Weigh in: Red Team Win! (And other stuff)

Weighed in on Sunday at 222.2 - a 4.0 lb. loss, for a total of 18.4 lbs. shed during the month of May!

(My big fat toe coveres up the last digit, but it's .2)

I'm "borrowing" the wi-fi signal from one of the neighbors at home and with the weather all wonky this weekend, it was just not going to connect and be fast enough for diddly squat. 

The weekend the kid was at his dad's, so we had a wee bit o' fun, mostly cruddy weather, and lots of good food.  We accomplished eating out AND drinking, responsibly! Our waist lines thank us!

Friday evening I was coming off of a mighty hellish and stressful week (as this one is shaping up to be), so I made Happy Lemon Raspberry Swirl cheesecake bars. 

There were a couple minor variations in this recipe from the strawberry ones I made a few entries ago.  First, I used fat-free cream cheese for the filling and added a bit of lemon juice.  Turned out superb! I did this to compensate for the fact I used about 3 tablespoons of butter instead of the 1 tablespoon of light butter in the crust.  Why? Because these cheesecake bars not only make your waistline happy, but they got you stoned doing it.  I used cannabutter and was delightfully relaxed Friday evening.  A new, improved spin on your age old magic brownies ;)

I got my hair done, and helped my kid sister move on Saturday, followed by some shopping! New Mac make up and a new outfit.  And pants a whole size smaller! Woot!

Saturday evening we decided to venture out and about to our favorite bar/grill...  Andre the bartender was more than happy to hook us up with low calorie drinks! He made us lovely Skinny Tea vodka drinks.  They packed a punch and at only 60 calories a piece! (And $6.00...but the vodka makes that easier to swallow.)  We split the hummus and wheat pita appetizer...

Then we ordered a turkey burger, with spinach, not lettuce, cause lettuce is NAS-TAY! And fruit instead of fries...

It was honestly SO. GOOD!

I have to say, skinny drinks or not, it was hard to be in a bar that has "NO CRAP ON TAP!" (as their T-shirts say), and be surrounded by delicious hoppy and full-flavored craft beers and sit there and drink my vodka tea... Forever a beer lover at heart.  But, nothing tastes as good as being thin feels...

I missed updating for a whole week! I promise that won't happen again.  Get me out of this desk and home with a steady internet connection and I'll hook you up with fantastic recipes for things like

Thai Mango Chicken

Barbequed chicken with sweet potato fries (I finally got them CRISPY!)

And more! 

I haven't logged my calories in MFP for a few days, but I've been making good choices and I don't want to become overly reliant upon an app - I want to know that I can make healthy choices by myself! I'm back to sticking stuff in there now, but I'm not doing it live or die...

Watched Extreme Makeover Weightloss Edition last night - Really gave me extra motivation to shed these pounds!

Blue Team Win: Disappointing Weigh-in by the Red Team.

Weigh in this weekend was somewhat a disappointment.  I lost, but not much. I suppose it’s better than nothing though.  An official loss of 2.6 lbs.  Lacy won this round with an even 4.0 lb. loss.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t discouraged.  I have been eating well and drinking tons of water, and even began with ab workouts this week.  But I felt it coming as I have been under a tremendous amount of stress, and my body is very susceptible to the effects of stress.  And when under stress, your body feels run-down and exhausted, and therefore wants to keep, keep, keep anything you put in it.

I’m happy for Lacy’s 4.0 lb. loss, I can really see the changes in her.  I’m just concerned about things from here on out.  My focus is on a doable, sustainable lifestyle change that will result in me losing the weight and keeping it off.  Her focus has shifted from getting healthy, to doing anything and everything in her power to get her weight and measurements down in time to ship out to basic for the Guard in October. She’s got at least a good 40 lbs. to go, maybe more.  So, she’s given up all carbs and wants to stay well under the 1,200 calorie mark, and basically bust her butt and throw her body through the wringer so she can just get rid of the weight by October.   It really throws a wrench in things because I do all the cooking and it’s time consuming to make one meal, let alone two or “alter” my meals to avoid all carbohydrates. Yes, even the complex ones.  I refuse to get roped in to her “quick fix” style.  Healthy and sustainable for this chica!

