Update!

Hello hello! Sorry for the hiatus. Things have been crazy busy at work and sometimes I just don't feel like blogging :)

I'm two weeks into my healthier eating and I'm feeling so much better already. I feel like I have more energy and am finally getting out of this long-lasting tired spell. I also have been getting full SO much faster. Last weekend I went out to dinner for Tom's friend's birthday and we ordered a bunch of appetizers. After eating a small plate of nachos I was so full I didn't even want to order dinner! Granted I had also had a beer, but still. I can usually down a plate of nachos and an entree on my own. The next night we went to a BBQ/going away party and I could barely get through half my burger. I'm also feeling very satisfied from my lunches and dinners. All is well!

On the negative side, my knee is still feeling strange so I haven't done ANY exercise. I'm sick of being sedentary so I'm going to attempt a yoga class this week. We'll see how it goes.

Here was my meal planning for the week:

Lunches:
Turkey wrap x2 (Monday and Wednesday)
Mexican salad (beans, sour cream, salsa, cheese over lettuce) (Tuesday)
Other salad (beans, artichokes, marinated mushrooms, tomato over lettuce) (Thursday)
Tuna w/ avocado (Friday)

Dinners:
Burrito (ground turkey w/ seasoning, refried beans, salsa, sour cream, cheese) (Monday)
Pasta w/ beans & greens (Wednesday)
Eggs w/ toast and fruit (Tuesday)
Homemade pizza (Thursday)
Friday - wing it

And here are some of the eats from this week and last week (and some random photos thrown in):

Burrito w/ homemade seasoning!

Tuna salad w/ avocado and a juicy orange

Marshalls had these in the dressing rooms..genius!

Chocolaty banana oats

Lunch in the sun

Chipotle gouda with a little sombrero on!

Mexican salad, yum!

Breakfast for dinner -- that big bowl of fruit is making my mouth water!

Check in - 8/23

My first weekly check-in!

Weight change: -.5
Total weight lost: -.5

Reflections:
- I was actually surprised to see any change because I only tracked my food last Thursday, Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday. When I decided to do this last Thursday I also decided I was still going to enjoy my last weekend trip of the summer (food/drink wise). I ate what I liked and drank some good beers and cocktails. I was happy about it. I welcome that half pound loss with open arms. Anything in the right direction is just fine by me.
- Exercise was an issue for me this week, as it was non-existent since Friday (besides kayaking over the weekend).
- I felt hungry at work the past few days. I had been eating much more in the last few weeks and I know these first few days are always a struggle. I am proud I got through them without stuffing my face!
- I went to trivia on Tuesday night, made dinner at home before, and didn't get one drink. Cutting back on alcohol is a big thing for me. I never used to drink casually during the week but at some point I got into the habit of it.

Goals for this week:
- Pack lunch every day
- Exercise 3x
- Meal plan
- Include more protein in meals
- Drink more water! (I'm really good at doing this at work, but not at home)
- Pay attention to sugar intake (read labels)

Today is officially the last day of my Diet Coke Challenge. I'm happy to report that I did far better than imagined!! In the past month I drank only 5 diet cokes (one more than hoped for). This was TOUGH at first but choosing water gets easier every day. I definitely plan to continue this and hope that at some point I won't be drinking it at all!

Dinner last night was a good one.

I mixed 3 oz. whole wheat rigatoni with a chipotle chicken sausage, roasted red peppers, and a mix of collard greens, mustard greens and kale (from the frozen section of Whole Foods). I put half away and ate half last night, mixed with some olive oil and topped with Parmesan cheese. I also had an orange on the side. I used to eat oranges every day, but the ones at Stop n' Shop are so shitty. Foodies, PLEASE OPEN.

For dessert I had a piece of this 70% stone ground chocolate we got in VT.

This morning I decided to work from home for a bit because my office is empty. Working from home = breakfast at home! I made a 1 egg-2 egg white omelette w/ a little mozarella cheese, had a piece of turkey, and a banana with some dark chocoalte peanut butter. I wanted to try making a protein heavy breakfast to see how it filled me up in comparison to my usual cereal and milk. I also threw a few berries on there because the color of the food was depressing!

