Mea culpa, food police

Last night, healthful eating took a back seat. After my workout I realized I was really hungry and wasn’t feeling good, so I decided to eat some extra carbs. Dinner was a small baked chicken breast and a can of Chef Boyardee 99% fat free ravioli. My evening snack was a beer (a real one!) and 2 low fat string cheeses. Veggies? I’ll eat extra today. Wednesday night is frequently a mid week “cheat” so I don’t go ballistic – its more mental than anything else, but it helps get me through that mid week slump.

I feel better this morning. I also experimented with my protein shakes – the banana was NASTY. Sorry, I just am not a banana fan. My chocolate shake has half a cup of milk, half a cup of coffee, and a packet of stevia (an all natural sweetener I highly recommend). I added a peach alongside the breakfast shake. The vanilla has orange/mango juice. I know it’s better to eat your fruit, but it’s at least all natural not from concentrate juice. I have a tomato/ okra medley and steamed broccoli to go with lunch. Dinner is chicken adobo in the crock pot (for the record, this is my 5th night in a row of chicken), roasted red potatoes and steamed broccoli. It’s back to the N/A “beer” tonight.

Here is a link to an interesting article on processed foods from MSN:
http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100164969&GT1=10109

I recently purchased a cookbook from Amazon called “Dee’s Mighty Cookbook”. To learn more about the book or the author, check out her website: http://www.centerforprocessedfreeliving.org/ In a nutshell, her recipes use no sugar or flour, and focus on eating minimally processed foods. I am making a couple of recipes next week – they sound excellent! While I’m not sure I could completely eliminate these foods from our diet (see last night’s rendezvous with Chef B.), these meal ideas certainly seem a good way to start. If I could get to 85% I’m sure it would help protect out health. I’m probably at 70% already, but I’m always on the lookout for new ideas & recipes to keep it fresh.

Someone posted a comment to the effect of “no way I could do that!”. For me, it’s not truly difficult. I’m not really hungry (although my tummy is growling when it’s time for my next shake!) and since I’m having a dinner I enjoy, I don’t feel deprived. And honestly, sometimes this whole pre-planning pre-packing gets old, and shakes make that whole thing a lot easier. Laziness occasionally outweighs my need for variety. ;-)

Having said all that, I’m going back to food next week so I don’t go insane. I’m thinking something like this:

B: 6 chopped almonds, ½ cup cottage cheese, and frozen mixed berries.
S: half a grilled chicken breast and vegetables
L: baked salmon and veggies
S: half a grilled chicken breast and a piece of fruit
D: misc, but this is where I will have a carb since I work out in the afternoon
S: ?

I can live with that for 6 days!

This Saturday is the last one we will be going anywhere until Pensic. I am looking forward to being home for a month, even if I will be busy getting ready.

And believe it or not, I’m looking forward to getting the family truckster back this weekend. I must be getting old if I’m looking forward to swapping a sporty convertible for my minivan. The key word in that sentence is “my”, for I am truly a creature of habit.

I went to the gym after work yesterday and did an interval workout. I’m feeling a lot better, but my energy is still kinda low. I walked again this morning and I’m lifting weights this afternoon. I’ll only get in 2 interval workouts this week I’m thinking, but I did add a couple of walks. Hopefully next week I’ll be 100% again.

Tomorrow I will give a scale report. I’m really hoping to see some change for the good!

Don’t judge me

Desperate times call for desperate measures etc etc. I have come to a radical decision, one borne out of frustration. It may deprive me of my sanity, but that’s a small price to get the scale moving, right???

This week I am eating 1 meal and 1 snack per day – the other 4 feedings are protein shakes. High quality protein plus either milk or water and fruit. I have 2 veggies to go with my lunchtime shake (greens and raw tomatoes today). Dinner is just a regular healthy meal and I am having a small evening snack – 2 low fat string cheeses and a small portion of carb. Because the shakes are roughly 250 calories each, I can have a sensible dinner (oh my god I sound like a slim fast commercial) and a small snack (160 calories) and come in under her 1500 calorie cap. I’ll only do this for 6 days and then on the 7th eat normally. I may alternate weeks – I suspect I’ll get sick of protein shakes pdq, but it’s a way to make sure I stay in my calorie range.

