Sunday, January 26, 2014

Keep your friends close...

...but your enemies closer.  Did Don Corleone have food in mind when passing that bit of wisdom on to Michael? 

Food isn't really the enemy, we know that.  The potato gets a bum rap thanks to sour cream, butter, bacon and cheese.  Pasta gets a frown because of the rich sauces, cheese and pasta-isn't-pasta-without-bread bread.  And of course cereal is just cereal... except when it's devoured in mass quantities.  ahem.

Yesterday I embraced the W quite successfully.  I had the house all to myself, it was cold & snowy outside and warm & cozy inside, there was nothing I absolutely HAD to get done and there was some GREAT television goin' on.  Above all else: The Godfather marathon.  Hurray!  Something more addicting than sugar, woo hoo!!! 

I watched TV, read a book during commercials, made good food and portion choices, managed to get in a walk with the dog AND 30 minutes on the treadmill if you can stand it.  Let me take a moment to bask in my accomplishments... thank you.  Thank you very much.

I consumed 30 points total... a sampling includes:

Yummmm.  One egg over-easy, sautéed mushrooms in 1 tsp "butter" and 1/4 cup quinoa.  And a cup of tea w/ 1 TBSP raw sugar and a splash of soy creamer.  Total points: 6.

Salad (lettuce, apple, cukes, carrot, onion, radish), 2 TBSP ginger dressing, 5 oz baked marinated chicken breast*.  Total points: 7.
 
*(I discovered this "brand" of chicken that supposedly engages in a kind of "humane" slaughter process called "Controlled Atmospheric Killing".  ~sigh~  Some day I'll commit to a truly vegetarian diet, but I guess I'll be sneaking up on it slowly.)
 
A four oz package of this yummy stuff... 5 high protein, yummy points.  There's actually a term for "vegetarian with the exception of fish": pescitarian. I can be that.  I think.
 
 
But next time I enjoy some smoked salmon, I may have to lock myself in the closet...
 
Can I have some?

Me too?!  Me too?!
 
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease??!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Friday, January 24, 2014

Once upon a time...

One upon a time there was a box of Gorilla Munch cereal.
And then there wasn't.
The end.
~*~
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Continuous Improvement...

...is not just for the workplace anymore.

My current state of mindfulness (or lack thereof) is in shambles.  I confess to the crime.  Lock me up, please!  Am I frustrated?  Sure.  Will I haul myself back up and into the healthy lifestyle of which I dream so longingly?  Yeah.  Eventually ~er~ I mean soon!  I'm at my weakest during those few hours after work and before bedtime.  Or as it's been lately, couchtime.  I'm in a rut.  How do I get out of it?  No really, how?  I have some ideas and maybe with hubby's never ending support (I'm lucky that way) I'll get back on track. 

A friend of mine described a challenge or hers perfectly (you know who you are, and I am thankful for your insight!!) " and I found myself saying simultaneously "A-HAH!" and "Why didn't I recognize that in myself before?!" She wrote (and I'm paraphrasing) "When I exercise, I eat more because I feel I earned it. I exercised!!!" I know, right?? Why is it so easy to sabotage ourselves like that? Is there some kind of hardwired defensive mechanism involved? I can't imagine what that would be, but it would be a great excuse. Sure!  What can I always use more of?  Excuses.  Of course.

So in the name of "Continuous Improvement", to decrease the number of nonconformances, decrease the number of opportunities for failure and increase profits & success and simplify, I'm embracing the philosophy with the aim to make each week just a little better than the previous one.  Are you with me?  I sure hope so. I don't think I can do this alone.

My short term goals for improvement include:
  • Vitamins/supplements: I take various herbs and vitamins twice a day. Last week I missed 5 doses. This week I'm doing better (final report this weekend).
  • Exercise: Last week: twice on the treadmill. This week: three times on the 'mill and one really good power walk outside. In the cold. In the arctic-level cold. In the mind-numbingly, frost-bitingly cold. Three times on the 'mill.
  • Food journal: Last week: Didn't do it. Not a single food entry, not a single point counted. And now that this week is almost over, I can say I made no improvement in that regard. So this will carry over to next week where I won't count points, but just by virtue of documenting my food choices, I will regain some level of control and reestablish the habit of journaling. oof.
I guess I'll call this an update.  Thanks again for tagging along and next entry will include some more pix.  But here's a nice one, just because.

I took this somewhere along the section of the Appalachian Trail known as "The 100 Mile Wilderness".  Can you just feel the peace?  Yup.  Me too.
 