I have to say, I couldn’t handle the 2.6 lb loss, so while that is my official weigh-in, I stood on the scale this morning and was down to 224, which would make it a 4.6 lb. loss, which I can handle.  Between water retention and the fact I finally had a BM last night, I feel less discouraged and like I could have a super loss next weigh in!

On to the amazing food!  One day I promise I’ll find time and a decent internet signal and spend time getting the recipes up here!

Friday night we had orange chipotle chicken, omg! It was so good! I think it would have been better grilled even, but we had to broil because it was raining.

Saturday I made turkey and balsamic onion quesadillas.  The soaking of the red onion in balsamic vinegar gave it a really unique and delicious flavor! Then I used the balsamic vinegar, added some Stevia and garlic and make a lovely dressing for our spinach salads.

Saturday evening, after searching high and low for Sea Bass, I finally went to a high-end specialty market and even they didn’t have any! I asked what would be comparable, and I bought some really freaking expensive Halibut.  ($24.99/lb?! Holy shit.)  Made ginger herb halibut filets on a roasted tomato and garlic coulis, and for the first time in my life I had swiss chard.  I really liked the flavor of swiss chard, but I can’t do the creamy texture this recipe had.  Perhaps not so cooked in the future.  I sautéed some green beans with a dab of seasame oil, some garlic and almond slivers as well.

Sunday morning Lacy insisted on making breakfast.  This is her version of a “green monster” even though it’s purple and so thick we ate it with spoons out of fancy martini glasses! Keepin’ it classy!

Why is she making that face?  Dorkus put alphalfa sprouts in the smoothie.  The flavor over powered everything! It was kind of gross at first, but we got used to it and finished them up.

Lunch yesterday was thai coconut curry shrimp.  Low carb Lacy asked if we could eat it on a bed of spinach, rather than on rice as planned.   I agreed, thinking the sauce would make an excellent dressing.  I was wrong.  We both loved the shrimp, but agreed the warm coconut curry sauce on cold spinach leaves did not really please the palate.  So while it looks pretty, if you attempt this one, make sure to put it over rice!  Let me stress the shrimp was DEVINE!! So yummy!

And last, but not least, another for the WIN column.  Veggie lasagna with turkey meat sauce! The turkey could absolutely be left out for a vegetarian meal!  No noodles- made with zucchini in their place, some red pepper, and ricotta cheese made this creamy and delicious! I have leftovers for lunch today! Om nom nom!

We ate it with roasted beets! I’d never come near a beet in my life until yesterday. And while I have some purple parts today, it was worth it, they were pretty good!

It rained all weekend, tornadoes ripped through Minneapolis yesterday, and while my garlic is loving it and coming up nicely…some of the other babies in the garden aren’t fairing as well.  Our cukes are nearly destroyed.  My herbs are drowning.  And we’ll see what happens to our squash, it’s looking wet and sickly… the broccoli and tomatoes and jalepenos seem to be doing alright, minus a few damaged leaves.  We shall see!

Nemo's in trouble...

Weigh-in is just around the corner again, and I have to admit, I'm a wee bit nervous.  I cheated and stood on the scale on Wednesday and there had been no change... I'm eating well, really well, compared to before.  Coming in at or slightly below my 1,300 calories a day - and I'd eat more, but I'm seriously not hungry!  It's also been a challenge to make it through the week without hitting the grocery store- we're running low and eating up what's in the fridge.  Shopping tongiht or tomorrow, for sure! 

I'm coming close to my 40, 40, 20 ratio for carbs, protein and fats.  I often times go over on my carbs slightly or am closer to my goal than I am on protein and I feel like I don't eat many carbs - and the ones I do are complex and whole grain.  Maybe an Enlish muffin or pita pocket or occasionally whole grain brown rice or taboule...

