You Know What Your Problem Is?

Okay, I think I know what my problem is...Why do I have a problem you ask?  Well, okay.  I've been working out more in the last 18 months than I ever have in my life (which really wasn't saying much considering formerly my workouts consisted of me walking from the parking lot to the library or from my car to my upstairs apartment or up and down the aisles of WinCo, or the aerobics class I took with my mother, which always ended with a trip to Taco Bell, or my half-assed attempt to get through the 2 years of required high school PE, so pretty much anything above that is more than I worked out my whole life.  Sad, but true).

Additionally, I've become more educated about food and what's good food for you versus what's not.  I buy way more fresh foods, not much is prepackaged or canned; I've become a label reader and I now buy a lot of organic stuff.  For example, yesterday I went grocery shopping and the only things I bought that didn't require refrigeration/freezing or came from the produce aisle were craisins, natural peanut butter and bread.  Additionally, I don't drink soda, haven't had a drop of alcohol in almost a month, have only had fast food once since the beginning of the month (and had cut way back before then), have started being more accountable via this blog, and am usually meeting or exceeding my 5-a-day fruits and veggies.

So with all of this, you would think that I'd be dropping weight, right?

Yeah, not so much. (Herein lies the problem)

I've lost in certain areas (as evidenced by my too big up top prom dress crisis last month), but otherwise, I'm not seeing a whole lotta change in how my clothes fit.  (Though I guess one plus is that they do still, in fact, fit, yes?)

So this past weekend I started paying attention.  Paying attention to not only what I eat, but also HOW MUCH I eat.  Normally I make food, I put it on my plate and I eat it until the plate is clean, and then I complain about how freaking full I am.  Chalk this up to my longstanding membership to the Clean Plate Club (which I totally blame on my parents LOL)  So from here on out, I'm going to start paying attention to how much I put on my plate, as well as how much of that I actually eat, as well as when I am actually feeling full.

What a concept, right?

Not Too Shabby

This weekend was...just okay.  Saturday morning I woke up shortly before 10.  Oops, guess I'm not going to make it water aerobics.  But I did get the chance to use my new microwave contraption to make a mcmuffin-ish sandwich for breakfast...scrambled egg, canadian bacon and cheese on a toasted English muffin.  Also had a side of hashbrowns and fresh fruit. Worked around the house....I've said it once and I'll say it again, my god, how much laundry and dishes can one person make?  Answer: A shitload.  Sheesh.

Lunch was a small bowl of the Sweet Pea soup before heading out to a Toy Story themed birthday party.  I thought I did okay around the food, though honestly I wanted to wreck the food table.  Chip and dip can be completely addicting.  But in lieu of cupcakes, I stuck with a popsicle (not to mention that it was absolutely melting outside). Ran through Starbucks for green tea before heading to friend Dee's.  We ended up heading to Shangri La for dinner with Dee's mom and friend Chris.  I'd never had soft shell crab before (eh), but I had to restrain myself from decimating the calamari appetizer.  The hot and sour soup was delish, but I only ate like half and I brought a decent portion of my bento box home.  So yay for that.  

Sunday I got up and finally, finally attacked the remainder of my laundry and ironing.  I abhor ironing; however the majority of my bottoms are khaki, which I cannot stand to see wrinkled, so I'm stuck with ironing.  Until I find an alternate solution to pants that look decent on me and are work acceptable, I mean. To gear up for this fun-filled invention, I whipped up some pancakes.  I only had powdered blueberry pancake mix, so I thought I'd try to nutrition it up a bit.  So I added ground flaxseed and real blueberries, then added some natural organic peanut butter instead of butter.  Not too shabby.  Paused in my ironing long enough to snack on some kettle corn and later have some more soup and a small chef's salad with homemade honey mustard vinaigrette (I am awesome).  Later went over the the 'rents for a breakfast-for-dinner dinner with eggs, sausage, hash browns and toast.  Driving home, I was craving ice cream like mad.  Ack!  I ended up rolling through Starbucks and getting a small, non-fat decaf caramel frappuccino, which is definitely not as good as if I'd completely ignored the craving, but hopefully it is better than the small half and half cone I was wanting.  

So not too bad food-wise, but I didn't get any real exercise in other than cleaning and ironing.  And sweating at the kiddie party.  Must do better.  

Umm...

