So. Much. Food. [and a new way to think about this]

Today involved a baby shower, a housewarming party, a date night, and a 3,500 calorie day.   This was my attempt at starting the day healthy, and I'm blaming those delicious little sprinkle balls on the feast that commenced over the remained of the day.

Yikes!

BUT - I'm thinking about this positively for a few reasons:
1. This has been the first day in over a month that I had day or eating everything and anything in sight.
2. I tracked every last calorie that entered my mouth today (usually on a day like this, tracking goes out the door by 10:00am.
3. I feel really positive right now.  Usually I feel really guilty and depressed after a day like this, but today I somehow still feel very much in control and ready to get back to business in morning.  I'm excited to wake up to an egg beater omelette and a good workout!

Despite the un-exciting weigh in this morning, the scale did drop the next day and I'm hoping if I can start fresh tomorrow I can still be excited about next Wednesdays weigh in!

If anything, today showed me that I can still take an [occasional] day to eat carefree like the rest of my friends, but getting back on the wagon tomorrow will really help solidify in my mind if this 'healthy-lifestyle-and-not-just-a-diet' is here to stay!

Wednesday Weigh-In : Take 4

Initial Weight: 194

Last Week: 187.8

Today: 188.8

Since Last Week: +1

Total: -5.2

How frustrating!  While I don't think I worked out AS MUCH as the previous week, I was still very active and did get in several workouts.  As for food, I was also at or under my recommended calorie goal each day..  I did notice that we went out to eat more and my food choices maybe weren't AS 'healthy' as the previous few weeks.  I don't know how much of an impact that that makes.

The only reason that I'm only a little frustrated instead of a lot is because I feel really good.  My favorite shorts that were too tight a few weeks ago are fitting better, and overall my stomach and legs feel 'tighter' and less jiggly (to me at least). 

I really need to take some measurements and pictures so that I can monitor my progress with somethin other than the scale.  I'm hoping to really keep up the good work this week and maybe see some scale results next week!  

Despite the gain this week, I am very proud that I have been focused and conscious about trying to lose weight and get in shape for a full four weeks now.  I have basically been 'trying to lose' weight for forever and this time around just feels different.  I am committed and have accepted that this will be a lifelong journey!

My bad for not posting more over the past week -- maybe that's what I need to get back to though!  Here are some highlights from the week:

Breakfast pretty much every day..

A newly discovered love for asparagus!

The veggie lasagna with grilled chicken from Olive Garden on date night.

......aaaaand my attempt at bulking up the nutrients and fiber in my Olive Garden order.  Yes, I paid an additional $2.00 for four pieces of undercooked broccoli... Good try, B.

The grilled chicken macaroni and cheese from Curly's Pub (we went for a good friend's birthday).  Definitely the least weight loss friendly choice of the week, but it was delicious (and I only ate half!).

Today's snack while walking around the farmer's market!

Wednesday Weigh In - Take 3

Initial Weight: 194

Last Week: 188.2

Today: 187.8

Since Last Week: -.4

Total: -6.2

Obviously a lot less than last week, but I am really feeling good and wishing I would have taken some starting measurements because I feel like I'm losing inches..  

I am just feeling great.  I have felt fabulously motivated and get excite each day to workout!  I love that feeling!

Sugar and sweets have been a lot easier to resist, and I have been more conscious about what I'm eating and why.

Today was really great..  I had a coupon for a free visit to 'Thrive' which is our local Herbalife shake/smoothie joint..  I don't know a lot about Herbalife, but I've heard a lot of positive things about it.  I had an 'aloe shot' which is supposed to help your digestive system, and then I also got a peach tea which according to the girl working there "burns 100 calories" after drinking it..  Not sure of how legit that is, but it tasted good and I do know that tea has a lot of health benefits.  The main event of my trip to thrive was then the "Chocolate Dipped Elvis" (chocolate, peanut butter, banana)..  This 16 oz. shake was under 300 calories, had 25 g of protein, and kept me full for a solid 3.5 hours!  Awesome!  I enjoyed my shake and tea while Ryan had pizza for lunch at his parent's house, and I didn't even feel tempted to have a slice!