And my girlfriend has decided to make it her goal to get her weight down and body fat below 32% so she can enlist in the National Guard.  Her recruiter, who is also trained in diet and fitness, told her to up the protein and basically cut out all carbs...and start running.  But one thing at a time.  I'm not willing to cut out all carbs, no siree Bob! I'm never going anything near that carb-free zone again.  Once you throw your body out of ketosis, you gain it all back.  But, I will agree to up the protein, especially as we thow strength training in the mix.

We've also been discussing our protein options.  We both agreed we wanted to stay away from red meat, mostly...and yesterday cemented that with her recruiter telling her to nix the red meat.  Which, is a shame really, financially anyway... as my dad raises Circle A cattle and fills my freezer often.   Matter of fact, we've discussed eating more vegetarian options.  I think I'm getting to the point where I could do it, but I think I'd also struggle with getting enough protein.  So, we're keeping fish on the menu, twice a week...one other seafood option once a week, and chicken stays and so does turkey, although I am not much of a turkey fan unless it's turkey bacon.   Basically, we're upping our veggies, increasing our heart-friendly fish and focusing on lean protein sources from the dairy department such as greek yogurt and such. 

Last night was an "eat whatever is left in the fridge" night.  And we didn't have much in the way of vegetables.  So I made some broiled talapia filets with fresh herbs from our garden and crushed garlic, cut up a yellow bell pepper and tossed some zucchini with parmesean cheese and baked it.  It was delicious!

You know what? I found out I love raw yellow pepper! It's mild and sweet, with just the right bite! Hey, vegetables aren't so bad afterall! Not all of them, anyway! I've come a long way on the vegetable train since I started this journey just 20 days ago!

I am nervous for what Sunday morning holds! I feel like I am always stuffed, and I haven't been exercising - shame on me! And I've been so stressed, I'm sure its taken its toll on my body.  And Lacy might have a temporary advantage over me because it seems she's not very good at actually eating.  I've busted her on more than one occasion coming in at only around 500 calories, and several others shy of 1,000.  Tsk tsk tsk! We shall let the scale determine this week's victor on Sunday! Stay tuned!

Salad Queen has a lot on her plate

Salad Queen.  Yeah, never thought that would be me.  But I'm getting there.  And I'm actually almost starting to enjoy it! Biggest Loser tells all of us at home trying to lose weight to eat at least one salad a day.  I don't always do that but I'm getting there.  I've been on a salad kick this week because it's easy to take to work, leave at work, make slightly different everyday, and well, the fridge is getting to a point where it's getting scarce in there and salads are a great way to dress up the produce that's left before your next shopping trip.

Now, we buy spinach by the bulk, or we would if we could! We usually go through 4-6 bags of it per week between the two of us.  Work pays for a Costco membership - I have had it for 4 years and never activated it, but I think I might because the amount of fresh produce we go through is insane.   I put it in everything.  It's one of the vegetables I actually liked prior to jumping on this bandwagon.  I think lettuce tastes bitter and is honestly one of the vegetables I cannot stand... I detested green pepper and now I'll eat those, but still not the lettuce.  So my salads are all spinach-based. 

Yesterday's lunch was a simple salad with spinach, navel orange and blackberries with just a bottled fat-free raspberry vinegarette.  I had some peas, too, but I ate half of them on the way to my desk!

 Today it was spinach, green apple, jicama and blackberries with a homemade raspberry-lime vinegarette dressing.  (You can see my afternoon snack sitting on my wallet.  I'm short on protein, ok on carbs and have plenty of fat calories left, so a bag of habanero bbq almonds it is!)

You can put just about anything on a salad.  I have to find a dressing I like or research some recipes for some homemade ones that aren't fruity... I bought a balsamic vinegarette one and I just think it tastes like feet!

