Doing okay

I’m doing okay, the past few days I was SUPER good, but today I had a bunch of tortilla chips. I’m just telling myself “self, you didn’t do so hot at one meal, but that’s okay, just pick yourself up and keep going, tomorrow will be better.”

And it will be.

FINALLY, after almost three weeks of getting on my apartment manager’s ASS did they call in pest control. I sent in a long email yesterday about how I am disappointed in the lack of response and effort when this has been an issue since April 21st, and that my husband’s health is affected by the lack of sleep (as well as mine).

That got the ball rolling today FINALLY… My neighbor was like you are too nice I’d have started threatening with lawyers long ago!

So maybe I’ll finally get some sleep, which is, I’m pretty sure part of the reason my loss has stalled, though I have lost like 2 lbs in the few days I’ve been on SBD.

I have eaten a lot of split peas lately also, not good, I’ve been so gassy the past two days, SO I’m gonna lay off on the beans for a few days! Well, at least till tomorrow nights dinner

Training will continue with a hectic schedule until mid-June, until then I’ll just do my best with diet before adding exercise (though I’m trying to exercise at least on the weekend).

Hope you are all doing well.

I’m not mad at me, I’m mad at the FAT

I just watched “Mommie Dearest” (again, yes I like that movie and yes I believe her daughter) and the phrase that Joan Crawford uses in the movie “Helga, I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at the dirt” made me laugh but made me think. I love myself, but I don’t like my fat. I want most of it to go away! And it’s time to stick to the plan and stop screwing around!

This weekend I tried to spend as much as possible enjoying myself. I went Kayaking with my husband (omg my shoulders are sore!), we had lunch at Red Robin (I had their southwest grilled chicken salad), and then afterwards went home and later I made a simple dinner of grilled chicken with a carrot salad. Pretty much straight shredded carrots tossed in some dressing. It’s funny, I’m not a huge fan of carrots, BUT I had some carrots and wanted to finish them up soon (before they went bad).

It helped me to enjoy myself a bit and forget about my debt, forget about getting pregnant, etc. Oh and more bad news, my MIL is in the hospital, she’s had ulcerative colitis for a while and it’s since gotten worse and the other day she was rushed to the hospital and had emergency surgery. They said if she hadn’t gone in she would have died, she had a part of her colon removed and something called an ileostomy. I’ll spare you the details but it’s not pretty!

Either way, having a bit of rest and what not made me feel better. I’ve already made my lunch for the next two days AND made my breakfast for the week also. I made a small fritatta tonight, put peppers, onions, ham, sauteed it, then added some parmesan cheese along with an egg mixture (just a tiny bit of milk). Cooked it, cut it into 6 slices, ate one for today’s dinner, the rest will be breakfast for the week. Then lunches will be green leaf lettuce along with chicken and cucumbers and some salad dressing. Dinners will be meat and more veggies.

I think a 1-3 week detox is just what I need to boost things and really push myself back into onederland. I think that what I might do to keep my weight going down is do 1-2 weeks on phase 1, 1-2 weeks on phase 2, then back again, for some reason staying in phase 2 for too long just makes things stop, which lets me know for the rest of my life I just can’t eat as many carbs as I’d like to, and I’m OKAY with that.

Either way, things are looking on the up and up. I have to remind myself to not stress about finances, work, etc. To be thankful my husband and I both have jobs, we both have health insurance, and we both will be okay.

Thanks everyone for the kind words- love you guys

I’m sorry

I’m sorry I haven’t been around. My DNA training at work is insane, it’s so bad that at this point for me to call in sick, well, let’s just say I wouldn’t call in sick unless I was DYING, to miss a day is suicide. I thought stopping overtime I’d have more time, but I’m so exhausted when I get home that I lay there like a blob.

My eating hasn’t been that great, but it hasn’t been terrible, there is definitely room for improvement.

Then just dealing with life is upsetting me, every time I talk to my mom she asks if I’m pregnant, this gets seriously annoying and old REALLY quick, I’m about to snap at her to STOP F***ING asking me… Seriously I don’t curse often, but right now I’m MAD.

Either way I’m sorry I just haven’t been around, I definitely have to get out of this funk, and the first way I’m going about that is to take control over my food, I’ve bought lentils and all sorts of protein and veggies in preparation to restart my SBD phase 1.

I’m also thinking of just biting the bullet and going to workout at work on my lunchtimes, I usually just take a quick lunch so I can leave work earlier, but then sitting around at home isn’t helping me get in shape obviously…

That’s all for now, I probably won’t be blogging for a little while.

Going back down

Looked at the scale, and despite going out with a friend last night I’m back at 200, so at least things are going in the right direction

I haven’t seen her in YEARS, not since she moved back to Louisiana to be close to her dad (who is now 86). She came to visit another friend here and it was great to catch up.