Lunch today was a big salad - lettuce, tomato, artichokes, marinated mushrooms, snap peas, 1 mozzarella ball sliced up and avocado. I also had some berries on the side and a bag of pirate's booty!

Tonight I'm going to Davio's for dinner to FINALLY use the $100 gift card I won a year ago. I am a serious gift card hoarder. Anyone else?

Life Happened Because I Turned the Page

I'm experiencing a serious lack of exercise motivation. I don't know why this is so hard. I've been going through a "tired stage" for the past few weeks and can't seem to get my act together. I KNOW that exercising will only help me get out of this tired stage, but that doesn't make it any easier to get my butt to the gym/in my sneakers. Last week at my Circuit Strength class my body just felt all wrong. I think between the class and gymnastics I just overdone it a bit, and I was feeling pain in places I'd never felt before. For a few days everything just felt a little off, and I'm still feeling it a bit today. My knee feels like I've been running on it and my lower back has a lingering pain. I don't know what's going on. The least I should do tonight is go for a walk...I need to get my body moving somehow.

Last night's dinner was sooo good. I made up my signature Mexican pizza -- vegetarian refried beans, salsa, sour cream, avocado, hot sauce and cheese layered on a crispy tortilla. Holy yum do I love these things.

A mini raw veggie plate on the side. How cute is that?!

All together now with a bit of Oprah Magazine. I bought a livingsocial deal for the mag a few months ago and have been lagging on reading. I'm just not used to reading magazines anymore! They began to pile up so I grabbed one and read a bit during dinner.

From the mag..."Life happened because I turned the page."

I just LOVE that quote. It's so simple but I really believe that we are the makers of our own destiny. I feel so strongly that our outlooks determine our actions, and our actions determine our outcomes. Life happens because you DO something, not because "fate/God/the universe/whatever else" made it that way. Sorry for the preach!

Anyway, I had a breakfast meeting this morning at The Paramount in Southie. I tried to keep it semi-healthy with an egg white and cheese omelette. I also ate a few potatoes and just one quarter of the toast provided. Around 10:30 I had a banana because a. I'm not used to eating so early and b. if I don't start my day with some fruit/veggie it will all go down hill.

For lunch I had a wrap with turkey and avocado, some berries, and about half this bag of pretzels.

Right now I'm snacking on some raw baby carrots and trying to speed up the end of this day! Come ooooon 5:30.

Tuesday Things

Hello hello! I had a FAB weekend. I wish it never ended!! I seriously need to take a full week off of work or something. I'm not going to go too much into my weekend trip, but Tom and I spent the last few days at the beautiful Inn at Weathersfield in Perkinsville, VT. We relaxed, ate delicious food, sat around a fire pit, drank wine, visited Harpoon Brewery, went kayaking down the Connecticut River, played board games, stargazed (and saw real life shooting stars!!), played badminton, lit our own fire in our suite's fireplace and generally had a fantastic time. It was wonderful :)

We got back fairly early yesterday so we went to a gigantic Whole Foods for food shopping. I haven't been food shopping in about 2 months because I've been going away every weekend so I was decided to get back into a groove. And I did some seeeerious damage. Giant Whole Foods are dangerous.

While in the car I quickly did some meal planning for the week, going back to some staple meals I've eaten in the past:

Lunches:
- Salad (lettuce, tomato, grilled chicken, marinated mushrooms, snap peas and mozzarella cheese), berries
- Salad (lettuce, tomato, carrots, artichokes, marinated mushrooms, snap peas, mozzarella cheese), pirate's booty snack bag, orange
- Peppered turkey wrap w/ tomato and avocado, veggies, fruit (x2)
- Tuna salad w/ avocado "mayo" and pickles, crackers, fruit

Dinners:
- Mexican pizza (tortilla, vegetarian refried beans, salsa, cheese, sour cream), veggies on the side (x2)
- Chipotle chicken sausage w/ pasta and greens (x2)
- Turkey burger w/ fruit/veggies on the side

Today started off in a solid way with some cheerios and a banana.

For lunch I had that first salad up there w/ some perfect berries. It was good but I didn't have any salad dressing :-/

Aaand here are some other random eats from last week:

Hoping to fit in some activity tonight after work!!