After lunch we went frisbee golfing.  That's always a great workout because of the massive hills on the course, and I have been turning it into an even more intense workout by jogging the whole course.

Farmer's market was next on the two do list and that is where I experienced THIS: 

Now, cupcakes are like heaven to me.  I have turned down several cupcakes over the past month, and each time I do I have thought to myself "is this really worth it?" and "is this really a special treat worth the splurge?" ...  Several times over the past month I have answered no to those questions, but today the answer was YES!!!  That big old rainbow cupcake was free, and it was delicious!  It's crazy how much better a special treat tastes when you're not eating 'special treats' every single day!

Boot Camp was on the agenda after the farmer's market.  While the rainbow cupcake wasn't the best choice for my pre-boot camp fuel, I pushed through the kick @$$ workout!  It was probably the toughest class we've had yet this summer, and I felt sooo good afterwards!

Dinner was a delicious homemade stir fry with broccoli, asparagus, peppers, water chestnuts, baby corn, and jumbo shrimp with some brown rice.  All I can say is YUM that was a delicious post-boot camp dinner!  

Even though today's weigh in wasn't as exciting as last week's, I know I've been doing pretty much everything right and am looming forward to seeing even more results next Wednesday!  

Still Going Strong!

Again, it's been a few days since posting... Haven't quite figured out how frequently I want to post on here..  BUT, now I'll just do a recap of the past few days...!

Thursday:
Typical, boring work day.. Kept the day pretty boring with my usual omlette for breakfast and tuna wrap for lunch.. Hit up kickboxing after work and was sweating out of my eyeballs from that awesome workout... After boxing I watched Ryan's softball game and then went to volleyball.  I just love double workout days, especially when one workout is volleyball! After volleyball it was late and Ryan and I hadn't eaten dinner yet.  I had been planning all week for Noodles and Company that night, and I purposely saved enough calories for a big, fat 'regular' dish of Whole Grain Tuscan Linguine (with shrimp and extra broccoli!).

Friday:
Thursday night our BFF married friends invited us up to stay with them in a condo outside of town for a little mini getaway.  I knew we'd be eating dinner somewhere with no posted nutritional information, so I was sassy and tried to eat as little as possible throughout the day.  I KNOW that this breaks rule #1 for not overeating when you go out to eat, but I'm not claiming to being perfect!  Admittedly, I was STARVING by the time we got to the bar/restaurant, and if I would have had a healthy snack before I know I would have been able to resist that nasty bar popcorn, but I didn't and I ate it.  Note to self for next time!  For dinner I ordered the breaded walleye with baby red potatoes and a side salad.  While the deep fried fish wasn't a great choice, the baked potatos (instead of fries) and side salad (instead of fries) were definitely positives.  Ryan ordered an order of cheesecurds and I ate a few more of those than I would have liked, but again, I'm shooting for progress, not perfection.  I think probably the biggest success from this night was only eating half of my fish and one potato.. After seeing the size of the order that arrived at my table I almost dropped dead.  Doggy Bag, Please!!   Success number two came from tracking all of that deliciousness and only coming in about 62 calories over my daily target.  Not bad!  I was very thankful for the unplanned walk that I snuck in before dinner that helped to offset some of that dinner.  Success number three came that night from the feeling of accomplishment I felt when everyone was talking about how stuffed they were after leaving the restaurant while I was feeling fabulous :)