I went to the gym yesterday & had an excellent workout. I got up this morning and walked – this afternoon I am hitting the gym. The house is pretty clean and I am actually feeling somewhat caught up. My mom’s check engine light is off, although I couldn’t get the top up this morning. I sure hope it doesn’t rain today!!!

Is it Friday yet?????

I may be a gym slackard, but my kitchen is clean!!!

So, yesterday was a sort of lost cause – I didn’t get to work until 11, which meant I was here until pretty late. So I skipped the gym, went home & ate supper, then started on cleaning the kitchen. This morning I slept in a bit, got up, and finished the kitchen. I elected not to go to the gym because 1) I had to leave early to get my mom’s car to the dealership because the check engine light is back on again!!! and 2) I wanted my kitchen clean.

I am going to the trainer this afternoon – he is updating my measurements & body fat. Not super excited – I expect to be underwhelmed by my progress. It’s 4 and a half weeks until vacation and I am miserable about my weight. Ugh.

I could use some advice. I have curves you see – a small waist relative to my hips. I have a tough time finding clothes that are made for my figure. Any ideas? Recommendations? My doctor suggested Talbot’s – like I can afford that!

So I have to get up every day the rest of this week and get to the gym to get in my 3 interval workouts. We have to leave the house by 6:30 Saturday to head to Asheville, so I doubt I’ll make the gym that morning. I’d like to, but it’s not realistic. Between the doctor, my mom’s accursed car, and the gym, I am feeling majorly crunched for time this week. Who has time for a full time job?????

Catching up

Friday was pretty crazy – the check engine light came on in my mom’s new-to-her car, so I had to take it in to the shop. She took my minivan to Florida, so I was left with the Cabrio. A sensor had to be replaced, as did the serpentine belt. Ouch. We drove it to our medieval event this weekend (1 hour west) and then to a party (1 hour east). Hub said it was cute but that Germans need to put more cup holders in their cars, and if I ever decided to get a convertible, to please get an American one so he’d have a place to put his coffee. (You see his priorities).

I am still a snot factory, but the output has significantly diminished. I’m feeling pretty good. Saturday was super busy, but hub didn’t have to work and was able to go with me – that was really nice. Sunday I went to the gym and lifted weights. Our house is not totally clean, but that seems to be an ongoing condition.

This morning I went to the doctor. She is taking me off the Welbutrin and changing to Celexa, which she thinks will be more appropriate. She is doing some blood work to check my thyroid etc, but basically said “eat 1200 calories a day.” Ouch! I’ll keep you posted on how that works out. Ugh.

Anyway, good weekend overall. Not too thrilled with the new eating regime – not sure how that will work.

She also told me to go buy some nice clothes for this weight!

If you really loved me, you’d hire a maid

Housework? Pah! I am too sick to clean. I am too sick to do anything other than sit in my chair, watching Star Trek and feeling pathetic. I have no energy, and feel too pitiful to care that my house is a mess. Thankfully, the hub is beginning to recover. He was able to get up this morning and take out the trash and run the dishwasher (bless him). I slept in, got up and puttered about, and was able to toss a load of dirty clothes in the washer (this involved taking unfolded clean clothes and dumping them on the bed, picking dirty clothes up off the floor, and sorting them), get my stuff out of my car (my mom is taking it to Florida tomorrow), and getting ready for work. My hair is up in a clip and make-up is sketchy, but my shoes match. I have no sick time and I am loathe to waste a vacation day for just a cold.

The gym will have to survive without me today. I am scheduled to lift weights tomorrow, but I hope we can keep it low key. Saturday is a long day full of stuff, I hope I am feeling better. Hub did seem to improve after a couple of days. I totally indulged in carbs last night (pierogies make me feel better! And beer makes me not care I feel like crud!), but fear not, I packed my lunch today. Whoopy doopy doo.

