Beach trip!

We had a great trip - the weather was awesome and I had a great time visiting with my old boss & his wife, long time friends, and of course my family. We got home later than planned, but managed to run out and grab most of the groceries. I am eating a tv dinner for lunch today (it's an Amy's organic, so not total garbage). I will catch up this evening & tomorrow. No regrets.

Now back to reality - which includes studying.

Have a good week.

Tracking works

Good morning and happy Friday.

I lost 1.5 pounds this week, so yay me! I'm at 146.7 this morning - the lowest I've been in many years. Tracking and being consistent with my exercise has helped not only my weight loss, but my mood as well. Yes I am still stressed, but T's schedule is getting back to normal now that the holiday insanity is over and I am beginning to feel like I might pass this D^%$ exam at the end of the month. :-)

We are going to the beach this weekend. Yeah, there's plenty I could do around the house, but I need a break!

Food yesterday:

AM: usual coffee with 1/2 1/2 and prunes (100)
Breakfast: breaded chicken breast (280)
Snack: 1/2 cup black eyed peas (100)
Lunch: the Greek chicken thing I've been eating - 345
Snack: slice of cheese, slice of salami, 3 triscuits (160)
Dinner: 2 of the meatballs that were leftover, 2 homemade manicotti (made with lowfat cottage cheese) and steamed broccoli (550)
Snack: half ounce cashews (80) and a diet ginger beer with a twist of lime (0)

I did assisted pull ups at the gym last night for the first time since my injury and they felt fine!

Have a good weekend!

Another day

Good morning.

I am working at home today. After 3 days of oatmeal I felt like something different for breakfast today, so I had a breaded chicken breast (280 calories). Other than that I had my usual coffee & prunes (don't judge me!). :-) Lunch will be the same that it has been. Not sure yet about snacks.

Even though I am going to the gym this evening for weight training, I did go to Planet Fitness this morning for a 30 minute walk. On the treadmill there I typically walk so that my heart rate is between 110-120. When I work out like I did yesterday at lunch, I use the elliptical and may have hills and speed changes - my heart rate is generally in the 130s-140s. I just wanted to get in some movement before the workday began.

Not too much to say - I will wrap up physical therapy on my shoulder in the next couple of weeks. It feels like it's pretty much back to where it was before I fell. I plan to start taking a good joint supplement and do some of the PT exercises ongoing.

It's chilly but sunny, so I hope to get the dogs out for a walk after lunch.

Have a good day!

Food

Good morning. Yesterday was a busy day. When I am at home I sometimes will vary my snacks a bit or have leftovers for lunch instead, but yesterday I stuck pretty close to plan.

Tuesday:

AM: 2 cups coffee w/ 2 T half n half, 2 prunes - 100 calories
Breakfast: peanut butter & pecan oatmeal (oats, almond milk, PB2 powder, pecans, flax seed) 300 calories
Snack: slice cheddar cheese and 3 triscuits (leftover from the holidays) 140
Lunch: Greek chicken rice bowls, adapted from Skinny Taste. I used quinoa in place of rice and added raw spinach and adjusted measurements a bit. 345 calories
Snack: deviled egg - 100 calories
Dinner: chicken thigh and the world's smallest chicken leg, skin removed. Green beans. 3 bites of a biscuit, half a cookie. I was at church, tired and really hungry. You see what happened. Ugh. Simple carbs were available and I mindlessly went there. Luckily I stopped myself and threw the rest of the biscuit and cookie in the trash!

Wednesday:

AM: 2 cups coffee w/ 2 T half n half, 2 prunes - 100 calories
Breakfast: peanut butter & pecan oatmeal - 300 calories
Snack: plain Greek yogurt & mango - 130
Lunch: Same Greek chicken rice-less bowl as yesterday. 345 calories
Snack: deviled egg - 100 calories

Dinner tonight is leftover seafood chowder I made Sunday and a spinach salad. Soup and salad will be roughly 400 calories, which will put me around 1400 for the day, leaving me room for a small after dinner snack.

Workout today is elliptical at Anytime Fitness at lunch - either 30 minutes at a pretty good heart rate or HIIT for 20.

Take care.

