Days 280 - 282: Home Blog + Oatmeal & Fruit + Busted AC

Before I get into the day-to-day here are a few things to note:

1. Happy Friday!
2. My Home Blog: www.makingmyhomemartin.blogspot.com I’m SO sorry if it’s boring or repetitive with this site, but hope you can have fun with it! I mostly do updates on our progress, as well as likes & dislikes with different rooms, blogs, etc.
3. My header/background is new! Yes- it’s a complete and total work in progress – sorry for the mess -but I’m on it!

Tuesday was an exciting day because I went to the grocery store to buy some new (for me) products including fruit and oatmeal – woo! I also got in 6.5 miles walking. The day was long with work, working out and grocery store (s) so nothing really exciting happened. I ended the day at 1,826 calories, 290 carbs and 35 fat grams. This seems a little high, but honestly, I only regret the skittles! Haha Everything else was filling and yummy. I do wish I hadn’t had the cat cookies either – I was just SO hungry and had too many errands to run to not have a snack before dinner (another margarita pizza- YUM). Here’s what I ate! Notice the banana – I’m working on it!! I even bought made 8 fruit snack packs including banana, strawberry, apple, pineapple and grapes. They’re SO pretty – I just loved making them. And wow – it’s way cheaper to make your own!! I found this worked for me:

25 grams banana

45 grams apple

70 grams grapes

75 grams strawberries

50 grams pineapple

123 calories, 37 carbs and 1 fat gram. Is this a good snack? Or should I add more bananas (25 grams) to take it up to 146 calories and 43 carbs? Are these “good carbs”? Sorry for all of the questions – first time I DIYed fruit. :)

Fruit Cups!

Wednesday started out bad in that I felt bad again. Then I had a meeting during lunch so I couldn’t walk. The meeting was offsite and I hadn’t eaten out in FOREVER and it really upset my tummy. So I ended up going straight home, no working out, and just felt blah/bad. I stayed in bed and hung out with Reuben and watched SYTYCD – AMAZING. I just loved it – even the crash test dummy dance, even the dances set to heinous music. I am just such a fan!!! I ended up at 2,072 calories, 259 carbs and 69 fat grams. (I blame the lunch out… boo… but really it was all of the treats I had when I got back from lunch. I mean really) Here’s what I ate.

Here is Reuben the day he got groomed!

Thursday I felt much better, but my AC didn’t… The upstairs unit gave out. Austin called a guy who came out immediately and determined it was the motor so he ordered another and felt like it would hold out until the morning. It didn’t. I worked (downstairs), worked out during lunch (3.5 miles) and then worked some more. I tried doing laundry but it was just so hot. I got a facial at 5:30 (bliss) and stopped by Joann Fabric for fabric to cover a stool for the kitchen (so cute!), then I headed home, recovered the stool, cooked some meals, caught up with friends via telephone (Austin away on business in Alabama for the night), then settled in (on the couch) to watch the SYTYCD results show with Reuben – SOOOO good. I ended up at 1,651 calories, 282 carbs and 27 fat grams, which I think was about right for my activity level (and it includes wine and sour patch kids!). Here’s what I ate.

Stool BEFORE

Stool AFTER

Day 197 & 198: The Usual in Bullets + Movie Review + Recipe!

Wednesday

• I had 1,530 calories, 206 carbs and 34 fat grams. I weighed 116.5 (again).
• Still felt pooey but appreciated knowing I’m not the only one with awful TOMs. Blah. Now I feel so sorry for all of you!
• Got in 3.5 miles at lunch and 2 miles after work + abs. Nothing else though. Sigh.
• My hip flexors hurt. Thanks to Every Gym’s Nightmare I know to call them that. I was referring to it as the place where my legs connect to my body in front. Boo. I tried the stretch she posted and it helped.
• I watched the rest of The Biggest Loser – this episode was particularly uplifting, although I felt bad for Tara… boo
• We have a closing date/time – Tuesday, March 31, at noon! The keys are ours THAT DAY. We’re hoping to have hardwood installers in Wednesday & Thursday and then paint that weekend (the one room & half bath) and bring over some stuff (light big stuff like blankets and pillows) and stuff that we don’t trust movers with (some lamps/framed pieces). Then the NEXT weekend we’ll move in fo’ real (as in with movers).
• Here’s what I ate.