10 lbs

I've never been a proponent of losing weight for events. Then again, I've never been one of those people who wanted to "lose 3 pounds" before prom or something. Recently I've been thinking though, having events as a goal might be more motivating and driving than the elusive "healthy lifestyle" goal.

Here are the facts. It's August 16th and I have a lot of things coming up in the next months that I want to feel better (and look better) for:
- September 19th - work event
- September 21/22 - weddings
- September 27th - work event
- October 7 - half marathon
- November 30th - work event

My plan of action

Goal: lose 10lbs in the next 5 weeks - 10lbs is not a long term goal, but I know it will make me FEEL a whole lot better.

 How:
I'm going back to my basics!
- Keep a food log - A google doc. works best for me, track only food, not calories etc.
- Measure and read labels - Stick to one serving size for whatever I'm eating, measure it out and eat only that amount
- Fill up on whole foods - I tend to do this most of the time anyway but have been slacking a bit as of late
- Prepare, prepare, prepare - The most important aspect of losing weight for me is the preparation -- measure out food beforehand, MAKE LUNCH, meal plan
- Eat more protein - I'd like to get more protein in many of my meals -- cook more quinoa, lentils, beans
- More activity - I'm exercising about 3x per week right now. I need to bump that up to 4 or 5
- Suck it up and go food shopping - Just get on the bus after work and go to Stop n Shop

I plan to check in here once a week, every Thursday, for the next 5 weeks. Wish me luck!

No Goals

Gooood morning! Today I woke up thinking it was Thursday, ahhh! That is the worst.

Last night I went to gymnastics straight from work. I really have been enjoying doing gymnastics but it makes for quite the long day. I don't end up getting home until nearly 10:30, then have to eat and shower. Really brings me back to the days of eating on the car ride home from gymnastics because I'd be starving at 10 o'clock! My practices back then were from 6-10...when did I do my homework?? I don't understand.

Seriously, I am so envious of my younger self. When  I was doing gymnastics I used to work out 4 or 5 days, 4 hours a night, and was also playing soccer 3 times a week. I seriously don't understand when I fit in time to do schoolwork, have a social life, sleep etc. Those were the days I suppose.

Anyway, gymnastics was great last night! Here is how the class went:
15 minutes: stretching and conditioning (pushups/core)
30 minutes: group floor work (dive rolls, backward rolls/extension rolls, handstands, walking handstands, handstand forward rolls, cartwheels, round-offs, jumps)
15 minutes: continued small group floor work in stations
15 minutes: conditioning (pull ups, core, pushups, back work)
30 minutes: open gym (I worked on kick overs which I'm embarrassed to say I can't do!, front handsprings, front tucks on tumble track, balance work on beam -- walks, jumps, scales)
10 minutes: stretch

I also walked about 4 miles yesterday. I am surprisingly not AS sore as I have been the past few weeks after gymnastics. My back is a little tender and my arms are definitely feeling heavy, but maybe my body is starting to get used to it!

It feels very refreshing not to have any goals associated with this gymnastics endeavor. I care about improving, but I'm putting NO pressure on myself whatsoever. As long as I'm enjoying it, I'm happy. I don't care where my abilities take me.

I'm really trying to have a 100% healthy day today. Starting it off good with some kashi cereal and a banana. Now what to eat for lunch....

Weekend in Photos

Hello and happy Monday. Today does not feel like the happiest of Mondays because I am tired from the weekend + watching the olympics closing ceremony. I've LOVED watching the olympics but boy am I happy I won't be staying up past my bedtime anymore.

I spent the weekend with my parents and Tom in Mohegan Sun..it was a lot of fun and it was so great seeing my parents. I'm happy I'll be seeing them every month until December :) We of course hit up the casino a few times, but we also went over to Mystic to the aquarium and the seaport. Mystic is a pretty cool place. Who knew that existed in the middle of Connecticut?

I didn't take too many, but here are some photos from the weekend:

Beluga!

For some other updates, the diet coke challenge is going really well! I've had one diet coke a week since starting. I feel really proud of this! There have been many times when I've craved it but decided to stick with water instead...baby steps!

Still working on getting my exercise up. My goal is to exercise 5 times this week:
Monday: gymnastics
Tuesday: run
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: circuit strength
Friday: run
Sunday: kayaking

That's all for today folks.