Saturday:
Woke up from our BFF sleepover and obviously it was decided upon that pancakes were a must.  I utilized every ounce of self control I had to have ONE chocolate chip and ONE blueberry.  They smaller pancakes and while mentally I was craving at least twice that, physically I was satisfied with two.  While the calorie count of pancakes was still way higher than I normally like to spend on breakfast, I was very happy with myself!  Ryan and I were hanging with our Little Brother over lunch so we hit up Subway, and I got a delicious 6-inch turkey on wheat with pepperjack, avocado, spinach, tomatoes, green peppers, and cucumbers.  I may have also had about 1/3 of a chocolate chip cookie which was a perfect little morsel to satisfy my sweet tooth that was carrying over from breakfast.  After an afternoon nap I woke up hungry and crabby and realized there was no food in the house... While usually this would lead to a macaroni and cheese binge, I sucked it up and cooked a lean cuisine.  Obviously not the healthiest choice but it was calorie-controled and actually tasted pretty good over a big bowl of spinach.    After dinner the best thing in the world happened... Ryan agreed to go rollerblading with me!   This was awesome because Ryan is not usually one for sweating, but we ended up doing 6.5 miles on the trail and it felt great!  After blading we decided to reward ourselves with dairy queen, and eating that 'mini' Blizzard with my lover by the river really was a perfect ending to a great day :)   Obviously there were some 'not-so-healthy' food choices today, but there were also a lot of positive substitutions that helped me still ultimately have a calorie deficit.  If this is going to be a lifelong journey, it's good to know that I can have great days like this and still feel sucessful!

 

Sunday:
Father's Day.  I was nervous about today.  I knew we'd be having one meal with my family and one meal with Ryan's family... and family dinners are usually loaded with unknown calorie counts and tasty desserts.  However, lunch with Ryan's parents was great because it was a make-you-own sandwich bar!  Yum!  Then, dinner with my family ended up being pretty healthy as well with chicken, baby potatoes, and roasted green beans.  There was also a side of homemade macaroni and cheese, but everything in moderation, right?  :)  A small slice of rhubarb torte ended up putting me over my count for the day, but thankfully I convinced Ryan to go rollerblading with me again and ended up with a defecit.  Yay!

This weekend really helped me to see that I can still live my life but if I make small positive choices along the way I can still lose weight!  Sunday I woke up with a new low-weight (which rebounded a little bit this morning), but it was great to see that!  I am again looking forward to my 'official' weigh in on Wednesday!

Wednesday Weigh In -- Take 2

Initial Weight: 194
Last Week: 190.4
Today: 188.2

Since last week: -2.2
Total: -5.8

Yay :) 

I haven't posted in a few days because 1-I don't think anyone reads this, and 2-My days were pretty uneventful..  However, I have still been in control and doing great every day. The further I get into this journey and the more successful days I have, the easier it seems to make the next day.  I have been consistently tracking my calories on MyFitnessPal, working out 5-6 days per week, and really thinking about whether sweet treats will be worth it.  I've been eating a lot of salads bulked up with protein, still enjoying my delicious omelette breakfast, and making sure to mix up my workouts.

I have also had a few successes in the past few days, which definitely deserve documentation!

First of all, there have been some big, delicious looking, soft, peanut butter cookies sitting on the counter at work all week... But they weren't even tempting to me (okay, a little tempting).  At one point I was bargaining with myself and considering just having half of one, but ultimately I decided to not have any.  I know what happens when I just sneak a taste..  I end up completely breaking down after just a half and end up having multiple cookies.

While resisting free cookies is a big thing for me and I was very proud of this, THIS was probably my biggest success for the week:

Okay, so why is eating pizza a success for me?  Well, because its stuffed crust pizza and stuffed crust weakness is one of my biggest weaknesses in the world and definitely a binge-trigger food.  Ryan called me at work Moday evening and said he was craving Pizza Hut and asked if it would be alright if he ordered pizza.  I really appreciated him asking, because he knows this is one food on my 'naughty list'.  I thought about it for a minute and realized that I would need to face the pizza sometime if this journey is here to stay, so I gave him the go-ahead.  I knew I wasn't going to be home for another couple hours because I was heading to Boot Camp right after work, so I told him to make sure the pizza was out away in the fridge before I got home.  After getting home, I stuck to my original plan for dinner and had a turkey burger, veggies, and a few chips and salsa instead.  