Thursday

• I still felt bad. How many days IS this now? Blah.
• I had 1,697 calories, 231 carbs and 34 fat grams.
• I decided fairly early on this would be my break-from-cardio day and instead I would devote the day to strength training. So… I did none. What is wrong with me?! Haha I’m going to make up for it this weekend but I feel bad- I LOVE ST and I’m totally neglecting it. :(
• I watched Fool’s Gold with Kate & Matt. Eeeeeeh. Not the best. I mean, I knew that going into it when HBO, who bought the movie for my viewing pleasure, only gave it one star. And, well, I trust HBO – rarely steers me wrong. But it was a dud. If any of you liked it tell me and i'll give it another try. I could have been projecting my bad attitude on it!
• I thought about packing… I called two hard wood installers to follow up and left voicemails and I got a list of utilities for the house from our realtor (thanks, Amanda!) And thanks, Stacy, for telling me to go ahead and get cranking on that!
• I made something new for lunch – Italian Chicken Wrap! (recipe & photo below) Soooo yums.
• I made chicken parmesan for dinner – WOW! Actually I prepped it during lunch (whilst doing laundry and unloading the dishwasher), and Austin cooked it/brought it to me in bed for dinner – love that combo!
• I groomed Reuben! He got his ears cleaned, his coat brushed and we gave him his flea and heartworm medication! Good buddy.
• Here’s what I ate.

That’s all folks! This weekend we’re planning much of nada. Just packing and working out. Depending on how much gets packed we may venture out Saturday night but I’m thinking no. I’m honestly still trying to recoop from the last two weekends. Speaking of, I weighed 114 today. What?! Yay! (yes, I checked three times as per usual when the scale is on my side – I just don’t trust it!) Time for the chicken wrap!

Outside of it - sorry, peeps - not the best photog! The orange plate also offered no favors. And the dagger coming from the back right. Wow, I need to take a class.

Inside - yumstown. Am I the only one who hearted the coincidence that my tbsp matched my meal? hehe

Recipe for Italian Chicken Wraps

4 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped into pieces
1 Mission Carb Balance, soft taco size
½ tsp Olive Oil
3 tbsp Muir Glen Organic Sauce, divided
15 grams Fat-Free Feta Cheese
15 grams Fat-Free Mozarella, Grated
Salt, Garlic Salt, Red Pepper Flakes and Italian Seasoning to taste

Defrost chicken, cut into pieces. Set pan to medium and spray PAM and pour olive oil in pan. Drop chicken in and sprinkle with all four seasonings; mostly Italian Seasoning. While it cooks, measure cheeses and turn on George Foreman. Once chicken is cooked, after about 4 minutes, put on plate. Put tortilla in the chicken pan and heat for about 1 minute on each side. Remove from heat and lay flat. Spoon 2 tbsp sauce on tortilla, then chicken, then cheeses. Fold into a wrap and place on the George Foreman for 3 minutes. While it cooks, heat up the other tbsp of sauce. Remove wrap from heat, cut in half and serve with the extra sauce. Serves 1.

Nutritional Facts: 326 calories, 26 carbs, 6 fat grams and 40 grams of protein.

Hope you try and enjoy - HAPPY FRIDAY!

Day 43: Tuesday, Oct. 15, Assessment & New Recipe - Good “Bad” Food My Husband Loved

So I’m all for finding recipes that take bad food and make it healthy! Makes me feel less deprived which is a plus, right? So I went to make this Hungry Girl Buffalo Chicken Salad but my romaine was bad – MAN! Austin got home and was like let’s make Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches instead….

So I measured 2 servings of boneless skinless chicken tenders, sliced it into cubes, and cooked the chicken on the stove with cumin. While it cooked I combined 2 tbsp Frank’s cayenne pepper sauce and 1.5 tbsp Reduced fat parmesan cheese and stirred. Once the chicken was cooked, I simply put it in a bowl, added the sauce/parm mixture and stirred until the chicken was coated, then popped in the microwave for 45 seconds. Meanwhile, helpful Austin was toasting nature’s own light wheat bread and spreading fat-free ranch salad dressing on each slice – yum! Then we simply put the chicken on and topped it with tomato slices and cut in half- FANTASTIC! I added everything up and got this:

2 slices Bread: 80 calories; 1 fat gram; 19 carbs; 5 protein
Chicken (136 grams): 110 calories, 1 fat gram, 0 carbs, 26 protein
Tomatoes (1 large slice): 6 calories, 0 fat gram, 0 carbs, 0 protein
FF Ranch (1 tbsp): 25 calories, 0 fat grams, 5 carbs, 0 protein
RF Parm (.75 tbsp): 23 calories, 1 fat grams, 2 carbs, 1 protein
Frank’s: 0,0,0,0

TOTAL per sandwich: 244 calories, 3 fat grams, 26 carbs and 32 protein


Something tells me that’s significantly less than buffalo wings and seriously – it tastes JUST like it. The parm/cayenne make like a spicy breading. It was excellent and me and Austin plan to make it again and again. And if we do make a salad with it, we’ll take Hungry Girl’s suggestion and do fat-free ranch, romaine, celery and carrots – YUM!