 
 

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Exercise this. (grump grump)

Well, there's no avoiding it.  My weight is stuck where it is for ever and ever and ever... unless I start exercising.  Again.  Consistently.  In earnest.  With intention. 

I LOVE exercising, so what's the problem?  I don't love getting up at the crack of dawn to do it (which I did manage to do twice this week, stop the presses).  I don't love changing into my exercise clothes after work (much preferring my "cozies": sweats and t-shirts in which I wouldn't be caught dead in public).  And I don't love how easily I convince myself that planting my lazy @ss on the couch is exactly what I need to do.

Never are my food AND exercise plans in sync.  I'm good at one or the other, but never simultaneously.  I don't know why, and right now I'm too lazy to figure it out.

I'm a little frustrated with myself, can you tell?  Two weeks and I'm down a total of 1.5 lbs.  Seriously?  ~sigh~

Okay... so what are some good things from this week?  My new job is rockin'.  I turned the big five-Oh and am keenly aware & grateful that my only health problem is these stubborn, extra 15 lbs.  I miss my friends from my old job (which is a positive, the emphasis being "friends").  I indulged in some yummies this week without causing tooooo much damage.  What kind of yummies?  Pizza, ice cream, cookies, chocolate, jelly-beans... not all at the same time, although it's not outside the realm of possibility.  I'm such a sugar junky.  Just today I was reminded how much I love my all-wheel drive Subaru, thanks to some surprise snow.  And I was also reminded how cozy and warm I always feel when the world turns white like that.

I was less than diligent journaling my food and points, but a sampling of meals from this week include:

Breakfasts:
Waffles w/ fresh fruit & maple syrup.
Cheerios w/ vanilla almond milk.
Two slices rye toast w/ fake butter, a cup of chocolate almond milk and a hard boiled egg.

Lunches:
Shanghai dumplings.
Cream of broccoli soup.
Salad w/ ginger dressing.
Tuna salad wrap.

Dinners:
Veggie burgers w/ sautéed veggies & cheese... and pickle... and lots of corn chips.
Salad w/ ginger dressing, sautéed shrimp ... feta cheese... avocado... rice noodles.
Pizza ... so good.

Snacks & desserts:
Chocolate chip cookies, jelly beans, chocolate, banana bread, lots of tea w/ sugar and/or sweetener, apples, bananas, strawberries, sesame crackers, graham crackers, cinnamon pita chips and a partridge in a pear tree.

So what am I going to do about exercising, huh?  I think my goal this coming week is to just do a little better than I did last week.  On those mornings I DID exercise, I felt so great afterwards.  But the motivation seriously wanes when the alarm is going off at 4:30 in the morning.  Egads.

That's about it for now, no earth-shattering news, just some ramblings.  Tonight's dinner will be some humongous sea scallops, something green (Brussels or asparagus) and an experimental side dish of quinoa and butternut squash.  Pix of THAT next time.

Beautiful surprise snow.

But... I was only asleep for an hour!


Multigrain yumminess.

I discovered this dressing at least a year ago, and it's still my top choice, just eeking out Good Seasons Italian as dressing supreme.

Vegan, spicy and delicious cold or hot.

 
 
Those were not the only chips I ate with this meal.  Chips were also consumed while cooking the veggies... and the burger... and while cleaning up afterwards.  Sometimes a girl just needs her overdose of salt!

Perfect compliment on ginger-dressed salad.
 

 
 
 
Yumyumyumyumyum.

Veggie pizza... that's healthy, right?


~update!~ Quinoa a SERIOUS success!  So: red quinoa, roasted butternut squash (seasoned with onion powder, garlic powder, curry powder, salt and pepper) and lentils.

Pan seared sea scallops, quinoa/squash/lentils, and a cleansing apple & cucumber salad.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Calibration day

A good start today.  The scale tells me I'm down 3.5 lbs since Jan 1st.  That's a rough average of about 2 lbs per week.  Now, this takes into account my stomach bug, but considering my weight has remained level for the past 3 days, I think it's a true reading.  I consider myself recalibrated and ready to resume all things blog-worthy.

A very yummy, filling 7-point breakfast.  Two low-fat waffles, 1 Tbsp. maple syrup, about 6 strawberries, 1 banana and a fake (soy) sausage patty.
 