Bare minimum.

In an amazing turn of events, I now have my husband’s summer cold. Gah. I woke up with a horrid headache. And we didn’t sleep very well because we had a storm, which meant Chyna was trying to climb out of her skin and into ours. The vet has some all natural drops to try – if that doesn’t work, then we’ll look into something stronger.

I wanted to sleep in, but I got my butt out of the bed, into some clothes, and into the car – clutching my cup of diet Pepsi like a life preserver (which it is!). I did the bare minimum workout – a warm-up plus 3 sets of intervals (1 minute of running from Freddy Kreuger and 2 minutes of active recovery). I did cut a couple of minutes off the cool down. But I was glad to have it out of the way for the day. I wish I could go home and die, but I’m afraid there’s a bit of housework to be done. Not too much, thankfully!

That is all.

Mike Roussell - The 6 Pillars of Nutrition

1. Eat five to six times a day.
2. Limit your consumption of sugars and processed foods.
3. Eat fruits and vegetables throughout the day.
4. Drink more water and cut out calorie-containing beverages (beer, soda, etc.).
5. Focus on consuming lean proteins throughout the day.
6. Save starch containing foods until after a workout or for breakfast.

For the curious, these are the nutrition principles I am following (other than 4 free meals per week).

Dear Angela,

From yesterday’s comments: “Are you wanting to do this? I mean, are you wanting to do the working out eating right sticking to it and being in the groove sort of thing? Please tell me you aren't. Please tell me you are just DOING IT even though it is kind of not on your top ten list of favorite things to be doing right now. Because I CAN'T GET BACK INTO IT TO SAVE MY LIFE. And it is scaring me. A whole lot. And so if you are just doing it and not waiting to want to, maybe I can do that too. Argh. This has been the pits.”

No, I am not wanting to do this. As I walk to my car in the 90 degree heat, the thought of the gym does not thrill. I don’t do a happy dance when I pull half a chicken breast and sliced tomato out of my lunch box for a morning sack. I’ll even fess to a tinge of guilty relief when my sick husband asked me to skip spin class last night to get him some kim chi ji gae from the Korean restaurant (hot as hades soup which is the cure for the common cold).

I don’t want to buy a new wardrobe either. I have almost no long pants that fit. If it weren’t for these cheap capris I found at W-M (and bought 6 pair), I’d be working from home in a bath robe. I am worried. I have gained 20 pounds in the past 18 months and can’t seem to lose. I have an appointment with my doctor next week to discuss. I’m considering asking for a prescription for an appetite suppressant (which I seriously doubt she’ll give me) because I don’t want to be hungry all the time, but I can’t keep gaining weight either. I got up and walked this morning so I could get in an hour of exercise today. I am beginning to get freaky about missing a workout. I feel like this is harder than it should be, but I don’t know why.

Motivation is overrated. Are you motivated to brush your teeth? Wash your face? Probably not – it’s just something you do to take care of yourself. Healthy food & exercise is the same thing, just on a bigger scale. Unfortunately, I sometimes skip that evening face washing and teeth brushing on the weekend too.

I wish I had some profound insight – I don’t, other than my spiel above about motivation.

Some random observations: Just do it is actually pretty profound. Don’t open the dialogue with yourself when you don’t feel like it. Hang up the phone. Make it non negotiable (unless your husband is sick! ha). It’s hard to hit the vending machine when you have no money in your wallet. Real food looks better when you are truly physically hungry. Walking IS exercise, even if you are listening to the birdies and enjoying the view.

I’ll hang in there if you will.

Morning workouts that .. work out

I am finally getting into the groove of working out in the morning (knock on wood). I was able to get up at 5 yesterday and today to hit the gym for my HIIT (get it? Ha ha ha!) Yesterday was nearly tragic as my MP3 died 4 minutes into my workout! But since I’d made all the effort to get there I did the minimum. Luckily, hub was able to re-set it – I was afraid it had died.

Speaking of hub, I think he had a nice father’s day. I took him to Cracker Barrel for breakfast (his fave), we grilled out steak for lunch, and he got fried chicken for dinner. We just futzed around the house and he & my mom went to the movies yesterday afternoon.