We had it with sweet potato fries (each had 5 oz. sweet potatoes cut into French fry shapes, 1 tbsp olive oil, cinnamon, paprika and kosher salt). Each serving had 247 calories, 27 carbs, 14 fat grams and 2 protein. Note: if you reduce the olive oil to ½ tbsp you’ll make the fries be 187 calories, 27 carbs, 7 fat grams and 1 protein – MUCH better. I think the fries would have been just as good without it and will definitely change it up next time!!

So while that was clearly a big part of my day – it wasn’t all (although it was the most interesting). Other that I just had my usual breakfast sandwich, a smart ones (chicken parm – mmmmmm), a 100 calorie pack (oreo thin crips!) and baked Cheetos (gotta love orange crunchiness…) – here’s the full day: What I Ate Today. In total, I had 1,277 calories, 155 carbs and 38 fat grams. Not bad! I also burned approximately 203 calories (walking 3 15-minute miles) taking me to 1,070 calories. Not a bad day at all.

Day 36: Tuesday, Oct. 7, Assessment & a Yummy, Simple Breakfast Wrap

Had another great workout today – yay! During lunch I walked 2.5 miles which felt great! After work I hopped on the elliptical for a mile while my workout partner finished up her cardio. Then together we did legs! (Lying leg press machine; seated calf raise machine; hack squat machine; adductor machine and abductor machine). So basically we did calves, inner thighs, outer thighs then two exercises (lying press & hack squat) that work hamstrings, glutes and quads simultaneously! We did 3 sets of each exercise with 10-15 reps on each. Notice I said a lot of machines… my friend is being so cool about my foot and machines help put little to no stress on my foot so yay! (normally she has me doing squat jumps, walking lunges, reverse lunges, etc.) It’s nice to mix it up and I’m so glad she’s on board!

Today was a good day and I feel much more positive about work. I’m excited about going to Auburn this weekend, too! Can’t wait to see our friends and celebrate a friend’s birthday and just have a great time! Also – Austin got me firefly vodka – yay! For those who don’t know, it’s this amazing sweet tea vodka. It’s SO good, but hard to find. He found it yesterday and they only had a handle… that’ll work! I’m so excited to mix it up and drink less beer – I just know I can do it!

So as far as food I had 1,305 calories, 160 carbs and 42 fat grams. So carbs were a little under but other than that, great! What I ate Today. For dinner I was CRAVING a breakfast wrap – random! I’d never made one but I grabbed:

2 eggs
1 morningstar sausage patty
2 butterball 98% fat free turkey bacon
1 mission 98% fat free flour tortillas (the replacement since the enchilada incident!)

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees cracked the eggs, added a dollop of skim milk and salt, pepper and tony’s creole seasoning. Once the eggs began cooking, I cooked the sausage and turkey bacon back to back in the microwave, then chopped/ripped them into tiny pieces which I threw into the egg as it cooked. I dropped the tortilla on a pan to heat, and continued cooking the egg/bacon/sausage mixture. A couple minutes later I laid out the tortilla and put the mixture in – YUM – it looked so good, then I wrapped it up and cut it in half – voila! Yummy breakfast wrap! It had 409 calories, 18 fat grams, 30 carbs and 30 protein. Next time, to cut down on calories and fat, I’m going to use one regular egg with ¼ cup egg beaters, and I’m going to make it one slice of bacon. This will make it have 339 calories, 11.5 fat grams, 30 carbs – so 70 less calories and 7.5 less fat grams –yay! I’ll let you know how that tastes!!

Day 35: Monday, Oct. 6, Assessment and Sweet Potato Fries Recipe & Failed Enchilada Photos

So yesterday was great as far as workouts, and pretty good about food, too! I came in at 1,524 calories, 59 fat grams and a 199 carbs. So carbs were pretty high… and fat grams were too high. But it was olive oil – does that mean it’s good fat? Before the olive oil I only had 25 fat grams… hmmm. I have a hard time with fat. If I could only count calories I’d be a happy girl! In the end, with the 3.5 miles, I was definitely good on calories, so that’s good! What I Ate Today

So the amazing, amazing sweet potato fries… here is a pic of mine with the Morningstar chicken sandwich – YUM! I hate that I can’t figure out where I found this recipe (so embarrassing), but it was online and it called for this:

• 1 - 1 1/2 lb sweet potatoes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Peal the sweet potatoes and cut into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide on each side. Place the sweet potatoes into a sealable plastic bag. Add oil, salt, paprika and cinnamon. Seal the bag and shake well to thoroughly coat the fries. Spread the potatoes out onto the baking sheet in a single layer. Cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. Transfer immediately to a paper towel lined plate and serve warm.