And yes, I'm drinking a Monster. My attempts to cut back to < 1 per day are being foiled this week. I have lots of stuff on my plate - figurately and literally - and I'm barely finding times to eat and sleep - and once this week I have foregone my lunch in order to rest for an hour.  Unhealthy!

I'm going to try to "reset" myself this weekend and then have a bit of relaxation and find time to meditate and destress next week.  Even if it means one or two things on my plate don't get dealt with when they should.  In losing weight, stress plays a large part, and of all the hurdles I have to overcome, none are going to matter if I can't get over this one first and find a way to balance myself and my life!



Stevia and the Strawberry-Swirl Cheesecake Bars

I came across Stevia back when I lost weight the first time.  Now it's exploded and it's everywhere! I can grow it in my garden, I can buy it in a bag as a cup for cup replacement for sugar! And it's zero calories... I abhor artificial sweetners, but I love Stevia because it's a freaking plant! It's sweet and delicious - I love to just gnaw on the leaves of the plant! I picked up a bag of the cup-for-cup stuff and went to town when it came time to bake goodies for my meeting today at work.

One of my favorite things in the world is cheesecake.  Who doesn't love cheesecake, right? Right.  So let's take this sorta-slimmed down recipe and slim it down some more - lower the glycemic index on it... even my diabetic grandfather could eat this treat and be peachy keen! And all my co-workers who think they're "splurging" on a decadent desert filled with fat and sugar...well, they can just keep on thinking that, cause it tastes just as good!

Here's what you need:

1 cup or about 7 low-fat graham crackers, crushed

2 TBS light butter

2 8oz. packages of reduced fat cream cheese (You can sub 1 for fat-free if you wish, just bake a few minutes longer, if you use all fat-free it gets a goopy weird texture)

1/2 cup of Stevia cup-for-cup  (you can use sugar, or Splenda if you wish, just remember the calories will change)

12 oz. fat-free plain greek yogurt

5 large egg WHITES

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla

2 TBS all-purpose flour

1/2 cup low sugar jelly/jam (I used Smuckers Low Sugar, which has no artificial sweetners)

Heat oven to 350°.

Coat a 9x13-inch baking pan with non-stick spray. ( I prefer glass over metal)

Melt the butter a bit in the microwave, about 20-30 seconds.  Mix together graham cracker crumbs and butter with a fork until evenly moistened. Press evenly into bottom of prepared pan.

Gently beat cream cheese, stevia and vanilla until smooth using an electric mixer. Gradually beat in fat free yogurt, egg whites, lemon juice, and flour. Do not over beat. Pour over graham cracker crust.

Heat the jam for about 30 seconds in the microwave. Stir well. Drop spoonfuls over surface of filling. Using a knife, swirl jam gently through filling to create marble effect – be careful not to go down too far and drag crumbs from the crust through your filling!

Bake for about 30 minutes, depending on your oven.  Bake until the center is almost set and the sides begin to pull away from the pan.  Mine took 34 minutes.  Keep a close eye on them!  Let cool down to room temp and then store in the fridge.

Cut into 18 squares.  Each serving yeilds: 126 calories, 11g carbs, 6g fat and 5g protein.

The ones that are missing from the pan, my son ate for breakfast this morning. Whoops :)  They were a hit and everyone loved them, and no one is the wiser that they're not as sinful as they seem at first glance!

Next up, the zucchini-pineapple cake I made with cream cheese frosting!

Red Team Wins Another Weigh-in!

That's right! I busted booty this week with a 5.8 pound loss!  Down from 235.0 to 229.2!  11.8 pounds lost since May 1!

Lacy lost 4 pounds this last week, so it's still a very close race!