I did not go to the movies. Saturday I was really grumpy and just generally had a frustrating didn’t-get-very-much-accomplished kind of day. Yesterday I was able to get a lot of sewing done, take a 20 minute power nap, do my cooking, and have a nice tub bath. Way to pull out the weekend!

I went to the bank with my mom today (she doesn’t like doing that sort of thing herself). She is buying a used VW Cabrio. She’s wanted one for a while and this one is very nice. It’s so cool to see my mom really enjoying her retirement.

I didn’t work out Saturday, but did get to the gym Sunday. I did HIIT this morning, and I’m signed up for spin class this afternoon. I tried to actually eat things like vegetables this weekend, which really does make it easier to feel full.

Well, that’s about all I know. How was your weekend?

Party like its 1988!

Good news: I got my car back! I got it today at lunch. Bad news: haven’t been to the gym cause I haven’t been able to go anywhere! At least I’ve been watching my eating. And last night I did get the 57 million bags of baby clothes sorted my mom brought over from her attic. I am keeping only a few – the rest are going to a friend that had a baby last month.

My son was dying to go to Ozzfest. Tickets were free this year (this is the last year), but you had to get a code to then go in & redeem for tickets. My router died as I hit the confirm button (curse technology! OTOH, I didn’t spend 4 hours in a line at the Ticketmaster outlet.) We tried all day yesterday and were never able to secure tickets. But as a consolation prize, we are taking the boy and a chum to see the Ratt/ Poison/ Vains of Jenna concert. The latter is a new Swedish band filling in after White Lion had to back out. I have seen both Ratt and Poison in concert (I’ve seen most 80s metal bands in concert. Some twice). They were good 20 years ago, and I still like the music. It’ll be a good time I think.

I never did hit the tree – we had a storm last night. So I sorted clothes. I am staying home this weekend – I’m looking forward to it.

Mrs. Crankypants is in the house!

People: this has been a weird week. Sunday was the thing with my son. Monday I was home sick with stomach “issues” (probably generated by the greasy take-out spaghetti that was my dinner Sunday). I never went to the gym Monday, needless to say.

Yesterday I was feeling better until I got in my car to go to the gym because the interior was roughly the surface temperature of the sun (Oh my god! Please back that super big gulp tanker truck of diet Pepsi over here it is SO hot, okay?). Instead of the gym I went to the car dealer.

When I got home I was not a happy camper. Hub was home late because he was at the Alltel store getting a new phone because his died. THEN I got to spend 2 hours online trying to the tickets to Ozzfest, only when I went to hit “confirm” for my tickets my internet crashed (it is still down). I checked my email this morning – no tickets.

Oh, and I called my gym last night to sign up for tonight’s spin class (you can only sign up 24 hours in advance). It was already full – I called at 6:25. Suck.

Hub went to the store and I caved and asked for a beer. What I discovered this morning was that he also brought me a giant ice cream sandwich because he “thought I might want one.” Now, I take responsibility for what I put in my pie hole, but this is 24 hours after the big tearful talk where I asked him to please be supportive in my efforts to lose weight. Way to be supportive. Gee, enable much?

Where does all this leave me? I haven’t been to the gym since Saturday, the thing with my son triggered a full blown binge, and the only way to describe how I am feeling about my efforts to make my lifestyle more healthy? Defeated. Maybe I should go to 6:30 yoga instead. Either that or go hit a tree with a stick.

Wassup?

Hellew! I was home sick yesterday, but I am feeling better today! I did nothing yesterday but read a book. I can be some serious lazy, let me tell you. Tonight I am sorting through some old baby clothes so hub can take them to a friend this weekend. I want to keep a few, but good grief! My mom is cleaning out her attic. She has lived in that house since 1971 and I am amazed the ceiling hasn’t collapsed under the weight of all the junk up there. Go mom!