Note: I used less olive oil and cut thinner strips so they only needed to cook for 22 minutes! Either way – I LOVED the paprika/cinnamon mixture and they smelled FANTASTIC!


On a total sidebar – here are pics of my enchiladas from Sunday! I wish they tasted as good as I think they looked! I plan to try again soon with the new tortillas I got last night!!

What Goes Around Comes Back Around

Yes, the pound came back. Just like that. Today when I woke up I was at 125.5. Blah. However, I was determined to work out hard! I went during lunch and walked 2.75 miles. After work I met my fantastic work out buddy and did another .75 miles (but on the eliptical) and then together we did chest (bench press, incline press machine and dumbbell flies), triceps (rope pull downs, nose breakers and overhead dumbbell extensions) and abs (crunches, teasers, obliques with balls, ankle wiggles). Great day!

Then it was time for the grocery store! I bought lots of stuff to try new stuff... YAY! Tonight I tried sweet potato fries (YUM - i'm a HUGE fan) and a Morningstar chicken patty (on toasted nature's own light wheat bread w/fat-free mayo and tomatoe slices). I'll post the recipe I made and photos tomorrow! :) Loved it! Can't wait for Austin to try it. (he was out playing poker)

Day 33: Saturday, Oct. 4, Assessment and Day 34: Sunday, Oct. 5 Assessment

Blah. Neither of these days was very good…. Sad. Saturday – as per usual the drinking made my calories sky rocket. Boo…. I had 2,105 calories, 240 carbs and 26 fat grams. So nothing was in the REC zone – eek. (fat too low; carbs/calories too high). I actually only ate 1,213 calories… it was the alcohol that got me – man! What I ate and drank…

Sunday was just a weird day. I went to brunch and only got a fruit bowl/yogurt but was easily talked into a mimosa – dang! Other than that I just kind of snacked all day which led to me being a little over and not realizing it until I was plugging it in late at night. L I do so great when I track as the day goes on… not so good when I wait and do it all at once. Lesson learned though, huh? I also tried an enchilada recipe! I was SO excited about it and it looked fabulous… but the tortillas were super, super low calorie/low fat and just tasted funny with the enchilada sauce/cheese. It was super disappointing. Me and Austin ate the stuff out of it though and I promised I’d get flour tortillas next time so they’d taste right. Blah. It will be worth the extra calories!! All in all, I had 1,625 calories, 35 fat grams and 232 carbs – over in calories… and dangerously close to being over in carbs! Eek! What I ate.

On another note – Desperate Housewives was kind of blah. That Lynette is just so wrong sometimes, man! And Susan is irking on my nerves again. So soon, boo. At least I heard a mention of Julie’s name. It bugged me how she ceased to exist. On another note, I thought Brothers & Sisters was pretty good! I was glad Robert stuck up for Kitty though – her family can just be ridiculous! (her too, but at that point clearly she wasn’t being that way). I haven’t gotten to watch True Blood & Entourage… going to go watch one Entourage now!

Day 32: Friday, Oct. 3, Assessment

So... I was all proud of myself with my newly purchased vodka/diet sprite and decided to start with chardonnay while I got ready. I have 2 glasses (8 oz)... then it's time to go! Boo - I was like oh well it's cool - i'll get it at the bar. Um, DUH- the bar doesn't HAVE diet sprite! What?! I'm so sad. So I have a whiskey diet.... then another... then ANOTHER.... then two (and a half...) beers. Oh my! Don't think i'm a binge drinker!! This spanned like 7 hours... but STILL - what am I going to do?! Bring my own diet sprite?! haha If anyone has suggestions for low-calorie drinks you can purchase at a bar let me know! Thanks, friends!

So here's my assessment... dang alcohol... 1,952 calories (eek!), 167 carbs (not bad!) and 29 fat grams (great!). Man on those calories. At least I burned some with the 3 miles at the gym... but still - what a lush! :( What I Ate... And Drank On the good side, I yet again weighed 125.5. I'm happy maintaining, but have GOT to get a handle on things so I can reach my next goal - 125! So close!

Day 30: Wednesday, Oct. 1, Assessment

I started my month out poorly – eek! It all started after my healthy breakfast. I went to P.F. Chang. Oh no… that would be mistake #1. Then later I drank at poker – which is fine, but not after P.F. Chang! What I Ate Today. 1,696 calories, 42 fat grams, 160 carbs. Yes, calories are too high – not good. I’ve actually had high calories for a few days now – not cool! I’ve got to start being better. I’ve done this before, I get excited about losing weight then slowly revert back to my ‘old ways’! SIGH. I can’t wait until this becomes a natural habit…

On the plus side, I did get into the gym for 2.5 miles (broken up on treadill/elipitical) and did shoulders and biceps. Yay! Can’t wait to go today!