Just a quick shot to emphasize how much food this really was.  Man, was it good.  I barely remember eating it.  ~burp~
 
My vitamins/supplements all queued up for the week.  With the exception of one, they all look identical; nondescript blah-color in a clear capsule. That's pretty much how they taste too.  Bleh.
 
8-point lunch.  Very yummy and a weeeee bit spicy.  This package contains 2.5 servings which is probably right if I were to have rice with it also.  But I did not.
 
 
And then there was dinner.  Dinner was a huge plate of rice, veggies and crock-potted chicken.  I know, right?  It doesn't sound bad... but it was.  I mean, it was good... oh, you know what I mean.  And THEN (but wait, there's more) I heard something whimpering from the freezer.  Oh loooooooooooooooooook... Gelato!  Mint chocolate chip gelato.  ~sigh~  Resistance was futile.  Deliciously futile.  I didn't even try to quantify it in my food journal.
 
I wonder what tomorrow's weigh-in will be like. 
 

 

What?  Gelato??  I like Gelato...
 
 
 

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Happines is a healthy gut.

Never is a healthy gut more appreciated than after a bout with a bug.  This was definitely a full twelve-round fight but I am happy to report the final victor: me.  Like I mentioned previously, something got me late Saturday evening making Sunday just plain miserable.  With serious fortune on my side, I felt good enough to start my new job this Monday, but I was not at my best.  By Wednesday I had lost a total of 4.5 lbs. and I was getting very dehydrated, with the chapped lips and cracked cuticles to show for it.  But now it's been a full week and I'm back in the game, reconstituting my innards and eating like a human being instead of an anemic sparrow.

I abandoned my food journal for most of the week since it was more important I ate at all vs. what I chose to eat.  But today I'm so happy to have my appetite back that with vigor and enthusiasm I am chowing my way through the day.  So far (and from memory as my food journal is still non-gratis), I have consumed: 2 banana/walnut pancakes, numerous cups of tea with real sugar and soy creamer, rye toast, rice crackers, another banana, jelly beans, an apple and I am right this very second eyeballing a piece of Christmas chocolate.  But starting tomorrow, I resume journaling, thoughtful food choices and exercise.  Yes.  Exercise.  ~sigh~

I will typically exercise in the evening since there's just never enough time to squeeze it in in the morning, but my choice would be to workout in the morning, for sure.  It sets the tone for the day, gets the furnace burning, not to mention gets it out of the way.  But I no longer have that time argument; my new commute is a scant 1/2 hour and I don't have to report to the office until a luxurious 8:30AM.  What's my excuse now?  No, really, any ideas?  Anybody??

I went grocery shopping this morning and with a tummy full of pancakes, I was making it a point to pay attention to my non-hunger-driven food choices.  They were all very vegan.  As such I didn't buy myself eggs, cheese or yogurt.  I fully believe this is the way I'm meant to eat, as difficult as it could be to keep a balanced meal plan.  So when Hubby announced a few hours ago "I think I want steak tonight for dinner" I jumped right on board.  "Ooh!  That sounds good!".  Wait... what?  I'm not even going to pursue that one.  I'm so scattered right now, maybe I shouldn't be blogging today at all.  Ack!

But with all seriousness (and only for a minute), tomorrow I'm back on track.  I'll be putting together an exercise routine for next week, planning my lunches the nights before, logging my food, logging my points, taking pix, taking names and kicking @ss. 

And to mark my triumphant return to the human realm, I gave myself bangs.  I think they make me look a liiiiittle younger.  Maybe.  Or they make me look like a 50 year old woman desperately trying to look younger.  ~snork~

 

 















Monday, January 6, 2014

Just touching base...

Not wanting to let too much time go before a "real" report, I'm throwing out some random things, happenings and whatnots for now.  Hopefully they're relatively relevant.

New job, first day (today); Yes, Virginia, there is a cafeteria.  It's blue-collar all the way which means if I plan and bring my own lunch, I'll be fine.  Otherwise hunger will win and I'll be forced to endure the awful deliciousness of French fries, onion rings and grilled cheese sandwiches.  Oh horrors.  As it happened today, I ate very, very lightly.  Not as a testament to the offerings but I'm in fact recovering from a very, VERY rough Sunday...