We ended up going to Cheesecake factory, and before you all freak out on me, we ate off their “Skinnylicious” menu. I had a glass of red sangria (less than 150 calories), some Ahi Tartare (less than 500 calories) and their Skinny Asian Chicken salad (also less than 600 calories). I ate very light during the day knowing I’d be going out, so all in all at the MOST this was was a 1250 calorie meal. We also went to starbucks afterwards and I had a tall skinny iced mocha (130 calories). We hung out for approximately 8 hours (man we stayed up late!) and it was just great laughing and catching up

I cleaned the place from top to bottom yesterday as well (I always go insane with cleaning when we have company lol) and I swear I probably burned like 600 calories doing that alone because I cleaned for 3 hours! I scrubbed, washed, put stuff away, vacuumed, you name it, it was done, and today hubby and I got our groceries finished, took my car for an oil change, and now are just kind of relaxing around the house while we get our laundry done (I’ve got a TON to do because of the conference)…

The weather is so great the past few days we’ve been hanging out on the patio, tonight I’m making deviled eggs and chicken with salad for dinner and we’ll eat it on the patio

Hope you are all having an awesome weekend!

Conferences and family are dangerous

For your waist that is…

Egads, I go away for a week, and eat mom’s cooking for a few days and BAM- I gain 8 lbs!

I peaked at the scale, saw 203 and was like WTF?! I mean, I know I wasn’t on point, but I was making what I thought were okay choices. I thought I’d gained like 2-3 lbs, not EIGHT.

Don’t get me wrong- the conference was super fun, I learned a lot, and I had a great time after the conference with my family for a few days.

My bad choices for the most part was eating more carbs, and indulging in my mom’s cooking… But who can blame you when GOURMET food (I’m talking Ritzy amazing food) is shoved in your face ever TWO hours, and then when you go home your mom makes some of your favorite foods, of course you are going to indulge a TAD…

And I can say I did go to the gym at the hotel and go for walks and ONLY had ONE drink the entire time and it was just one glass of white wine (hey it was FREE and good!). I believe the old me would have gained 10+ lbs to be honest… yeesh…

I won’t lie though, I haven’t been exactly back “on it” since I’ve been back. I’ve eaten Taco Bell and Subway, and though my breakfast and lunches have been good, a dinner of Taco Bell is BAD. Snacking on things you shouldn’t is BAD… Specially when hubby left a bag of chips lying around that I ended up eating (like 1/4 of those huge bags- bad Bee!)…

So yup, here I am, staying accountable, the scale has gone down to 6 lbs instead of 8 after two days, so I’m sure a large portion of it IS bloat (I still feel bloated- I need to up the water intake), but I’m sure 3-5 of those pounds ARE legit.

I’m back in training and along with getting over the time difference again, I forgot how exhausting training is. I’m behind on a bunch of stuff that I have to take care of, and I’ve been slowly chipping away at that (and sleeping early). I think by this weekend I’ll be down a few more pounds, back into the exercise and eating right mode (slowly but surely getting there), and back on my way down and past 195!

195?

WOAH! I almost fell off the scale when I saw that, guess my hard work is paying off

Though I won’t lie, I am SICK of salads right now, I think I’m going to lay off buying the salad and start cooking extra veggies to take to work. Today I went to the work cafeteria and my lunch was some fish (I think it was fried in some kind of fish fry batter, but not thickly fried) with baked beans and brussels sprouts. With lots of water of course.

I can’t wait for my trip but I don’t want to leave my hubby for a week- aren’t I silly?

Off to bed, have a good night everyone, I just wanted to share seeing 195 on the scale I’ll check up on you all tomorrow!

Winners never quit

And quitters never win.

I’ve been working super hard at my job, crime scenes, 50-55 hour weeks, in order to make extra money to pay off debt (and allow hubby and myself to enjoy a few extra’s in our life like some new patio furniture!).

That extra time is killer, 2+ extra hours a day (and sometimes going in on weekends) has made me determined to focus myself on all my food choices while I only do 1-2 workouts a week. I think overall my food choices have been pretty good, sure I’ve had a small blip here and then (some McDonald’s, a few chips, birthday cake, MOUNDS ICE CREAM THAT HUBBY BOUGHT- EVIL HUBBY!), but overall I’m doing as well as possible.

This is the last week of overtime before I go back into training for DNA (I’m excited but it’s a lot of work also!). Though I’m only doing around 6-8 extra hours this week.

I thought about what I’m going to do with TWO extra hours a day.

I can tell you what I’m NOT going to do:
1- spend more time online
2- spend more time watching TV

So… I thought about it, and I decided to really push to get into running shape AGAIN. So many people I know tell me about their running, and I envy them! From bloggers to coworkers to friends to family- if they can do it then dammit so can I. And running IMO is the best way to lose weight. I’ve already looked up proper running etiquette, I’ve got great new shoes, I’ve bought a bunch of extra inserts, etc. I’m going to work on increasing my speed (though I can run at 5.0 now) and how long I run at faster speeds, my mile times IMO are pitiful! I’d be happy running a 11-12 minute mile, and ecstatic if I could ever get to 10 minute miles!

I also have a mini goal for myself while I go to San Diego, I would like to get into the gym at least 3 times in that week, I’ll be at a hotel all week, food won’t be perfect (it’ll be as perfect as I can make it- I promised myself that), but I’ll have free time each night to get a decent workout in, so I’m pushing to do that (while also seeing family and friends).