I felt so awesome about not slipping and having pizza for dinner, because I know it would have put me way over my calorie limit and probably even lead to a binge.  In addition to making a good choice for dinner, I carried that success into lunch the next day and had [ONE] piece of pizza with a salad and made it a point to really enjoy each bite!!  This experience reminded me that I can still enjoy food from my 'naughty list' as long as it is in moderation!!


Today is my first non-weekend day that I don't really have my meals planned ahead of time..  We're going to Ryan's parents dinner for his brother and dad's birthday..  I'm not sure what we're having and I'm sure there will be cake.  I am going to try and get to Boot Camp this evening, and we'll see what dessert is before I decide to have it or not.  In really going to consider whether it will be worth it or not, and I'm going to try get get dinner tracked before digging in :)

Conquering Sugar

I've always heard people say that if you can give sugar up for a while, you eventually stop craving it.  I'm not going to say that I have kicked my sugar addiction, but eating healthier and having less treats really has made saying 'No' to sweets much easier.  Tonight we went for froyo after dinner and I was able to resist the chocolatey, peanut buttery, delicious toppings.  Usually, my bowl consisted of a combination of cake batter, chocolate, and peanut butter froyo with peanut butter cups, brownies, cookie dough, chocolate fudge, and whatever other cookies or chocolate candy was there.   I know that froyo is way better for you than regular ice cream, but I always end up going topping crazy.  I've always told myself 'next time I'm going to just get vanilla with a bunch of fruit', but I always end up caving once I get in line and go with the usual 'death by chocolate'.  HOWEVER..  Tonight I was able to successfully feel good about getting froyo and having it fit into a successful part of my weight loss journey.  Tonight my froyo looked like this: 

And it was delicious!!  Cheesecake froyo with strawberries and raspberries with probably 1/2 tbsp mini chocolate chips and less than a tbsp of strudel crumble.  (Plus two brownie bits out of Mom's bowl that may have snuck in there too) ... YUM!!!

As for the rest of the day..  Nothing too exciting.  Breakfast was the usual, and lunch was leftover fajita chicken and peppers over spinach with some fresh strawberries.  

Dinner was a successful night of going out to eat..  I ordered a Santa Fey salad which had grilled chicken, peppers, onions, tomatoes, corn, and salsa.  I ordered the cheese on the side because damn that was a lot of cheese!!  I probably sprinkled about a tablespoon of that onto my salad and threw out the rest.  Ahh, self control :)

Didn't have time for an intense workout today, but I think that my body was due for a rest-ish day anyways.  Mom and I went out for a late night walk that ended up being just short of 3.5 miles.  Our pace wasn't too fast but it was so nice out and just felt good to get a little bit of activity after a big dinner.

I am just so proud of how long I have stayed on track so far, and I can't talk enough about how good I feel about being in control of my sweet tooth!

Change of Plans

Today was the first day that I really veered from my plan for the day.  First off, I was planning on waking up early for 5:45am Boot Camp, but it was cold and rainy this morning and I didn't get much sleep last night so I ended up sleeping in.  Breakfast was the usual omelette.. However,  for lunch I had planned to have some leftover fajita chicken and peppers over spinach, but a co-worker decided to order Jimmy Johns and I caved and got a Beach Club.  Mmmm... turkey and avocado <3.  I did look at my food diary first to make sure that JJ's could be adjusted into my day.  

After work I hit up Kickboxing with my FAVORITE  fitness instructor ever.  Her energy and passion for fitness is so inspiring and motivating.  I haven't been able to take her class regularly in a long time because of my coaching schedule, but now that I cut back to only one day a week I will be able to hit up Kickboxing more often!  

Came home after boxing and grabbed some leftover penne rosa and eventually headed to my volleyball game.  After vball we stuck around for a while and played a few extra games.. Extra volleyball = extra calories burned!