Sunday: Actually beginning Saturday evening around 10PM.  A bug?  A virus?  Food poisoning?  Call it what you will, it was awful.  I spent the following 12 hours sitting on the bowl, hugging the bowl, and taking feverish cat-naps in between.  Then another 6 hours or so sleeping and developing a raging headache.  By 8PM yesterday though, I knew the worst was over.  When I woke up this morning, weak as hell but no longer nauseous and yes, even a little bit hungry, I knew I'd be fine for my first day of work.  The upside: I'm down over 3 pounds, woo hoo!  No, noooooo, I know.  It's artificial and unhealthy weight loss.  I fully anticipate gaining it back as I resume eating.  But I do admit to the thrill I felt this morning when I stepped on the scale and kept sliding the balance weight more and more over to the left.

SaturDAY:  In anticipation of a party being thrown by one of Hubby's friends I made it a point to eat lightly, but definitely to eat and not go to the party hungry. (Very good decision based on what hit me later that night.)  While at the party I managed to eat only one meatball, two handfuls of Frito corn chips, two bites of an eggplant rollitini, two chocolate chip cookies and two bite-sized crème d'minthe fudge type yummies.  When I say "yummy", I mean "holy cr@p is that yummy!"  Things I didn't eat include: potato chips, pretzels, cheese doodles, onion dip, artichoke dip, crab dip, cheese & cold-cuts, mozz & prosciutto, chicken wings, pork ribs, Swedish meatballs, Italian sub and pizza.  Oops, I think I gained back a pound just writing that down!

Between my last entry on Wednesday through Friday: nothing earth-shattering to report, food-wise.  I managed to stay on track fairly easily and before the bug hit, I had lost 1.75 lb.  It's my hope that by next Monday's official weigh-in I'll at least retain that 1.75 lb. loss (again, expecting to gain back the 3 lost to illness).

Non-food news: Harley made out to be a terrific nurse, curling up with me on the bed, keeping a keen eye and respectful distance while in the bathroom, and when he sensed the worst was over, he checked in from time to time and went to Daddy for playtime.

New job dress code: Office casual (expected).  No casual Friday.  WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT????  It's true.  No jeans on Friday.  Sadness reins.

That's it for now... pix and snarky commentary to resume shortly.




Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Ground Zero

Withdrawal headache notwithstanding, today was a very successful day!  Healthy food choices, a little exercise, a little goofing off... But first a bit of book-keeping:  The WW Points Plus values I'm giving myself are 25 daily points and 50 weekly points.  I'm assigning my WW week to run Monday through Sunday, which gives me a pro-rated count of 35 weekly points through the weekend.  

So as I mentioned, a very successful day #1.  I used my daily 25 pts (NOT hard to do!) and dipped into 2 weekly points.  I do have a headache and I'm sure it's from the lack of sugar and caffeine.  Tomorrow it will be gone, I'm not worried.  The physical withdrawal is simple.  The emotional addiction is harder to kick.  Exercise consisted of a 1/2 hour morning walk with Harley.  Our walks will never be a cardio challenge thanks to Harley having to stop and sniff ev-er-y-thing.  But it felt good to stretch my legs, and the sub-zero temperature must have resulted in a few extra calories burned.  Right?  This afternoon included yoga w/ Steve Ross.  A few Christmases ago, my best friend gave me a bootlegged collection of "Inhale Yoga" episodes, which still form the basis of my yoga practice.  You can find them now all on YouTube (ah, you kids have it so easy nowadays).  His is a unique approach and I'm a fan.  [Click here for YouTube vids of Inhale Yoga]

At this very moment, I'm fighting my evening sweet tooth and it is tough. I am extremely comfortable hunger-wise, not hungry and not overly full.  Juuuuuust right.  And yet, I miss dessert.  A lot.  There's no way I'm swearing off dessert altogether, but if I'm lucky, I can break dessert as a hardwired habit and eventually enjoy it as a treat.  An occasional treat.  But that's a way down the road.  We're doing one day at a time right now.  And day #1 is a success.

But what if I were to sleepwalk to the kitchen tonight...  Yeahhh, "sleepwalk"... that's it.   Noooo, I'm done eating for today.  Uh huh!!! Am too!

Happy 2014 everybody!  We're off to a good start!



Food journal w/ Points.

Mommy's breakfast...
 
...And Daddy's breakfast.
 

Tea, sans sweetener.

These are pretty good.  Not a lot like what you'd get from a Chinese takeout place, but pretty tasty and with a little kick to 'em. 

Typical salad, not much to report there.


My Betta fish who gets almost zero air time thanks to the celebrities Max & Harley.  His name is Joe.  Indeed named after Joseph Campbell of the film "Finding Joe".  After a hard day, he lets me watch him and the world feels a little more peaceful afterwards.