And two more pieces of good news: won $ in poker last night – woo! – and I still weighed 125.5 again this morning. Again, I didn’t deserve it and if I keep this up the scale is so going to turn on me! Gina suggested I get a body fat test and I want to do it! I’m going to look into it today.

Day 29: Tuesday, Sept. 30 Assessment

So today was blah. I was only at work for a ½ day (other ½ spent walking dogs) and then I had a teambuilding where I was bad… oops! All in all, I had 1,700 calories, 193 carbs and 49 fat grams. Holy fat grams! Still in REC zone but seems like a lot to me. Actually, everything but calories was in the REC zone but if you think about it… because I walked 2.5 miles I was in my REC zone, right?! :) Dare to dream, huh? Anyway, here’s what I ate.

And I took some pics of my favorite snack: 6 slices sandwich meat (Oscar Meyer deli fresh honey ham or mesquite turkey or slow roasted roast beef – a mix), 10 baby carrots, 2 tbsp T. Marzeti Fat-free Ranch Dip and 1 piece of Sargento Light String Cheese chopped up into little cheesy pieces of happiness. This snack is my favorite late afternoon snack before the gym (around 4 p.m. – get to gym at 5:30 p.m.). The fat-free ranch is in foil!


Here is how I pack for me and Austin so we know what we're having for breakfast, lunch and 2 snacks. I mix it up every day and we cook breakfast a lot of days (we basically cook a sandwich like those Jimmy Dean d-lights below). I always add a bag of triscuits or something to Austin's because clearly he needs more calories than me. Or he'll just eat a bigger dinner. Whatever!

Day 28: Monday, Sept. 29 Assessment

So today I had a really good workout, despite the fat that my foot kinda hurt a little…. Boo. I did a mile on the treadmill, but my foot hurt. So I did a mile on the elliptical, which hurt less, but still wasn’t “right.” I did a half mile on the stair climber which didn’t hurt at all… but then I gave up. At least I got in 2.5 miles… I can’t wait to be back to normal.

After my miles, I did chest, tris and abs. For chest, I grabbed a bench and 5- and 10-pound dumbbells. I did lying chest flies with 5-pound dumbbells and chest presses with 10-pound dumbbells. I grabbed a 20-pound EZ bar and did nosebreakers on the bench for triceps, and used the 5-pound dumbbells for kick backs. I also grabbed one of the 10-pound dumbbells and did tricep overhead extensions. Good stuff! Later I did abs- mostly mucho crunches, obliques with a ball and some Pilates teasers. Yay!

According to this site I burned this many calories:

1 4mph-mile walk 74
1 12-minute mile on elliptical 131
1 ½ mile on stair climber 50

Total: 255 calories burned

What I ate Today

Not bad! I felt fulfilled all day. Had a few too many snacks, but you know what – they were good! All in all, I had 1,469 calories, 38 grams of fat and 190 carbs – all in my REC zones – yay. And with my work out – it’s like I had 1,214 calories – great!

Assessments From the Weekend: Day 25 - 27

So today I weighed 126…. Lowest weight since I started! However, I don’t deserve it… I went to one of my favorite places in the world to be with some some of my best friends- Auburn!! A weekend back in my college town made me act (and eat.... and drink) like I was back in college.

Day 25: Friday, Sept. 26 Assessment

So Friday started out great with a healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks! As far as food, I only had 1,216 calories… but I also had 5 beers and two jim beam/diet cokes – eek! So I ended up at 1,891 calories, 28 fat grams and 184 carbs. Not good….What I ate Friday

Day 26: Saturday, Sept. 27 Assessment

So Saturday was good too…. Kind of. I started out with my Jimmy Dean d-light – yay! But lunch got a little messed up in that I wasn’t thinking about going by Subway (tailgate spot not near it like I thought) so I ended up eating ½ cheese burger and potato salad. Not awful – skipped chips/cookies/etc. Later, for dinner, I ordered a grilled chicken breast with a baked potato and broccoli. I had very little butter and honey mustard on my chicken/potato. The problem was that I drank… a lot… from noon until 3 a.m. We’re talking 13 hours… we’re talking 4 beers and 8 jim beam/diets – eek! My food was only 1,490…. But with the drinks I ended up at 2,670 calories, 166 carbs and 55 fat grams – eek! What I Ate Saturday

Day 27: Sunday, Sept. 28 Assessment

Apparently Sunday I said forget it – I don’t care! Haha I had 5 pigs in a blanket… eek… then I went to my favorite college Mexican restaurant… danger… danger. I had tons of chips, salsa, cheese dip and a chicken soft taco and ½ a burrito! Eek! Anyway, at the end of the day I ended up at 1,760 calories, 191 carbs (wow!) and 45 fat grams – oopsie…
What I ate Sunday

All in all I’m like okay… it could have been worse. However, I’ve made some learnings:

1. No more beam/diets. I honestly thought they had less calories! I’m moving over to Vodka people!! I’m going to start making sweet tarts or firefly vodka with crystal light….