We are doing really well with the healthy eating.  The working out though, not so much. I'm going to make it a priority next week, for certain.  I've just been so stressed and busy that as hard as I try, getting up at 5AM is not happening.  I can barely drag my arse out of bed at 6AM!  Notice the lack of blogging - and I love to blog.  There's just been no time!  I really would like to spend some quality time with the computer, carrassing it, making sweet love to it, wait - that's my girlfriend, not the computer...stress does funny things to a person.  I would really like to spend some time, awake, alive, and uninterrupted with the computer to get my recipes up here, because we have truly eaten some amazing food!

Beware, food photo dump ahead!

On Saturday, I made kale chips.  I was skeptical - kale is bitter and not really all that pleasing to the pallate.  But I'm game to try anything at least once.  So, I got out my stuff and went to town.

I had half a bunch of multi-colored kale and a whole bunch of regular green kale.  A bit o' EVOO and some kosher salt, and my brand new knife (heart!)... easy as 1,2,3...

It's sure puuuuurty....

Wash the kale...dry it really, super duper well (I used about nine kajillion papertowels...a salad spinner would be a more economical choice if you have one...)  Remove the thick part of the stem.  Tear or cut into "chip size" pieces.  Toss with a bit of EVOO (I used about a tablespoon total for the entire head of kale), and a dash of kosher salt.  Lay chips on a parchment lined baking sheet...

Bake in a 300* oven for about 10-12 minutes until edges start to brown and kale is crispy.  Times may vary...Some of my batches ended up closer to 15 minutes.

That's pretty much it. 

Even my picky-eater six year old loved it, and kept coming back to sneak more! That whole first batch right there...he ate it all!

The haul.  It's delicious (not bitter any more!), a bit salty, and good-for-you!  Eat it like chips, or crumble over popcorn for a tasty treat.  I used it crumbled in my beef stew over the weekend in place of salt. 

Each serving of 1 cup yeilds 56 calories, 7g carbs, 2g fat, and 2g protein.

Lacy had been having a hankering for beef-barley stew...so, I decided to do it up by knocking the calories down.  This stew had TONS of veggies in it, lean stew-meat stright from my dad's farm, I used low sodium broth and NO SALT in the stew...it was flavorful and the serving size is HUGE!  I'll post the recipe for this and link it up on the tab bar later - I'm a wee bit pressed for time!

Before...

After...

Mmmm!!!

"My girlfriend makes the best noms!"

And because I officially start work in 60 seconds, I'm just going to give you a teaser of all the other wonderful food we ate this weekend and that I will post recipes for later on! (More hours in the day, please?)

Pita breakfast pizzas...  160 calories for TWO! They were awesome!

No recipe really needed here, but it was the perfect lunch (on the fine china, lol) to eat in the sunshine on Sunday!  The melon was sweet and delicious and the cucumbers were crisp and fresh and cool... ahhhhh!

This meal was one of my absolute favorites so far!  New Orlean's rubbed chicken, apricot mustard sauce and a spinach/arugula salad with apples, jicama, blackberries and a raspberry-lime poppyseed vinegarette.  OMG... so....good...and so good for you!

Weigh in is just around the corner!

And I wonder how we'll fare this week... I've wanted to step on the scale the entire week, and I often look for it in the bathroom, but to no avail.  After weigh in on Sunday I handed Nathan, my 6 year old son, and told him "Hide the scale where Mom and Lacy won't find it...but remember where it is!" I haven't been able to find it...let's hope he remembers where he stuck it! Although if it's in that child's room, well you'd have better luck finding a needle in Tsunami stricken Japan.

Yesterday as a whole was a disasterous day.  Filled with anger and tears and downright emotional madness.  And not for any specific reason. I just went a bit haywire.  But after I let it all out, I got up and made dinner... it was pretty fab.

Almond crusted salmon filets.  A first in both the making of salmon and the eating of it (that counts anyways).  Lacy loves salmon and she said this was phenomenal!  I thought it was pretty good too...though when it comes to fish, nothing beats fresh-caught beer battered bass at 5AM.