No sleeping in

Yesterday since I went into the office, I struggled when the alarm went off at 5, hitting snooze twice and feeling like a zombie. Naturally since I am working at home today AND T is at home (he is sick), I couldn't sleep late, waking up and laying there until conceding defeat and getting up at 5:30. I cleaned the kitchen, had a cup of coffee & 2 prunes, fed the dogs, and headed off to Planet Fitness for 30 minutes on the treadmill. My neighborhood is fine for walking but that early it's dark and cold, so I am just not feeling it.

Not 100% sure what I am eating today since I'm at home so I will have to report back tomorrow. I hope you have a good day!

Monday, fun day

Good morning. It was a productive weekend. Saturday morning I went to the gym and did my workout, then I helped with the "learn to swing" class, then we filmed a short video. Yes, there are going to be some videos posted on the gym's web page. I will share a link when they start going up.  I also did my grocery shopping and some studying.

Sunday I went to Planet Fitness to get in a 30 minute brisk walk. They know their  demographic well - the "PF" channel on the tv shows music videos, primarily from the 1980s. I am obviously their target audience age! LOL After I got home I studied, ate lunch, then spent the next several hours cleaning the house! By the time dinner rolled around I was exhausted!!  I also took the dogs for a walk since it was a sunny day - they really enjoyed that.

So today I am whipped, but feel like I got a lot done.

I said I wanted to lose weight in January and that means going back to tracking my food! So in the interest of accountability:

This is a photo of what went in my lunchbox. I had 2 cups of coffee with 2 T each of half and half + 2 prunes (100 calories) at the house, followed by a bowl of oatmeal with protein powder, chia seeds, pecans, and mango (340 calories).

Pictured:
1 boiled egg (I will add mustard and maybe mayo, so call it 100 calories)
1/2 c plain full fat greek yogurt + raspberries (135 calories)
Lunch: 3/4 c protein plus spaghetti noodles (165) + 3 Omaha steak meatballs (280) + marinara (35) + cooked zucchini
Baby carrots, a large carrot if the baby ones aren't fresh, and a few cherry tomatoes

Dinner tonight:
Leftover stir fry - 4 oz chicken breast (110) + stir fry veg (70) + oil to saute (100?) + 1/2 c rice (120) + 3/4 c cauliflower rice (25)

That puts me at nearly 1600 calories, which is right around where I like to be, so I'm not going to plan an after dinner snack. If I am genuinely hungry I will look at something less than 100 calories.

Since I am donating blood at lunch today, I did a 30 minute kettlebell swing workout this morning. 30 minutes, 600 swings with a 25 pound bell.

Here's to forward progress!

Take care.

New year, same me

We started off the new year by (finally) celebrating Christmas with my in-laws yesterday. It was a busy day running errands, which I hated because I know T would have loved a day of doing nothing - he is whipped. But it was good. Made stir fry at home last night and picked up hot & sour soup to go with it. Down a half pound this week. Hitting the gym tomorrow morning where I will work out and then attend Elle's "learn to swing a kettlebell" class - gotta support!

Decorations are pretty much down - planned to just do a little and just kept going. Agenda for the weekend: STUDY. Gah. I feel like this torment will never end.

Take care.

Happy New Year

Well, I ended the month at the same weight I started it. Given my stress levels I guess that's not too bad. I lost a little over 21 pounds this year. Not great but not terrible. But I'm ready to wrap this up. Goal for January 6.5 pounds. We'll see.

Happy New Year!

Keeping it real

Just to keep it real, coming off those Christmas carbs SUCKS.

Home again

Well, it was a lovely Christmas. I'm back home. I think the hub and I are going to exchange gifts tonight - we'll see how he feels when he gets home. :-)

It was a nice trip, but now it's time to hit a couple of big goals: passing my PMP and hitting 140 on the scale. And since there is no time like the present I am starting today! Yes, we are eating Christmas dinner leftovers tonight (which I will enjoy), but I will eat a reasonable amount and I am going to walk the dogs and hit the gym today. The rest of the day is business as usual food wise and I have 2 study sessions planned in (I've already completed 1 this morning). Go me!

Happy holidays!

Balance

I find this time of year to be about balance. It's not the time to try and "white knuckle it" on a 1200 calorie per day diet, nor is it the time to say "Christmas only comes once a year" as you dive into a giant fruitcake. Special occasions come on a regular basis, so I try to find the happy medium.

