Week 1 & I am back!

Week one of this "lose weight by February 14th" plan went well. I had a few obstacles I wanted to tackle.

Obstacle #1: Work out every day.

I managed to work out every single day before getting ready. Jillian Michaels kicked my butt really hard, I said a few bad words & sweat, A LOT. I feel really good about it & felt really good all week. I skipped Sunday because I felt like I could give myself one day break... plus I cleaned the apartment all day, which is somewhat of a work out in itself. Now when I put on my yoga pants, my sports bra & my gym shoes... my body psychologically feels ready to kick some butt.

Obstacle #2: Do not eat cake at birthday party on Saturday.

It was really hard, but I didn't cave and eat cake! I was very proud of myself. Oh how badly did I want to just put my face in that cake, but I didn't. I thought about how hard I spent working out all week & how a piece of cake would only be a few steps back when I had made some great progress. Before dinner there was a bowl of melted cheese dip on the table & tortilla chips... I even skipped out on that. I tried convincing myself to only have "one chip w/ dip" but I knew that once I had a taste of it's warm cheesy goodness, I'd want more. Instead, I took 3 tortilla chips and nibbled them slowly. When it came to dinner, I filled my plate once & that was that. Afterwards Justin & I picked up a cup of coffee as our "dessert". Splenda & half/half (I refuse to give up half/half in my coffee)

That brings me to Obstacle #3: Do NOT relapse on the weekend & get back into the groove on monday.

So we ate pretty good all weekend. I did work out Saturday before heading out to Indiana. I ate a little mini lunch at my parents on Saturday... nothing terrible for me. Sunday we ate a very small lunch in the morning (left over shepherd's pie from the Hungry Girl cookbook) and nothing else until dinner. We went out to dinner with Ben & Alex. This was dangerous, considering when we go out to eat with them, is usually when we cave. All four of us have a ridiculous love for food. We ended up going to mama thai & I got pad see ewe... which is a tasty noodle dish with tofu & broccolli. I'm sure it's not very good for you, but I could of done WAY worse that day. We all wanted dessert afterwards, which made me a little nervous. We decided to stop at Jewel where Ben bought a pumpkin pie, Alex bought a cherry pie and.... Justin & I bought *drum roll*... sugar free banana bread at 2 weight watcher points a piece. We topped it with fat free sugar free ice cream and half a banana. SUCCESS!

Today I'm doing well & I think I'll do some pilates. Come on fat... time to move out... 50 pounds of you.

Getting Back on Track!

I keep saying I'm going to get back on track, but I really mean it. I've started working out daily. It needs to become part of my everyday routine. I've also set a new goal for myself. I'm going to San Francisco in February for a little vacation & to photograph the photographer I work for. In return she's going to photograph me as well... I need to slim down a little more by then. I've only lost about 25 pounds this year... the year before, I lost a lot more because the wedding was my goal date. I had something to work for. Now, what do I have? Nothing. I also received a gift certificate from Anthropologie as a thank you for taking pictures of someone. I refuse to buy an XL. I'm going to use the gift certificate to buy an outfit for my photoshoot in February... and it won't be in an XL.

Today's food items....

- 2 cups of coffee w/ splenda coffee sweetener
- Kashi pumpkin granola bar
- black bean burger w/ 2 pieces low fat bread, mustard and fat free mayo

Gross.

I feel so fat today. I feel giant today. I could eat a lot better than I did today. I think I might join Weight Watchers online.

I seriously ate a brownie for breakfast. It wasn't an actual brownie. It was sugarfree, lowfat, vegan & made with pumpkin. I don't feel that bad about eating it, but still....

For lunch I ate a vegetarian chicken patty with low fat mayo & then I also ate some hummus & pita... finally an apple.
( I am PMSing, so I needed some comfort food, I don't consider this TOO bad)

Then at my parents house I ate a protein bar and a giant cup of coffee.

I feel like I ate way too much today- and I'm going out to dinner with family tonight. I have to be careful.

Yay!

I am back down to 197 today. SO excited. It is the best feeling to see the number 1 staring back up at you.

It is so beautiful out & the weather has put me in the mood for apples. Not exactly the worst thing to be in the mood for. The problem is that I LOVE peanut butter & apples.

Today I ate:

Autumn Wheat cereal w/ light soy milk

2 pieces whole wheat bread
1 Veggie Chick'n Patty
fat free mayo
fat free cheese
apple sauce, about a tablespoon.
1/2 cup carrot soup

I'm going to eat an apple & then for dinner I am making a twist on Shepherds pie. It's basically Boca meat (which is vegetarian meat), frozen veggies & butternut squash puree layered in a casserole dish. I'm going to also put a little tahini sauce in it & probably some flax seed. It's soooooo yummy. The problem is that we want to eat the whole dish of it. It's so yummy.