2. No more Mexican. I just can’t be trusted. And I don’t even like it that much anymore. Just can’t do it at a restaurant!


3. Prepare, prepare, prepare. I should have planned better to avoid eating bad at lunch and should have eaten the breakfast I brought Sunday instead of the little piggies.
   Stick to it… just STICK to it. I’m happy now that I’ve lost weight but I’ve GOT to keep it up!


4. I’m proud of a lot of my choices – it was a hard weekend but I learned a lot. And I really did have an EXCELLENT time!

Day 24: Thursday, Sept. 25 Assessment & New Weight!

Yes…. 126.5! Yay! That’s almost 10 pounds since Labor Day Weekend! I have no doubt I’ll fluctuate up (again) but it’s still nice to see progress/a downward trend! So today I wore flats and straight leg jeans (not skinny – straight – going to get skinnys at lunch so I can tuck into boots!). My flats aren’t super comfortable, so I definitely need to get some comfortable ones! Like with a round toe, maybe a bow? Here’s some I just found that I’ve decided I want! (something like them) Anyway – here’s how I did yesterday – not too bad!!
What I Ate

Calories: 1,326
Fat: 31
Carbs: 191

And guess what? I was able to walk 2 miles, do upper body strength training and do abs yesterday. The 2 miles felt great... but today my foot kind of hurts (ball of foot - not toe/gout/etc.). So i'm going to go try to get metasargalia pads during lunch...

Calories and carbs are in the REC zone, but fat was a tiny bit under. Not bad at all! I felt really full all day which is good too! Today we’re leaving for Auburn…. Although I’m a little concerned about the gas situation. Almost every station here is tapped out – and the ones who have gas, I’m not kidding, had lines 50+ deep. Eek! We’ll see. Wish me luck being healthy this weekend. My plan is to:

Bring Jimmy Dean D-lights for Saturday and Sunday breakfast
Bring 100-calorie packs for snacks on Saturday
Eat Chick-Fil-A chargrilled chicken salad for lunch on Saturday; eat Subway turkey sandwich on wheat for Saturday dinner (w/baked lays)
Pick up a thing of bagel bites so if we do get STARVED and want “drunk food” we can have some bites instead of ordering a pizza… or wings – eek!

Oh and fashion update! One of my favorite Atlanta boutiques is having sale – 25% off EVERYTHING in the store. No, I don’t really need anything – BUT – I had a $60 credit from January that was burning a hole in my pocket (mostly because it was a piece of paper – not a card or anything – I was so worried I’d lose it). So I went online and found some coats I liked that would literally cost $16 with the discount and credit. I went and found this…. I think it’s fabulous and different. Great for fall, can wear a black long sleeve under it for winter and it even looks good undone! I’m SO excited. BB Dakota named it 'the alpha coat'... I like that!

Day 23: Wednesday, Sept. 24, Assessment

This morning I weighed 127 – the lowest I’ve weighed since I started! Yay!! Here’s how I did yesterday…

Calories: 1,319
Fat: 35
Carbs: 188

What I Ate Today

All in REC zones! Yay! I didn’t eat the most nutritional foods…. To be honest… I had to leave work a little early because I felt dizzy/nauseated. I think it’s the medication – bleh. And I was craving Ramen noodles of all things! Haha Oh well – what’d done is done and it could have been worse. I feel better today and don’t plan on taking any more meds. I’m going to the doctor in an hour for a final look at my toe so wish me luck!

Daily Assessment Catch-Up Time: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 21 – 23)

K – sorry! Eek! Traveling makes blogging hard…. Especially when you’re having more fun blogging about traveling than food! Time to play catch up....

Sunday, Sept. 21

So Sunday I was good (to make up for all of the drinks on Saturday I’m sure!). Here’s how it went:

Calories: 1,206
Fat: 35
Carbs: 135

What I ate

So calories and fat were in REC zone, but can you believe it, carbs were below the rec zone. I’m actually pretty pumped about this… As far as working out – I had every intention of doing upper body ST but didn’t…. I had to leave at 3 p.m. to catch my flight and just slept in, packed, chilled with Austin & Reuben and didn’t do it! Blah. Either way – overall – I was pumped about it. And I weighed 127.5 – yay!

