MFP Week Challenge: Day 4

Today was good.  The morning started off with the typical inner monologue about whether I really wanted to take the time to wash the blender and make a smoothie.  Then I got a Facebook comment from a friend (hi Bon!) asking me about my favorite smoothie recipe and what equipment I use.  While I was commenting back, I realized once again just how simple the process is for a yummy and fulfilling payoff.  Turns out I had all the ingredients, and I made sure to wash the blender immediately afterwards.  It was my old routine, and it was easy peasy.  I lasted until 12:45 before I ran out to grab some food.  Ok, so I wasn't perfect with the planning, ha.

-My old smoothie standby is (in order): Silk almond milk (today was an almond-coconut blend), Natural Factors French Vanilla whey protein, chia seeds, half a frozen banana, frozen strawberries, spinach, and 1 tbsp of peanut butter.  It felt good today.

-Went to The Fresh Market for food, decided to try their sushi.  I normally hate supermarket sushi (even Wegmans!), but this was delicious.  I decided to eat it outside at a picnic table.  You don't even know what a big deal that is for me. 

  

-Dinner was just a mishmash of leftovers.  Could've thrown a veggie in there.

-Could've left off one of the snacks, but I don't think it will hurt anything.  Not hangry, not craving another snack, drinking water.  

Today's shoutout goes to my dear friends who have shown me the value of good food and cooking.  Ash and Ian love cooking and baking together and are those awesome people who bring home cooked food to a party or whip up a quick and delicious meal for you in their wonderfully comfortable kitchen.  I always feel like anything is possible after spending a weekend with them.  He often chats about just how simple and necessary it is to know how to cook certain foods and be able to prepare yourself a meal.  I actually bought 2 cookbooks this year and became obsessed with the show Extra Virgin on the Cooking Channel thanks to them.  

What I love is how Ash and Ian don't go for super complicated or ridiculously frilly and trendy food.  They stick with quality ingredients and cook for taste, enjoyment, and practicality.  Meanwhile, getting takeout is one of my biggest downfalls.  I really like cooking but am very lazy about the cleanup.  Again, this is a routine I need to establish.  I wish they lived closer so we could have those fun weekends more often, but it makes it all the more special when we do see each other.  And believe me, we still have our Shake Shack and Meatball Shop outings!  However, I'm definitely going to start integrating their awesome kitchen habits into our everyday life.    

MFP Week Challenge: Day 3

Today was probably the most calories I've consumed this week so far, but I feel fine. I'm not hangry, I'm not bloated, I didn't stress eat, and I was still under 2000 calories. I'd say that's just fine! And I stepped on the scale this morning to see I lost another .8 pounds. 

It was a very busy day at work, so I didn't get a opportunity to take a walk in this gorgeous spring weather, but I did sit outside for a few minutes to soak up the pleasantly warm breeze. 

So, here's today's eats!

-Today was more of a convenience day. I went to Wawa for breakfast and lunch food, but I chose the new-ish lowest calorie breakfast sandwich rather than the turkey sausage egg white and cheese bagel.

-Lunch is the lowest calorie option you can get at Wawa aside from a salad. It fills me up just fine.

-I stayed at work an hour late fueled by those almonds. I actually ate nuts as a snack for the first time in years, holy crap.

-Had dinner out because I didn't feel like waiting for food to be cooked and it was a belated anniversary dinner. The problem with eating at a restaurant that doesn't have website calories posted is that you have to guesstimate. I think I was pretty accurate though.

-Had some dessert bc I felt like it. 

So, I wanted to take some time for the rest of this week to give some special shoutouts. I can't think of a better way to start than with my best friend Dawn.

Dawn and I have known each other for over 20 years now and have been inseparable since the beginning of college. We have been through every kind of happy and sad emotional journey possible together, and we consider each other to be sisters. "Besters," as we coined a few years ago. Weight loss has been a very personal journey for each of us, and we always have each other's back no matter how much is gained or lost. I call her my cheerleader. *waves pom poms." We are differently shaped with different levels of athleticism, but we celebrate all our victories. Basically, if she lost 60 lbs, she'd be in the hospital, and if I ran 10 miles at the highest incline, I'd be in the hospital. 

Recently, Dawn wasn't feeling great with her diet, so she decided to try MFP after hearing me rave for years. She lost 4 lbs in a week and started to look at portions and choices differently. Now she's continuing to celebrate both scale and NSV victories. She tells me how inspirational I was, but I need her to know just how inspirational she's been for me. I was really in a slump there, and I was afraid to get back on the horse. She was so excited about how easy MFP is and the healthy results you see. I remembered how I said all that at one point. When she puts her mind to something, she DOES it. And I knew that I could get back to doing it again and that her pom poms would be flying on texts and Facebook. She's been ridiculously supportive of me all these years, and it's exciting to be on similar food journeys together. Burrito bowls instead of tortillas, chia, avocado, smoothies...we got this. I'm so proud of her for taking this leap, and I thank her so much for getting me back on that track. (But we can still totally have a fro yo or Starbucks treat too. 😉)

MFP Week Challenge: Day 2

Today went a lot more smoothly. I woke up and already felt better. Yesterday, the scale was showing my highest weight in 4 months. Today? Down 3 lbs. It's crazy how being mindful and drinking a lot helped so quickly. My stomach didn't feel so heavy when I walked around today, and my legs didn't ache at all. It was amazing.

Normally, Tuesday is when I see my trainer, but her appointment before me was running late, and I didn't want to get home and eat dinner late. Plus, I would've had a snack before seeing her, and all I wanted was to hang out with my husband on our 3rd wedding anniversary,

YUP, together for 7 years, married for 3. It was the most lowkey celebration we've had so far, but it was nice.