My son has decided he wants to live with his grandpa. Which is totally out of the question, even if his wife would permit it (no way in he!!). Cable in the bedroom? No chores? Junk to eat? Well, duh – it feels like Disneyland up there compared to home. I think puberty is going to drive me right over the edge. Really. I know its largely the age, but sometimes my son acts so darn spoiled – and he isn’t. Ugh.

I am going to visit trainer 1 this afternoon, then go do 30 minutes of cardio over at my gym. Then go home for a quick supper & baby clothes sorting. I know you all envy my life.

Have a good one!

What the World Eats

I found a link to a Time magazine photo essay “What the World Eats” – an excerpt from the book “Hungry Planet.” Check it out: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html

Anyway, Athena mentioned it in her blog, which reminded me of it. I meant to write a post about it, but with the writing muse on vacation, I promptly forgot. I put the book in my Amazon wish list – I’d love for my son to see it, and to see the rest of it. I also thought this might be an interesting experiment: post a shopping list for my family for a week, and a photo of the food I buy. Now, that would be an interesting meme! I am always curious about what other people eat, and I am forever stealing glances at other people’s carts – it’s like a glimpse into their inner lives. Does that make me nosy?

So I was starting to feel good about my whole “mindful eating with forgiveness’ schtick when I paid a visit to trainer #1 yesterday. Who pointed out to me that you can’t out-train lousy nutrition and was I ready to kick it up a notch and really start seeing the results of my hard work? I’m still staying away from the scale though!

We went out for Japanese last night – I had a California roll, hibachi veggies & shrimp, and about half my rice. My snack later was an NA “beer” and a sugar free frozen ice. Dinner wasn’t bad, but that snack was off kilter.

I brought in cupcakes, but left none at home for myself (3 for hub). This morning I intend to sit down & plan out my food for the weekend. Ugh. He’s right, but I’m not too happy about the harsh cold reality of which he speaks.

Let them eat (cup)cakes!

You see I am clever (and evil). Last night I dreamed of cupcakes. Oh, how I want a cupcake. I'm not even that in to cake! My solution? Make cupcakes and bring them in to the office! Better yet, bring in plain cupcakes and frosting & sprinkles on the side so we can each build our very own individualized cupcake. Team building! Huzzah! Thankfully I am on a team that enjoys food and doesn't feel like they are being sucked in against their wills.

I am #1 in the queue at my library to read that book "Perfect Girls, Starving daughters". After reading some blog entries on it, I think it is something I should probably read. Today I am picking up "Suite française", which is another book that I am anxious to read. I will report back.

Exercise is going good. I am avoiding the scale because it was making me nuts. I am trying to make healthy choices, trying not to beat myself up when I fail, and trying to be a bit happier in the skin I currently inhabit rather than thinking that happiness is 10 pounds away.

Chyna got a hair cut. Due to the matting of her undercoat, they shaved her - giving her a "lion cut." I told her I am renaming her "Fifi." She looks cute, but different!

I still got nothing, blogwise. My writing muse is on vacation. but I just wanted you to know that I'm still here, hitting the gym daily.

Feast or famine

Sometimes my life feels like a ping pong ball. Like my hub’s work situation for example: he is currently working 6 days a week, 9 hour days. Now, we certainly do need the money and we are both grateful he is working. I am also thankful this coincides with the boy being out of school. That extra bit of time gives me the luxury of picking up some of the proverbial slack so hub doesn’t have so much to do at home.

I never quite finished cooking on Sunday, which meant that both yesterday and this morning I was frantically finishing up stuff for ye olde lunchbox. (Note: simpler lunch next week!). That also meant no morning exercise. Last night I did a spin class, and tonight I’ll just have to suck it up and hit the gym after lifting weights with trainer 1. So exercise is going fine.

Sunday was very nice. It rained all day and was cool – I opened the French doors off my dining & living rooms and listened to the rain while sewing in the dining room. It was one of those days you hold onto because it’s so simple, yet so pleasurable. Saturday morning we took the boat out, and that afternoon a friend came over for a visit. All in all, a nice weekend.

I don’t have a lot to say, but I did want to at least check in!