This morning it was so hard for me to get outta bed.  I'm sure it had everything to do with the fact that I got home around midnight, ate some more kettle corn and watched a good 30 mins of "The Goonies". (Which, on a side note, is celebrating its 25th anniversary.  Say what?!  Thanks for making a girl feel ancient; I remember watching that shit in the theater). Clearly there is a pattern here, which is me not getting out of bed in a timely manner.  I need to work on that.  When I finally did get up, I had some breakfast, which consisted of peanut butter toast, some yummy Rainier cherries and Kashi cereal with skim milk, which tastes really yummy, but kinda resembles dog food.  

Just sayin'

So I went to the pool.  Today there were more people, maybe closer to 20, and a different teacher.  She had us do a lot of intervals, which was much harder than what we did yesterday.  Also, there was one lady who kept drifting over into my area.  It's a big pool, lady...find a place to be.  Just not next to me, okay?

Came home, after grabbing a green tea and made a grocery list.  Decided despite the rising temps, I was going to make some soup, the leftovers of which I will stash in the fridge.  Because honestly, I think that's why I tend to eat fast food or at restaurants a lot.  I wait until I'm completely starving before I start thinking about what I want to eat, so rolling through the Bell is way convenient and of course, almost instantaneous.  So if I have food already made, waiting in my fridge there's no need to hit the drive-thru. Also, I went ahead and ate some lunch (English muffin pizza with Thomas's multigrain light English muffin, jarred pasta sauce, cheese and Canadian bacon, with a fruit smoothie: strawberries, blueberries, oj and Greek yogurt), because I did not want to go to the store while even mildly hungry. I have a hard enough time sticking to my list as it is.  Today was no different, though I only bought 3-4 items that were not on the original list.  

Came home and made Rachael Ray's Sweet Pea soup (from the 365: No Repeats cookbook), which I've made a few times before and is simple and yummy...pancetta or bacon, onions or shallots, garlic, EVOO, peas, chicken broth, thyme, s & p, heavy cream and batta boom, batta bing, you've got soup.  And of course I had to sample a small mug.  (It was delicious BTW)

Aaaaannnnnddddd....let's just chalk up the remainder of the day as a FAIL, which started with mindlessly eating kettle corn, and ended with a slab of ice cream and cake.  Ugh.  I let my slip with the kettle corn set the tone for the remainder of the evening, which was pretty much "Fuck it.  I already messed up, so I'm gonna keep messing up."  Which obviously is not good.

So to review:  Yay for exercising, eating a good breakfast and lunch, not straying much from my grocery list, and for planning ahead with the soup. And for taking my vitamins every day this week.  Boo for not getting up on time,  letting a small slip color the remainder of my day, and for not getting to that pile of laundry I mentioned yesterday.  

Tomorrow: I have GOT to get on the Mission: Laundry Put Away bandwagon. And I'm going to a kiddie b-day party; let's see if I can control myself around the food.  

I Woke Up in the Morning Feeling Like...

So this morning I got up around 6 (yes, the alarm originally went of at 5, what of it?) and I was absolutely starving.  Perhaps eating dinner before 5 is the culprit?  Nonetheless, I had a plan today.  I was going to eat breakfast (Kashi oatmeal with flaxseeds, organic applesauce and organic blueberries) and go to Hutchins Street Square to do some water aerobics.  Many moons ago I took some classes there and enjoyed it.  I love being in the pool, but I'm not exactly a strong swimmer, so this is a good compromise.  Also, the whole bruised tailbone thing has me looking for some low impact activities.  Last night post-blogging, I looked up the pool schedule and found that there are "Conditioning" classes 6 days a week.  Fantabulous!  

So I get to the pool and there are already 3 ladies there.  Slowly but surely about 12-15 more ladies and one man trickle in before the start of class.  I get a few strange looks but overall, people are friendly.  Looking around once we've assembled though, it is clear that I am by far the youngest person in the pool.  The next oldest person is easily in her 50's, so I would put the mean age of the participants at about 67.  (Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking these old ladies.  If nothing else, good for them for making the effort!)  The workout itself is a good one, and because you're in water, it doesn't really feel like you're working out; more like you're just frolicking in the pool.  I'm thinking I'd like to continue to participate in these classes, however if I do I will have to learn to endure arm flab, loose skin, senior citizen cleavage and one creepy old man.  