For me that means I came down and had lunch yesterday at a special restaurant mom wanted me to try. I had their homemade corned beef hash & home fries with poached eggs. I ate half and sent the rest home with my son. Then I ate baked fish & sauteed zucchini for dinner. I got up and had one of my regular breakfasts then swung a kettlebell for 30 minutes. I had sauteed fish for lunch with diced avocado and tomato on top (it was delicious!), then my afternoon snack was a cup of coffee with one of mom's homemade ginger snaps. :-)

Every meal or snack doesn't need to be a party in my mouth - not even this time of year.

Take care.

Same old, same old

I weight the same as I did at the first of the month. Given the stress and the holidays, maybe I should be satisfied with that. But I'm not.

Nothing much to say

It's been a busy week - tying up loose ends at work since folks are getting ready to go out (including me!), busy at home, blah blah blah. So glad I postponed my test. I didn't even realize how utterly stressed, burned out, and utterly exhausted I was. I am beginning to regroup and feel like I have a handle and a plan.

Weight is around the same. Eh.

Decision Made

I re-scheduled my exam. Again. Part of me is frustrated with me, but I don't feel ready, and the more stressed I get the harder it is to focus, the harder it is to study, and around and around... So I rescheduled for January 31. That gives me PLENTY of time to study and be ready. I made my decision, maybe now I can stop having stress dreams and comforting myself with food. GAH.

A good night's sleep

Last night we were falling asleep on the sofa and decided to go to bed. It was 8 PM. I woke up this morning at 7 AM. So yeah, 11 hours of sleep. Gosh, do you think maybe I was exhausted???? A good night of sleep and a good workout at the gym have me feeling a lot better. I still have a lot on my plate, but I'm feeling a lot more like myself.

A new low on the scale - 146.9. I have no idea how long it will take me to get to "goal" (whatever that may be), but I continue to head in the right direction, despite the rough week.

Take care.

Hanging on

Down another half pound this week, which is amazing since I am NOT exercising and am turning to food for stress reduction. Dude, I have to take care of myself and I'm not. This isn't good. I don't feel confident about exam prep at all. I may postpone (again) just for the sake of my sanity. Then do I create test anxiety if I keep postponing? ARGH.

Conflicted

One of the gals from my class came over and we studied today. Ugh - sometimes I feel like I am getting this stuff and sometimes I am like a deer in the headlights! It's been a very long time since I had to study for a test, let alone a 4 hour standardized computerized exam! 

Christmas cards are mostly done, mom headed back home (with ex MIL in tow), house is reasonably picked up, I have a cleaning gal coming Monday which will get me through the holidays at least.

I haven't hardly worked out this week and I MISS IT.

Still here

First, thanks! It's a volunteer position (so it's a job, just not a paid one! LOL). But still, I'm excited. At least I will be if I ever have time to think about it. :-)

Doing okay, studying, trying to stay sane. Trip to Georgia was fine. Alma is really going downhill and it's sad. But she's still healthy, so even though her mind is terrible and her quality of life is crap, her body is hanging tough. :-(

Juggling way too many things. Studying but reminding myself if I don't pass on the first try it's okay - I just study more & take it again. Not the end of the world - just a bit more money.

You guys take care!

Oh, my dining room retro tree!

Trying

In various news:

• I lost a half pound this week. I need to focus on the positive. Not a lot, but the right direction!

• I have started studying. The amount and difficulty of the material is daunting. But I've started.

• A while back I applied for a national level position of the non profit we are active in. I got it! So, I'm excited, but hope I pass this exam before training for that gets going too much.

Mom and I are headed to Georgia to see my great aunt this weekend. (Have I mentioned that?) I don't feel like I have time, but it's important, so off we go. The tree is up and has lights and beads, maybe ornaments will happen soon!

Oh, we shot a short promo video for the kettlebell class! It's like 3-4 minutes long and includes an unwanted intrusion by my dog and my spouse then coming in and grabbing her up. Keeping it real. LOL

Have a good weekend!

Doing (mostly) okay

Sorry for not blogging - just isn't a priority right now. I'm doing okay, doing what I can when I can. I lost a pound in November, but hey - I LOST a pound in November, even with Thanksgiving right at the end, so I feel like I'm holding my own on the health front.