Back again.

I ate bad & didn't feel like facing the truth. I ignored this little blog for a few days, but mostly I was ignoring a bad eating habit. The truth is, I eat terrible once a month. Once a month, when I am PMSing I eat bad but not TERRIBLE. A year ago I would of eaten TERRIBLE, but now I've learned how to let myself cheat every once in a while.

This month, on labor day, I went to a steak house with family. I felt like splurging & ordered the blue cheese steak sandwich. Holy crap is that bad for you. Turns out, I could only eat a quarter of it. My stomach just won't eat food that rich anymore, let alone beef. Honestly, I think I eat meat MAYBE once a week. Justin & I tend to eat more vegetarian, and don't seek out "not eating meat", it's just how we eat. So, I ate my quarter of the sandwich and took the rest of it home in a little styrofoam box. The next morning I woke up and threw the box in the garbage. Why eat leftovers just for the sake of eating them? Not going to happen.

Since that day I've slowly got back on track. Justin & I have been VERY busy and we haven't had time to make it to the grocery store. I've been eating low fat bean burritos for lunch for about a week now.

I went to the popcorn fest. on Saturday. I didn't eat a single thing. In fact, I bought dried veggies, dried cinnamon apples & fresh peanut butter from a booth (to bring home). That's it. After that, we went to Panera where I ate a cup of the low fat black bean soup & 1/2 a greek salad.

With time I realize that I am making smarter decisions when it comes to food. I still love food with a passion, I just love myself more.

What I ate today:

Instant Grits w/ cinnamon
Coffee w/ fat free creamer & Splenda

Low Fat bean burrito w/ salsa & black beans
Dried cinnamon apples

Hazelnut coffee from Panera w/ half and half (my little splurge every once in a while) and Splenda

Then, since I had a bridal consultation at Panera in the evening, I brought dinner home for Justin & I.

Low Fat Veggie soup & 1/2 Greek salad.
1/4 cup frozen yogurt w/ tsp. of peanut butter.


*I could live with eating only peanut butter for the rest of my life. Good protein if you don't eat much meat & fantastic fats. Yummers.

yum yum yum.

Today I made a recipe from Clean Eating Magazine for dinner: Salmon Corn Chowder & cornbread.

The Salmon Corn Chowder is only 210 calories, 4.5 grams of fat & has 3 grams of fiber in a 1 1/2 cup serving. I ate a small bowl full, but didn't go back for seconds. I was super full! Justin & I both were, which is rare. The cornbread consists of mostly corn meal & whole wheat flower. It came out to be 80 calories, 0.5 grams of fat & 3 grams of fiber for a 2 inch square. I had two servings of cornbread with my soup.

That is 4 points for my soup & 2 points for 2 servings of cornbread. That's only 6 points for dinner! Well, add another point for the grapes. That's not bad at all!!! Let me say it again, I highly recommend Clean Eating Magazine.


What I ate today:

Oatmeal w/ raisins
coffee w/ fat free creamer (all day basically)

Cashew Ginger Carrot Soup
Turkey & fat free cheddar on whole wheat bread

1 cheese stick

Salmon Corn Chowder
2 squares corn bread
a handful of grapes

1 cup of Cappuccino Chip Frozen Yogurt

The Joys of Costco!

Oh Costco, how I love thee.

I bought low fat bean burritos, 12 cans of black beans, Larabars, Naked Juice, Grapes... etc.

Today went well. All day I ate well under my points, but then Justin & I decided to splurge on a little gelato. We did so fantastic all week. I decided I'll eat the gelato & work out because of it. I have a wedding tomorrow which means I will be working my tush off... all those gelato calories will be melting right off. Nobody understands how hard us photographers work. We stand all day long, run around, do squats, hold very VERY heavy camera equipment all day long, our necks are killer by noon. We also don't get to eat all day. I am lucky if I get an energy bar on the day of a wedding. When I wake up the next morning I am so sore I can barely walk. It's a major workout. Only fellow photographers could possibly understand. One time my husband helped me at a fundraiser event & said to me, "I don't understand how you can do this all day. It's a lot of work". I guess you can say it's a labor of love.


Today I ate:

Grits & raisans
Coffee w/ splenda

garden burger & a cup of chili

low fat bean burrito & a couple baked chips w/ salsa.

gelato baby! yum :-) Ok, so I went over on my points for gelato. I'll make sure I'm strict all weekend.