I came home and had a snack of a piece of leftover chicken, then got to work on my poorly neglected apartment.  For lunch I made my special chicken salad recipe and had a sandwich, baked Lay's chips, a small apple and a single Girl Scout cookie with OJ and pomegranate juice to drink.  Spent the rest of the day cleaning my disaster of an apartment.  It amazes me how much laundry and dishes a single person can make.  Snacked on some red pepper strips and Trader Joe's organic hummus. 

Later I walked on down to the Farmer's Market where I steered clear of my beloved pastry booth (they had chocolate dipped strawberries the size of my fist *sigh*), but I did buy undipped strawberries, Rainier cherries, kettle corn and homemade doggie treats (gotta keep my coat shiny LOL) (Duh, they're for Sirius).  Walked back from the FM to friend Dee's house where beer-in-the-butt chicken was barbecuing away.  Dinner also consisted of spinach salad with sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and champagne pear vinaigrette, and baked potatoes with Greek yogurt in place of sour cream.

Overall, a totally awesome day, though I did sneak a handful of kettle corn before dinner and I did little to no resisting when Dee came around with the Skinny Cows (but they're only 150 calories!).  As always, there is room for improvement.  Here's the plan for tomorrow: I will plant my ass in the pool again, in addition to the 2 tons of laundry I need to iron and put away.  And maybe head to the grocery store, since I cleaned out my fridge and...there's not a whole lot left in there. 

Not Quite So (EPIC) Fail

So last night I went to bed at a reasonable hour, vitamins and pain meds taken, with the same basic plan from yesterday in mind for today.  Also, I had plans with Dee to go to Trader Joe's after work for my very first shopping experience there.  But somehow I still didn't fall asleep until after the 10 p.m. news.  WTH?  Alarm sounded at 5 a.m. and....

snore, snuffle, snore, eye rub...6:45?!  

Once again, I have failed to get up in time for some brief exercise.  Though I do feel I burned some calories in my rush to get ready for my final day of work before summer vacation.  

Finally got to work, where I ate my leftover sushi for breakfast with my tea.  Yesterday, one of my colleagues offered to treat the 5 counselors to lunch.  Since he was buying, we all went to one of his favorite Chinese food places.  I ordered something called the Happy Family, which I've had before at other Chinese restaurants.  In my experience, the Happy Family is a combination of chicken, beef, shrimp and lots of veggies with a yummy sauce.  This version was heavy on the protein, and also included scallops and bbq pork, but was very light on the veggies...some carrots, water chestnuts and zucchini.  It was tasty, but if I had known about the light veggies, I probably would have ordered something else.  The lunch plate also came with egg drop soup, which comes with a small serving of sweet and sour sauce and some fried wonton strips.  I only used a little bit of the sauce to flavor my soup, but so help me, I ate every one of my wonton strips.  

Then as we were leaving, it was like someone else inhabited my body as I exclaimed, "Let's go to Oh My Yogurt, which is right next door!"  Oh My Yogurt allows you to put as much frozen yogurt, in whatever available flavor combination, as well as a variety of toppings in whatever quantity you can fit, into a giant serving cup, and then sells it to you by weight.  My end product of low-fat, no sugar-added chocolate with roasted almonds, marshmallows, fresh blueberries and a dab of hot fudge sauce weighed in at about 7 ounces.  And it was pretty damn good.  

Back at school I worked until the appointed meeting time to go to Trader Joe's and I headed over to Dee's.  I was feeling hungry and was mildly concerned about heading to a grocery store in that state, so when Dee asked if I wanted to go to Mexican food first (which just so happened to be the same place from yesterday), I accepted enthusiastically.  I guess in addition to the hunger, I also wanted the opportunity to redeem myself from my EPIC FAIL yesterday.  I went easy on the chips and salsa and only ate my guacamole tostada (lunch portion) plate, despite the fact that the waiter placed the basket of hot, fresh flour tortillas right next to me.  

The Trader Joe's trip went well.  The store itself was a lot smaller than I thought it would be and was really nothing too special, though I did appreciate the wide variety of organic selections.  Also, Dee bought some mini peanut butter cups, of which I had one, on the drive home.  