So far this week I’ve gone to the gym on Sunday, and today, Monday, and tomorrow I won’t be able to go because we are going to a cheese party (I know, cheese, egads, but I plan on skipping my snack of nuts tomorrow), and then Thursday we might be going out with friends (not for food- for a long walk which is okay). But other than that I’m pushing to go every day, at least 30 minutes which entails running at least 20 minutes AND doing some upper body exercises and squats.

Now if I can only make sure I don’t sleep with a night light on all week while I’m alone at the hotel I’ll be set!

How do I get that goodness in me?!

I have heard about quinoa for ages, and I keep saying I will try it, so today I went and found a box (for OMG $5 I have to find it somewhere cheaper) at Walmart:

And apparently some people say you can toast it beforehand (but the box didn’t say ANYTHING about this) so I made it according to the box, 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of water and 15 minutes later got this:

I took a taste and OMG loved it

And so I added it to my okra and chicken stew I cooked the night before with half a cup of cooked quinoa:

I thought a serving was 1/2 a cup cooked, but turns out it’s a whole cup, so course I had some more (Pictured is just half a cup).

I definitely will buy more of this and try to find it somewhere a bit more affordable if possible And next time I’ll try toasting it, apparently it brings out the nutty flavor even more

This lunch was only 320 calories, 36 grams of carbs, and with the chicken 35 grams of protein, NICE!

ETA: I know some people say okra is slimy, but that just means whoever cooked it did it wrong- I have eaten okra all my life, only seen it slimy once when someone cooked it wrong! If anyone wants to know how I cook it, I’ll post my recipe

Have your cereal and eat it too

You know, for the LONGEST time I’ve avoided cereal. And I LOVE cereal. I adore it, and not those crazy sugary ones, but the ones like honey bunches of nuts with almonds, or raisin bran (funny I don’t care for raisins alone), etc.

I always thought I was pretty much doomed to never eat cereal again.

And that made me sad *cry*

THEN I found this:

And the Heavens opened up and the angels sang Hallelujah!

I decided I’d add this in to my regimen, I eat it in the mornings WITH my greek yogurt now (I weigh out one cup and put it in a Tupperware each night and take it to work with my other food). The greek yogurt I buy has some strawberry jelly stuff with it too, so it’s a sweet breakfast FULL of protein and a decent amount of fiber with pretty much no fat.

That comes out to 250 calories, 36 grams of carbs, 4 grams of fat, 26 grams of protein, and 7 grams of fiber. NICE!

Of course I have to tell myself only one cup a day! So it might be difficult if you are unable to only eat a cup a day, but for me I’m okay with doing that. Unlike hubby who sometimes uses cereal as dinner, I only like it with my breakfast.

Holding steady at 198 right now That’s okay with me

Swapping out the fat

Looking at the scale (in horror) I find that I’m 199.5 lbs. I’m a little surprised and a little stumped. I’ve been so good, I was down to 196, surely I haven’t done that much damage from last Thursday?! My body is like HAHA BEE FOOLED YOU! :p Either that or the scale is plotting against me again…

I looked back through my food logs of the past few days and I noticed a few things:

Too much fat and not enough fiber (I haven’t been “going” as regularly now that I think about it)…

So last night I decided to switch some things up. I’ve got some healthy fats in there, olive oil, avocado, but also some unhealthy fats, ranch dressing, cheddar cheese (this one isn’t TOO terrible but I don’t need that much cheese).

So I switched it up. I pulled out the ranch and cheese from my salad, and added a second guacamole pack (only until I can get to the store and get some things I need). I’m going to the store to buy some lowfat cottage cheese packs and substitute those for ranch, that’ll save me 10+ grams of fat, cutting out the cheese saves 9 grams of fat. Sodium wise cutting out these two and adding in cottage cheese won’t change my sodum, but my sodium overall is usually pretty good, so I’m not worried there.

I had tilapia for dinner (hubby made it for me- how nice of him! But he ate a Red Baron pizza for dinner), and we all know how much fish decreases fat content vs other meats! I’d go on a Pescetarian diet, but hubby might die lol. I think it’s soon going to start coming down to making two different dinners. I hate to do that, but he doesn’t always eat what I cook and I can’t just please him while I try to get to where I need to be.

Some good news is that cake is FINALLY GONE. Today I even walked up to that last piece and then walked away. A few hours later when I walked by it was gone (THANK GOODNESS). So I beat the cake too!

Works been busy as heck because I’m working lots of overtime, I just found out next month I go back into training which means I can’t work overtime until I’m out of training- which could take up to 6 months We don’t NEED the extra money but it was nice to have so we could pay off our debts quicker. Oh well, I get a raise in July and we are staying at our current apartment and the rent is only going up by $32, so we’ll be fine.

On the other hand, working 8 hour days instead of 10+ hour days means that I do get home earlier and that I should get more workouts in! I might even start going to the gym at work afterwards and then coming home.

Hope you are all doing well