Monday, Sept. 22

So this day was a toughie as I was in Chicago all day with no means to cook for myself… but still – I could make healthy choices for the most part. I’m still working on putting this into spark people but here goes:

9 a.m. Egg white omelet with vegetables and half a slice of wheat toast…. A few sliced potatoes
12:30 p.m. Halibut with sautéed mushrooms and asparagus…. A few bites of sweet potato mashed potatoes. NO BREAD – yay!
5:30 p.m. 2 cars crackers, 2 cheese cubes, 2 pieces of celery
5:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. 4 glasses of white wine and 2 beers (6 drinks over 5 hours is pretty good, right?)
8 p.m. 4 slices of tomato/onion/mushroom pizza (little 3”x2” slices of thin crust pizza) I completely ignored the Chicago style meaty pizza… even though it looked amazing. I meant to have a bite since I’m here and all but forgot!
10:30 p.m. 1 serving of pretzels – my only snack! I just wanted something salty before bedtime and needed some carbs because I had to do a little bit of work… BLAH. It’s hard to edit when you’re tipsy….

I could have done better… and I didn’t work out at all…. But come on! I’m only in the city for two days – I have to take it all in and the hotel gym just isn’t calling my name! haha I’ll make up for it, especially now that I’m bootless!! I’m going to be back in the gym today – I’m so excited! I haven’t done a lunge or squat in almost two weeks – eek – this could be painful….

What I Ate Today I went on the high side for everything (in case of added fats, etc.) Ended up at 1,943 calories (eek!), 45 fat grams (in REC zone) and 120 carbs (not bad!)

Oh and update – the scale in my bathroom didn’t work! Eek! I tried to weigh in and nothing…. Then my omelet got there before I could call! (no one wants to weigh after an omelet). So I’m not weighing for Monday or Tuesday!

Tuesday, Sept. 23

9:30 a.m. Egg white omelet with vegetables… didn’t touch the bread or potatoes.

12:30 p.m. ½ Panini with mushroom, tomato, spinach, fresh mozzarella and pesto mayonnaise (asked for it without it… had to wipe it off but I’m sure I got at least 2 tbsp) & a salad with grilled chicken, 2 tbsp feta cheese, ¼ cup mushrooms and 2 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette dressing

5:30 p.m. 1 slice of pepperoni airport pizza with a 100-calorie pack of chips ahoy candy bites

8 p.m. ½ grilled chicken wrap (lettuce/tomato only) and 50 pretzel sticks

Eek! Here is how it went: What I Ate!

Not too bad: 1,500 calories, 46 fat and 139 carbs. Fat seems high to me…. It’s all CLOSE to good but not good – should have been better but honestly I was SO tired and just didn’t make good choices. Blah.

At least this morning - Wednesday, Sept. 24, I weighed 128.5 - only one pound up from the day I left. Not bad!!!

Day 17: Thursday, Sept. 18 Assessment and Foot Update AND Sept. 19 Weight

So today wasn’t bad at all! Here’s how I did:

Weight: 127.5 (Friday, Sept. 19)
Calories: 1,287 (Thursday, Sept. 18)
Fat Grams: 41 (Thursday, Sept. 18)
Carbs: 166 (Thursday, Sept. 18)

My calories, fat and carbs were all in the rec zone! Yay! My fat is never in the rec zone so that’s good.

What I ate Today

“Gym”: I was able to do a great upper body strength routine! I was too drowsy from my meds to get to abs though – boo.

Overall assessment: it was a good day! I can tell my pills are making me weak though (i.e. very tired, hungry, carb-craving, drowsy, etc.). Which sucks on the losing-weight end but is great on the foot end. My foot’s swelling has gone down SIGNIFICANLTY. I can even kind of walk on it – but not normally yet because the swelling still has it a little deformed…. I’m hoping by Sunday I’ll be good to go! Wish me luck… I’m still taking it easy and being very diligent with the pills. And random – they think it’s gout. How incredibly odd. Gout is for old, men, not 26-year-old females! I’ll let you know when they know for sure….

DAY 13: Sunday, Sept. 14 Assessment... another nice little Sunday!

Today was definitely a nice little Sunday. My mood was a little funky – think I’m just down on myself because I felt kind of moody and “stuck” – my foot was hurting worse than the day before… and little Reuben accidentally (of course) pounced on it – argh! Anyway, I slept in until 12. Why? I have NO idea… odd. Then me and Austin ran a couple of errands but mostly I just got ready for tomorrow, chilled with Reuben, watched TONS of Dawson’s Creek and read. Here’s how I did today:

Calories: 1,245
Fat: 31
Carbs: 187

What I Ate Today

What I did “at the gym”: I didn’t go to the gym today (can’t but on nikes yet)– but I did do a full upper body strength training circuit with 5- and 8-pound dumbbells and abs.