So, I wouldn't go so far as to call today an EPIC FAIL, but as always, there's room for improvement... First, clearly getting up early to work out is not my forte.  Second, I haven't had a meal made at home since Monday evening, which is also not good.  And the trip to Oh My Yogurt definitely could have been avoided.  But on the plus side, I feel I made some decent food choices even though I did go to restaurants.  I especially feel the no flour tortilla with dinner is a major win.  So yay for that!

Tomorrow is my first official day of summer vacation.  I am still going to try to move forward with my basic plan.  And I'm going to the kickoff of the Farmer's Market tomorrow.  I think I'll even walk there from my apartment.  

Ready...set...go!

So I haven't posted here in god knows how long, and it's doubtful that anyone is still even following along. Nonetheless, starting today, I'm getting back into the swing of things when it comes to eating less, eating better, taking my vitamins and moving a whole helluva lot more. One of the things that I hear a lot about when it comes to successful weight loss endeavors is that those people were accountable to others. So why not utilize my public forum and be accountable that way?

Well here we go...

After a brief time on the workout train, I derailed badly. Stress from work and a badly bruised tailbone, which doesn't allow for much pain free movement, let alone exercise, will do that. So a few weeks ago, I told my friend Dee that starting on June 1st, I was going to jump back on the train and spend the 6 weeks I had between the end of one school year and the start of another making good things happen. I felt this was a good time, because most of the end of the year stress was over and I would have the aforementioned 6 weeks. I spent the entire Memorial Day weekend taking a goodbye tour with some of my favorite things, which I would now be limiting (or possibly eliminating) from my refrigerator...all things deep fried, bacon, hollandaise, margaritas, macaroni salad, ice cream cake, cheesecake...you get the idea.

So I went to bed last night pumped about all the good things I was going to do...I was going to sleep well, get up and do a little exercise, go to my second to last day of work, make good food choices, come home and do a little more exercise and call it a day.

Um. Let's just say this: EPIC FAIL

For starters I waited too long to take my pain meds and not be a complete zombie the next morning. So for the first time in about 3 weeks I was falling asleep on my own. Add that to the fact that I had taken a 2 hour nap earlier in the day, and yeah...I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. I tossed and turned, got up to pee a bajillion times, and literally groaned out loud when my alarm sounded at 5 a.m. Oh, this isn't starting off well.

I finally dragged myself out of bed with my schedule already completely obliterated. Then when I was finally ready to head out the door I walked out sans lunch box, in which I had planned to pack smart food choices for breakfast and lunch. I was headed to Starbucks anyway for my favorite drink on the planet (Venti Shaken Green Iced Tea, no syrup, extra ice...caffeine with 0 calories, Yay!), so I decided to grab something from there. (The protein plate btw is not too shabby) (I also had a small snack of peanut butter and crackers late a.m.)

So I get to work, completely frustrated at my lack of progress on my plan. We get to chatting about our long weekend and the conversation turns to lunch for the day. One of my co-workers is from out of town, so we've been trying to expose her to as much "Lodi food" as possible. So we decided to visit one of my favorite Mexican food places in town. I thought for sure that I would be able to hold it down. (Have I mentioned the EPIC FAIL?) My lunch itself (guacamole tostada lunch plate) would have been just fine, but then I went ahead and plowed through the chips and salsa AND ordered gravy and cheese (yes, it is as heavenly as it sounds) AND I ate the tortilla on the side (DOH!) My one saving grace is that I didn't indulge in the ice cream/candy store that resides next to the restaurant (though it was honestly more about the "Cash Only" sign then it was about my will power).

Then friend Dee calls me when she's on her way home from work and asks if I'd like to join her for Happy Hour at our favorite sushi place. She makes mention of taking a walk around the block after we're done, so that rationalizes it enough for me and I head out. I had some edamame instead of tempura, a piece of gyoza and only one piece of the mushroom bomb. Oh, and a raw oyster (it tasted like the ocean!) And I brought most of my rolls home with me. And we didn't make our post-sushi Baskin Robbins run that we usually do. Oh, but the walk around the block...So didn't happen.

So I know I said EPIC FAIL, but I guess the fact that I've yet to eat ice cream today, kept myself in check for the most part at sushi, and brought home most of my dinner is a (tiny) victory.

There's always tomorrow, right?

I Hate This

How do you explain to a 9 year old that the reason you haven't seen him in a long time is because his mother hates your guts?