Checkin In (Ugh)

I'm so annoyed with myself.

On Friday I was eating great.  Oatmeal with blueberries and honey for breakfast, a wannabe burrito bowl with brown rice, shredded chicken, black beans, and hot sauce with an apple.  And then I had my first shift at my new job (which I love!) as a host/server at one of my favorite restaurants in town.  It's a really laid back kind of place and the people that work there are great.  The customers even aren't that annoying.  So I worked for a couple hours and by the time I got off I was really hungry.  I was determined to be healthy, even turning down some free food (this is the place with those delicious falafels - yeah, I got a job there.  Let's talk about how great a decision that might turn out to be).  And then I walk in the door to find my boyfriend had ordered pepperoni pizza, breadsticks, and cookies from my favorite pizza place!  Ugh.

At first I decided to just have one slice of pizza.  I even let my boyfriend eat my cookie.  I was okay, until the leftover pizza continued to sit on the coffee table.  Then I started to eat it just because it was there.  That's one of my worst habits - eating food just because it happens to be in front of me.  So I had two more slices and two breadsticks with cheese sauce.  Ugh. 

I went to bed without having exercised.  Sigh.  So Friday was a bust.

Yesterday I wanted to do better.  My boyfriend made farina for breakfast (cream of wheat, I think), which I love, so I had some.  He made it with skim milk though, that was nice of him.  : )  Later I was kind of panicking about what I was going to eat.  We're low on fresh veggies and the only fruit we had was a little cubed pineapple and some apples.  I realized I definitely need to do more meal planning so I have enough stuff around to make meals with. 

So then I remembered that we had a ton of frozen vegetables, leftover queso fresco from burrito bowls a couple days ago and some leftover tortillas.  I made a veggie quesadilla and did half an hour of yoga (burned 125 calories).  I had to go to CVS to get something, and ended up getting a candy bar, one of those king size Twix with the four little bars inside.  I ate it almost without even tasting it.  I had such a bad chocolate craving, and when I left for work and parked downtown, I looked through my purse and found a kit kat bar!  I have no idea where it came from.  But I ate it, too.  (I was wondering why, then remembered it's TOM time)  Then I went to work.  I think my shift last night could definitely have qualified as a workout.  Half the restaurant is upstairs, so of course I was running around all night seating people and cleaning tables.  My heart rate was definitely elevated, haha.

After work I went home.  I was in a good mood.  I had put a lot of cheese on my quesadilla earlier (definitely a little too much) and wanted something else cheesy.  I really just love cheese.  But, I remembered I hadn't had any fruit yet and that there was pineapple in the fridge.  So I ate that, and then a friend called and invited me to a shindig at their place.  I was super excited to go, because I pretty much never go out and I haven't gotten to see those particular friends in a while.  Of course I had a few drinks, stayed the night, and came home this morning to farina, bacon, and eggs.  Can you tell my boyfriend likes to cook breakfast?  :D

So Saturday was still pretty bad, what with the chocolate and booze calories and obvious lack of nutrients.  I've already had a full, fatty breakfast today but I am planning a healthy dinner of salmon, roasted broccoli, and baked french fries.

Aside from the drinks last night, I've been doing good about drinking just water.  And just in case you're interested, Thursday night I did jogging intervals around the track by my house for 40 minutes (including a warm up and cool down) and burned 472 calories according to my heart rate monitor.  So I've burned about 600 calories in the last four days.  Definitely need to be moving more.  And need to be doing more meal planning, too.

The end of the semester is so close.  Just a few short weeks away, and I'll be a graduate.  It's kind of weird to think about.  I'm almost sad - I really love learning and there are so many interesting new classes being offered next semester.  I have to start making some serious decision about my career path, and I'm feeling extremely uncertain about everything.  I'm glad I have this challenge to keep me focused on something.

Until we meet again, here's a link to an article about how a nutrition professor lost weight eating little more than Little Debbie cakes.  Very interesting.

The "Twinkie Diet"

Days 1 and 2 of Summer Lovin' Goodness

Good evening, sexy ladies!  I have TEN followers now.  Oh my god, wow.  You guys are so awesome!  Thank you so much for reading my blog!  I hope you go and join the Summer Lovin' Challenge.  Better late than never, right?  Time to start loving yourself and getting ready to love summertime this year.

