some sunflower seeds (the kind that are still in the shell did help a little bit with snacking. They take a lot time to eat and aren't many calories plus they have some of the good stuff in there for you. The only thing I didn't like was that they make your tongue hurt if you eat too many (salt), so I might try some nonsalted ones if I can find them. I will let you know as I go if I find any good secrets. Let me know what you guys have heard is good!

Another accomplishment was our Friday night pizza. Normally by the time we get it I am starving and will scarf down half of it (it is not that large) but today I knew it was coming and had an afternoon snack of carrots. I also ate a lot slower to try to eat less. It seemed to work because we still had pizza but I probably ate half of what I normally do. I am going to try really hard to not give up some of our weekend traditions like pizza and brunch. I sort of figure that if I am good all week and then splurge a little on the weekend it will still be better than eating crappy all week and then still splurging on the weekends.

I feel like every show I watched today was talking about healthy eating and dieting. I wonder if that was a coincidence or if I noticed it more because it was on my mind or what. Even Bill Mauer's guest tonight was a guy who wrote a book about food...apparently it is going to be a movie, and actually he seemed pretty cool so I may check the book out.

On to the weekend....hopefully it will go well and I will keep up with the water and it will be less of an effort soon.

I think that the title says it all

2009-05-29T06:31:00.000-07:00

Recently I decided that I have sort of had enough of not being healthy. I weighed myself and I am at my highest weight that I can ever remember. Not a good feeling. Not at all. The first few thoughts that went through my head were, why do I have to worry about my weight? Why can other people just eat whatever they want? How come no one else seems to have this issue? Then I talked to my friends (or more likely confessed to them that I was worried about it) and they said that they worried about it too. Hmm, so I am not alone and people can't just eat whatever they want and do whatever they want and still look good? I should have known. If you ever see someone who is really in shape and then talk to them about what they do and eat, it is pretty strict. I guess there is no secret formula (not that I am looking for one) to getting healthy and looking good. I am looking to lose about 20lbs. Right now I sit just above (depending on what scale you look at) the "recommended" weight for someone my height. If I lost 20lbs then I would be right smack in the middle...middle is good, right? I am looking for a happy medium between working out, eating right most of the time, but still enjoying little treats that I like. I am not looking for a fad diet or a quick fix. I thought that blogging about it might help me to stay on track more than if I just did it silently. I think that I was pleasantly surprised by how my friends reacted when I said I needed to lose weight so maybe telling people isn't so bad.

I will consider this day 1. This is not some complicated formula and I don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. I know what I need to do..it is just a matter of actually doing it. Here are a couple of things that I can see right away that I need to do:
--drink more water. I used to drink 80-100 ounces a day. Yesterday I struggled to choke down 64 oz (and that involved me chugging the rest of my bottle of water right before bed).
--eat more vegetables. This also never used to be a problem but lately I find that I have eaten less and less of them.
--Find a healthy snack for during the day. I eat a late dinner so I need something to tide me over between lunch and dinner but something that is healthy.
--pick better options when I eat out. I travel a good bit for work and I don't always make the best choices because I get tired of yucky and boring salads and they seem to throw everything under the sun on every entree. I think that if I could get this part figured out it would be a huge step.
--exercise regularly. Again, something that I used to be good about...and I like. I also need to incorporate more weights into it.

So, there are my goals and what I need to do knowing and doing are two different things though....what do you need to do?