I ended the day with an apple, peanut butter, and a few mini marshmallows and chocolate chips.  My favorite sweet treat right now!

I forgot to snap pics of anything food or workout related, so instead you'll just get to see the darlings that run our household:

Wednesday Weigh In

Initial Weight: 194
Today: 190.4

Total: -3.6


I'm very happy with those results for the first week!  I feel thinner (at least not so bloated!) and feel like I have more energy in general.  Feels great..  Can't wait for more!

Today was another great day.  Despite feeling like I got hit by a truck, I still made it to Boot Camp this evening.  An hour of circuits outside in the rain felt great!

Eating was good today as well.  I slept in this morning so just had coffee when I woke up, but then we went to Ryan's parents house for lunch (and to see our sweet nephew!).  We had steak fajitas and homemade guacamole.  I had my fajitas over a lettuce salad instead of in the tortillas, and I used a little self control to only have a 1/2 cup of guacamole.  Guac is probably one of my favorite foods and I could eat a gallon of it at once.  This was an awesome accomplishment for me.  Also, Ryan's parents always have freshly baked homemade chocolate chip cookies and these are usually a big trigger for me as well.  Once I have one I usually end up having 5, so today I just didn't have any!  For some reason it was a lot easier to 'Just say No' than I though it would be.  I feel so silly for being so proud about not eating a cookie, but anyone who knows me knows that I have a wicked sweet tooth and am especially weak-willed around baked goods.

Ran a bunch of errands today and cooked some homemade Penne Rosa.  It was supposed to be a healthy version of the dish sold at Noodles & Co.  It was pretty good and low calorie, but not quite  as tasty as the real thing.  However, it was definitely a satisfying dinner after boot camp!

 

The plan for the rest of the night is a little relaxation, probably a banana with a little peanut butter, and early to bed so that I'm ready and raring to go for a long day with lots of fitness fun planned!

Two-a-days

Ow.  Ouch.  Ooh. Ow.

Basically what I sound like right now.  Started the day off right with Sister at 5:45 am Boot Camp..  That was an awesome workout..  60 minutes of sunshine and jumping over fences and onto tires, climbing up hills and over picnic tables, and throwing boulders down a hill.  The pain feels SO good!  Sister and I stuck through it by thinking about how delicious coffee would taste after the cool morning workout.

If 5:45 am Boot Camp wasn't enough, I hit up a Core Bar class for the first time and will definitely be feeling that in the morning!  Core Bar essentially reminds me of cardio kickboxing except that you're holding this bent bar over your shoulders or behind your back the whole time.  Apparently the class targets your core (hence the name), but its also suppose to address your posture while you workout. Great news as I tend to be a sloucher!

Eating went well again today.  I don't remember the last time I felt this motivated and felt so in control.  

B- egg beater omelette, coffee, banana

L- tuna wrap, cottage cheese, leftover squash/zucchini, and strawberries

S- string cheese

D- homemade fajita chicken and bell peppers over a huge bowl of spinach

S- banana with 1/4 c mini marshmallows, 1/2 tbsp mini chocolate chips, and 1/3 tbsp of peanut butter

Today presented me with only two temptations, co-workers ordering Chinese food for lunch and the nectarine pie in my refridge that Ryan's mom sent over.  While I label both situations as temptations, it is also important that I point out that neither thing was actually even that tempting to me!.. 

Finished the evening off watching Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss, and wow is that show inspiring!  However - I can never wrap my mind around how once the contestants drop below my current weight, they always look way heavier than me!  :(

My apologies for no pictures today, but breakfast and lunch were nothing new or exciting, and by the time I got my fajita salad made for dinner it was 9:30 and taking a picture of my dinner was the last thing on her mind!

 

Oh Monday.