Cause that's what I'm looking forward to.  Loving summer.  Going out in shorts and not hating myself.  Not feeling embarrassed about the way my stomach and backfat look in tank tops.  Refusing to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather because being overweight makes me sweat so bad and it's just too damn hot to move a body with this much extra fat on it.  I'm tired of that.  I want this summer to be different.

Also, I'm looking forward to a SUPER HOT SWIMSUIT.

Granted, it may take me until next summer to get into that thing.  But I do not care.  It will happen.

Also, I'm moving to Texas in a couple of months, so maybe by Christmas!  Ooh, what an awesome gift to myself that would be, huh?

Well I'm sure you're all dyyyying to know how I've been doing with the challenge.  And I'm happy to report that I've been doing not so badly!

Yesterday, day 1, was a total bust on the nutrition front.  I ate my breakfast smoothie (had to use sugary fruit juice in it...grrr) and was satisfied.  But in my photo class we had decided to do a picnic-themed group photo for a poster contest.  As with any picnic, there was food everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  We were literally throwing it at each other.  And I was doing okay resisting until I was offered a cookie.  It was a chocolate chip cookie made with whole wheat flour, nutella, and the minimum butter and sugar needed to have it come out as a cookie.  And it was amazingly good (I gotta get the recipe) but I ate it because I thought to myself "Huh.  Whole wheat flour?  Minimum sugar?  Sounds fairly healthy!"  And then I proceeded to eat three more, a few bites of cake, a brownie, and about five handfuls of those gross cheesy puffs with the neon orange cheese powder that looks like clown cocaine.

But, I did not give up!  If it hadn't been for the fat-fest I just described, I would have had a perfect day.  I snacked on fruit, meeting my 3 fruit servings.  I made burrito bowls with shredded chicken, sauteed peppers and onions, black beans, brown rice, cabbage, and Mexican queso fresco (which I think is similar to string cheese nutrition-wise).  It was a veggie fest, at least 3 of my 4 servings.  Of course the carbs, fat, and sweets were all out the window.  Had too much dairy/protein, too.  Lumping them in together, as my Mayo Clinic food pyramid does, is really hard for me to deal with because I'm such a cheese addict.  It is was my favorite snack. 

However, I am perfectly on track today!  Had oatmeal made with milk and topped with honey and blueberries.  (1 fruit, sweet allowance, 1 carb, 1 dairy/protein).  For lunch, I had a nice big salad with balsamic vinaigrette and eggs, plus two triangles of pita bread with red pepper hummus (2 fats, 2 dairy/protein, 2 veggie).  I had an apple for a snack (1 fruit) and a burrito bowl with extra brown rice and sauteed veggies for dinner(2 carb, 1 fat - cooked with olive oil, 2 veggie).  So, what do I have left?  A fruit and a carb!  So I'll be snacking on pita chips and pineapple later tonight.  :D


Okay, so when I got my Mayo Clinic food pyramid thingy, it came with this great list of foods that go into each category and what the servings size is for a certain amount of calories (for instance, a list of servings sizes of sweet things that are 75 calories).  I just noticed that corn is on the carbohydrates list.  Have any of you ever considered corn a carb and not a veggie?  In my mind, carbs are just bready things.  Hmm. 


Anywho, I'm excited to get some exercise tonight because I found my heart rate monitor!  A few months ago I bought one of these bad boys on amazon for 80 bucks:

Except mine is silver and not red.  Sad day.  BUT, I'm excited because I thought I had lost the little bean-shaped computer thing on the bottom that connects to the strap, but this morning I found it hiding under the runner on top of my dresser!  Yaaaay!  I'm not crazy about counting calories in, but I do like to see what workouts get me the best bang for my buck, so to speak.  I'm excited to use this to compare jogging, jogging intervals, and cardio/strength circuits to see what the differences are (and of course to share them with you!)

I think I'll get changed for that exercise right now.  I shall report tomorrow with another perfect day (hopefully)!