So, I was really behind on dishes and didn't make a smoothie this morning. BUT...I didn't just run to get a crazy high in sodium breakfast at Wawa, so that was good. I should've eaten more, but I actually held out better until lunch than I did yesterday. 

Some notes:

-I didn't care for that Southwestern chicken, but I won't waste the rest of the bag. I'll just choose something else next time. I forgot to mention yesterday that I had arugula. It's barely 10 calories, so no big. I loooove arugula. I could eat it with pretty much anything. It makes me think of the movie My Blue Heaven when Steve Martin's an FBI protected mobster who goes to a Midwestern supermarket and asks for arugula. 

"What's arugula?"

"It's a veg-e-ta-ble!"

-The work snacks held me over better today bc my stomach wasn't in shock.

-My lovely husband made dinner. It's cut off, but I had ketchup on the meatloaf. What was different was my addition of a salad, and I just realized I forgot to add mushrooms (a couple calories, no big). I think that filled me up more. My trainer is adamant about me getting as much veggies during the day as I can.

-I ate dessert pretty quickly after dinner. It's a weird kind of habit I developed over time, but then I would be starving at night for snacks. We ran out to get a few things, and I grumped that we should have SOME kind of treat since it's our anniversary. Mind you, I had eaten everything by this point. He didn't feel like anything, and I realized my stomach was full. I thought about how many calories were in the bakery items at Panera and Starbucks and held off. So I had a handful of animal crackers when I came home.

-I didn't go to the gym, but I did even better than yesterday with my food. Woohoo!!

MFP Week Challenge: Day 1

Today, I announced on my Facebook page that I would do my own personal challenge for a week.  I will be publicly holding myself accountable for my choices all week since I'm having a hard time getting back on track.  Life has been slowly turning around since mid-February, yet I can't manage to get myself into a routine.  I always find some kind of excuse or distraction to keep myself from making a breakfast smoothie, a healthy lunch with snacks, a constant water bottle and exercise.  Let's not even get into how much laundry and cleaning I need to do...

As I wrote about recently, I used to print out my MyFitnessPal diary pages for my trainer to read while I walked the treadmill.  She would give me advice, ask if I felt full during low-protein meals, and talk about my snack choices.  We got to the point that I knew exactly what to do, and I didn't need her guidance.  Then October 2014 happened, and I've been on a slow downward spiral ever since.  I'm lucky that I can see her again, thanks to the extreme fortune of being employed again.
I don't have many excuses anymore as my commute is next to nothing and my gym is right around the corner.  Aside from lingering mind-blowing family stress, I should be ready to start respecting my body again.  But I just can't get into a routine or start a to-do list.  And then the food comfort becomes a warm blanket that I turn to when I'm stressed.  Note the Taco Bell I immediately picked up last week after having to drive a total of 2 1/2 hours after work to deal with aforementioned family stress.
I've been eating well over 500 calories past my goal every day.  I haven't been tracking MFP faithfully at all.  I haven't been drinking enough water, plain hot tea, or my smoothies.  My veggies are almost non-existent again.  My skin is kinda gross, and my face is puffing up.  I can still fit into my clothes, but they just don't feel right.  I don't feel right.  And I'm sick of it.

So friends, I'm swinging my leg over the horse.  I still have work to do with re-balancing my diet and creating a habit.  My trainer says it takes 22 days to make a habit.  I will be publicly sharing for a week, but I think it will really be the push I need to keep doing this on my own every day.  I want energy back, I want to feel healthy, and I don't want to feel so heavy.  I know I'm not, but it's like all my tone disappeared.  So it's time to get my diet back in shape so I can really start kicking ass at the gym in May.

I actually made my smoothie this morning.  Since I had minimal ingredients, it reminded me how much I hate overly sweet fruity drinks.  Spinach will be used in full force tomorrow!  And of course, look at my super cute new drinkware!

I got the Harley Quinn tumbler at FYE.  I love her and I love the fact that the icky looking green will be covered up.  The Ello glass has a handle, is BPA free, and has a protective silicone sleeve.  I got it at Wal-Mart by the recommendation of my best friend.  Both are 20 ounces, and both had me running to pee all morning,  It sounds crazy, but I missed that.  I also remembered to take my multivitamin, something I've been slacking on doing.

April 27, 2015

I'd say today was a really successful start.  Some things I noticed:

-I absolutely need more protein in my smoothies, and I normally make them that way.  However, I had that Jamba Juice bag in the freezer for awhile and wanted to finally try it.  I will never use juice again and will be going back to almond milk and a tablespoon of peanut butter tomorrow.  I was starving by 11:30, and they used to hold me till nearly 1 pm.  This made me want to snack more in the afternoon.

-Lunch was great.  I love tuna and ricotta together (it's a creamier cottage cheese, don't judge), and that was my first time trying those tortilla chips.  I really enjoyed them; they had a sweet nutty taste and went great with the guacamole.  I can see making those a regular option in my lunches.

-I need something low calorie but substantial for a snack now.  Looks like I'm going back to string cheese and an apple! I was a little hangry by dinner, and I can practically hear my trainer saying it's because I had so much sweetness in the morning.  

-Dinner was awesome.  Qdoba is the lowest fat option for burrito bowls in this area.  I love Chipotle and Moe's, but Qdoba is closer to me and lighter on the calories/fat.  

  

-I was full but still had that craving for something sweet.  I KNOW!  But I didn't want to shock my body too fast, and now I don't have the urge to snack on anything.  Baby steps guys, baby steps.