Monday, Monday.  Back to work after a relaxing weekend.  Today marked the last day of the first week into my weight loss journey, and today was also the first day I had a little unplanned treat.  I did so great resisting cupcakes on Saturday at volleyball, but I wasn't strong enough to resist them again today at work.  However..  I did have to successes on relation to that delicious little (very little!) orange dreamsicle cupcake.  Normally, I honestly probably would have eaten 3 (or more!), but instead I was able to only have one.  Also, I loaded up my calorie tracker to examine the day and make a few modifications before I decided to have the cupcake.  Knowing that I was going to eat an extra treat also gave me extra motivation to not only get to the gym tonight but to push hard at Boot Camp.

Boot Camp rocked.  I just love that style of workout, and my legs and arms still feel like jelly.  Can't wait to see how I feel tomorrow.  

And speaking of tomorrow - I'm planning on waking up [way to] early tomorrow to hit up boot camp again at 5:45..  Hoping Sister will join me and we'll have a ball!

The scale has been holding pretty steady the past few days, but my workouts weren't as intense over the weekend and my calorie deficit was a little smaller as well.  I'm hoping that getting a week full of more intense workouts and being a little more aware of my eating choices will help the scale drop again some more and keep me motivated!

Today's Food Log:

B- the usual egg beater/veggie link omlette

L- taco salad with leftover taco meat and a Greek yogurt

D- lemon pepper salmon and roasted squash, zucchini, squash, and green beans

S- dreamsicle cupcake and a 'banana s'more' ...  See picture below for details on this delicious bedtime treat :)

Boring [rest] Day

Today in summary:

1. Lazy rest day
2. Season 4 of Prison Break
3. Meal planning
4. Grocery shopping
5. Homemade chicken enchiladas
6. Walk with a good friend

:)

Feeling good heading into this new week.  Boot Camp classes will start tomorrow and my meals are planned out for the week (roughly).  I've dropped about 4 pounds so far, so I feel like that has helped to keep my motivation high.  I think I will do weigh-in posts every Wednesday, so look for that later this week!

The First Unplanned Day

Rolled out of bed at 7:30 this morning with plans of being at the first day of Boot Camp by 8:00.. But when I woke up my knee was still killing me!  I was mad but figured resting my knee and skipping boot camp would be better for my overall success for the rest of the week.   So instead of blasting fat doing burpees and hills, I spent the morning laying on the couch, icing my knee, and eating mango.

After skipping boot camp I met my mom and sister at the Y to help them coach 1st and 2nd grade volleyball.  I'm used to getting a workout while coaching gymnastics, but I forgot how great of a workout I could get from coaching volleyball too!  Bonus!

It was the last day of the session for volleyball, so Mom and Sis brought cupcakes for the girls..  This presented me with my first challenge {and success!} for the day.  Those cupcakes looked so tasty but I resisted and reminded myself that they were just made from a boring old box mix and store bought frosting.  If I'm trying to cut back on sweets and treats, these would have not been worth the splurge!  I honestly think I got more happiness out of the satisfaction I got from not eating the cupcake then I would have gotten from eating it.  Shocking!  :)

Today was the first day this week that I didn't have all of my meals planned out ahead of time.. I did know last night that we were going to Panera for lunch, so I just ate a little fruit for breakfast so that I could use more calories during lunch to order my favorite!  

Today looked like this:

B- mango 

L- 1/2 of a roasted turkey and artichoke panini, cheesy broccoli soup, and a french baquette side 

D- taco salad with lean ground turkey, spinach, salsa, black beans, peppers, and a little bit of sour cream and cheese ..  also some homemade guacamole and a half serving of tortilla chips

S- 1/2 cup sugar free/fat free cheesecake pudding with cool whip, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries

My knee was feeling pretty good by the end of the day, so I got out for a 4.25 mile walk with Mom.  We found a rose laying in the road at the end of our walk and I scooped it up and brought it home.  A simple pleasure but it gave me a little smile to end my successful day!

------

I've dropped a few pounds already, but I'm hoping to get an initial numbers post up tomorrow!  :)