Overall assessment: I’m glad I watched what I ate and was able to do some strength training/abs. It made me feel better! I also feel ready for the week – it’s going to be a big one…. We’ll leave Friday for Auburn for the weekend, and then I’ll fly out Sunday for Chicago. I found out that one of my good friends will be in Chicago for work at the same time! Yay! So I’ll have him to show me around/go out to eat with Monday night – perfect. Forgot to mention – I weighed 127.5 this morning! I was very excited… this is the least I’ve weighed since I started blogging so yay! Of course, I know I’ll fluctuate and my weight will go up again but it’s nice to be at this weight!!

DAY 10: Thursday, Sept. 11 Assessment

Today was a good day, aside from the podiatrist. I got to see my mom who is visiting to get Zumba certified – yay! I’m so excited for her and can’t wait to go home and take one of her classes – how fun is that?! I also got a lot done around the house, played poker and watched 24 with my husband and got lots of Reuben time! Here’s how I did today:

Calories: 1,276 (in REC zone: 1200-1550; 368 less than yesterday)
Fat: 25 (in REC zone: 32-56; 9 less than yesterday)
Carbs: 211 (in REC zone: 163-236; 10 more than yesterday - the most carbs i've had since I started tracking - eeek

What I ate

Yes, I got tired of typing it out! Also – I added a sidebar (Eat it Up) for full day details and went back to the beginning of my tracking.

What I did at the gym:
Nothing :( Sad… but it’s okay!

Overall Assessment: In the end, I had 1,276 calories coming in which is not bad at all! However, I was very sedentary so it could hurt me for tomorrow’s weigh in… but it’ll be okay! I’m going to take these ‘off days’ to create some new playlists for when I can get back to it! I’ll make sure to post my favorite playlists when I finish up!

A New Number…

So… I weighed 128.5 today! I’m honestly really excited, but still worried the other shoe is going to drop and tomorrow I’m going to weigh 136 again. I mean if I can lose it this quick I can gain it quicker, right? Anyway, I’m trying to push that out and only think happy thoughts and be proud of myself because I really have been trying hard.

I’m actually glad that I’ve been following this workout regime since late April. Granted, I’ve upped my days (started with cardio 3 days/week… then went to 4, then 5 and now I’ve been at 6) and I’ve upped my miles (was doing 9 per week, then 12, then 15, and now I’m at 18 or 19) but it’s been over time to give me time to get used to it (and like it; it’s like a science now with the incline, reading, iPod, etc.). It goes like this for 4 miles (approximately 1 hour):

First ½ mile: iPod Incline 5; 4 mph
Second ½ mile: iPod Incline 4; 4 mph
Third ½ mile: iPod Incline 3; 4 mph
Fourth ½ mile: iPod Incline 2; 4.1 mph
Fifth ½ mile: Book Incline 1; 4.2 mph
Sixth ½ mile: Book Incline 0; 4.3 mph
Seventh ½ mile: Book Incline 1; 4.2 mph
Eighth ½ mile: Book Incline 2; 4 mph

Something about breaking up the music with the reading makes it go by quicker, and it’s nice to do one song per ¼ mile. Even if it’s not done I go to the next one. It’s like new energy for a new lap!

So it was kind of like the workout was in place… a habit already. But the food was a different story. While I had been eating healthy foods, making Hungry Girl Recipes, not eating the obvious (French fries, fried rice, etc.) I was not watching my portions and that is where I get myself in trouble. I’ll just eat and eat and eat. I don’t get full. I think it’s because I don’t smoke anymore… that used to be my signal that I was done. Now I brush my teeth and have gum… and I’ve introduced sweets back into my life (didn’t eat them AT ALL when I smoked). So I’ll have a Kashi cookie, granola bar, 100-calorie pack, Jello pudding pack or WW frozen fudge bar to signal – STOP EATING, your meal is OVER. It’s working and isn’t adding too much to my calories. And really it’s only after lunch and dinner so I just know that that’s 200 calories I must consume to make me stop eating! Ha!

Anyway, I’m clearly rambling… I’m just pumped about 128.5 and ready to go to the gym! Think I may knock out 2.5 miles at lunch today and do 1.5 miles after again - I loved that yesterday!

Yummy… This Week’s Dinner Plans

So my meal plan got really messed up last week since I couldn’t eat non-white foods Thursday – Saturday! Therefore, this is my new plan for this week:

Sunday: Chunky Chicken Salad
Monday: Lemon & Garlic shrimp over brown rice
Tuesday: Pizza wrap
Wednesday: Lemon Pepper Tilapia, brown rice & broccoli

Thursday: Buffalo Chicken Salad

Friday: Muffin Pizzas and salad

Hope I can stick to it!