And so it begins...the Summer Lovin' Challenge

Gooooood morning, lovely ladies!  Since I last checked, I have a new follower for a total of 8!  Hello hello, I hope like my little blog.  : )

Today marks the beginning of Alexia's Summer Lovin' Challenge, a two-part, eight-week, healthy-habit-establishing endeavour sure to rock my socks off!  Er, well it would...if I ever wore socks...  Anyway, there's two parts to this post, so read it when you're home from work/class and have all the time in the world to listen to me!  Teehee.

Part One: The Plan

So here's my plan for this thing.  I'm not using a caloric cap (how will she ever lose weight?! you may be asking).  Instead, I'm focusing on eating the right amount of properly portioned servings of healthy foods.  Fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean protein, and a little dairy thrown in for kicks.

Sidenote: If you have no idea what a proper portion size is, like me a few months ago, check out Mayo Clinic's website. They have a literal asston of information on healthy living and active lifestyles.  

The Food: A while back, I did one of their free assessments that tells you what you should be eating to lose weight and gives you a personalized food pyramid.  Swanky!  My food pyramid says that I should be eating 3 servings of fruit, 4 servings of veggies, 4 servings of carbs, 3 servings of protein/dairy, 3 servings healthy fats, and up to 75 calories in sweets.

The Treat: I know that it's pretty much impossible to do anything 100%, 100% of the time.  I also know that I need a treat every once in a while to keep myself from going off track (aka, running away from it as fast as I can).  I just got a job, HALLELUJAH, at one of my favorite restaurants in town.  They serve Greek and American food, and have the best.damn.falafels I have ever had.  So, once a week, I'm going to treat myself to a falafel sandwich.  If I've been really, really good that week I might even have some fries.  If that doesn't sound like much of a treat to you, you have no idea how good these things are.  I would much rather have one of these falafels than ice cream, or even chocolate!  I'll be looking forward to it every week, that's for sure. 

The Beverage:  Only water or tea.  No soda, sugary iced tea, or sugary fruit juices.  I may have a glass of skim milk every once in a while or some Crystal Lighty kind of thing, but mostly it's gonna be water.  Water, agua, H20.

The Exercise: My goal is to do something that makes me sweat for thirty minutes each day.  That's a great healthy habit to establish.  This exercise could be running, biking, yoga, walking at a fast pace, practicing bellydance, or doing a strength/cardio circuit.  Just gotta get my sweat on.

The Evaluation:  I'm going to record each day how I've progressed toward my goals in my handy daily planner.  Every Wednesday, I'm going to recap the week and determine whether or not I get fries with my falafel.  Let's say if I have 6-7 perfect days out of 7, I get fries.  If I have 3-6 perfect days, I just get the falafel.  If I have less than 3 perfect days, I don't even get the falafel.   That would be a sad week indeed.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Also, I'm not going to be doing weigh-ins every week.  I find that if I do stuff like that, I get way too focused on the scale.  I want to establish healthy habits that will lead to a healthy weight, not the other way around.  I will post my starting weight and will weigh at the end of each phase to see how I did.  However, I will take and post body measurements each week.  Then I can see where the weight is coming off. 


Part Two:  The Starting Stats

We're all starting somewhere, right?  This morning I weighed myself (after waking and peeing, before eating), took my starting measurements, and "before" pictures.

Starting Weight: 208.  This is actually what I weighed when I started my first blog in January of last year.  I'd be sad, but I weighed 216 last summer.  At least I'm not there anymore. 

I know what 208 feels like.  But to be honest, I never thought it looked like this... 

Starting Pictures:

 

 So I'll take new pictures at the end of the Challenge.  Hopefully ones I'm not shocked to look at.  : /

Starting Measurements: Taken in inches, by myself.  I'm not worrying about accuracy, I took a Bioanthropology class last semester that taught me how to take proper anthropometric measurements.  

Mid-Upper Arm:  13.75
Bust: 43.5
Chest (like bra band): 37.5
Waist: 39.5
Hips: 46
Butt: 44.5
Thigh: 24.5


Annnd now I've made myself late for class, so I gotta cut this short.  But I am having a fruit smoothie for breakfast - two servings of fruit down!  See you tomorrow!