It was easy - I ground up the almonds, fresh cilantro, some garlic cloves and olive oil, spread it on the salmon and badda-bing...delicious fishness!  Carrots, zucchini, tomatoes and yellow peppers - I cheated, they're Green Giant, I just microwaved them.  The bread is half of a whole wheat sandwich thin with a bit of spray butter, garlic powder and parmesean chese on it baked...you need some bread with fish.  It was filling, and good for us!

No idea what's on the menu for tonight.  I just ate mushrooms for the first time in my life (willingly, anyway...)

Our weigh-in is on Sunday and I think that Lacy will probably beat me this go-round simply because she has had some really intensely low calorie days, skipping meals, etc... At least I take comfort in knowing that I am doing this for sustainability and I could win the weigh in if I didn't eat, but come on, the food is so awesome, I've gotta eat! And I want to, because this is a lifestyle change, not a diet, damn it!

Under calories. Maybe it's all those paper punches I've been nomming on?

I never thought I would hear myself say this, but I'm never hungry, and I'm not eating enough calories!  I'm sure I'll fin the balance, but for the time being, it's hard! I'm actually eating under 1,200 calories a day, when my goal is to eat 1,300.  And as handy as myfitnesspal.com is, it yells at me a lot.  I did some research and approximated my percentage of calories I should have coming from carbs/fats/proteins and I get pretty close to hitting my marks pretty equally.  Although days like today are weird.  I have a negative amount of fat left, a few carbs, and a decent amount of protein. I am usually way under on fat but today involves homemade almond crusted salmon filets for dinner.  So I have these calories left to eat so I go above 1,200 but what in the hell is around 200 calories, fat free, low carb and suber high in protein? Mystery foods. 

Speaking of... come find me on myfitnesspal.com, friend me, and lets support each other!  Under the "Community" tab, click "Find Members" and enter my email address: istoleyourgoat@yahoo.com

(Don't ask where I got the email, I don't have an explaination for you...it just popped out of my head one day.)

I'm still struggling hard core with finding time to get work outs in and have resigned myself to the idea that the only time I'm going to have is going to be before work, getting up earlier, and extending my already long day by about an hour.  It's going to mean sacrificing relaxing time at night and most nights it will mean sacrificing intimate time or shared time with Lacy...but with the life I lead, something is going to have to give, at least for now, and that's the only place I can take it from.  Go to bed earlier, eat up earlier.  I have no motivation or desire left after about 6PM, so doing it after the kid goes to bed is out of the question.  I have mixed feelings on this subject.  I fear it may improve my health, but it may hinder my relationship and cause even more stress than there already is between Lacy and I if I am back to going to bed at 9-10pm.  There just aren't enough hours in the day!

Last night we had a late dinner of chicken satay with peanut sauce, roasted green beans and cottage cheese (I was low on protein but ok on everything else).

Today has nothing remarkable food-wise yet, high hopes for the almond encrusted salmon later.  For breakfast I ate oatmeal and mashed banana out of a red Solo cup while driving to work, and a pita with mustard, turkey, spinach, cherry tomato and fat free cheese with an apple for lunch. 

It's been a frustrating day, I'm feeling low, tired...and to fill you in just on how my day is going, so far, I think this picture says it all:

I was eating my mid-morning snack of greek yogurt, peaches and granola....and paper punches.  Friday? I'm ready for you!

Holy carrot cake, Batman!

Yesterday my son had a dental emergency and wound up with two baby root canals and silver crowns. 

I attempted a hurried breakfast, I think I ate a piece of leftover pork tenderloin and cottage cheese, I didn’t get much in the way of lunch before heading out – string cheese and granola.  Three hours at the dentist, another two at the grocery store.  Dinner was late and it was so hot out I could barely stand to eat half of my turkey and swiss sandwich.  So my calories were way too low yesterday.

I spent more money on groceries last night than I ever have before.  I got to the checkout and nearly peed my pants! I had made a menu and a shopping list for one week and by the time I got done, this was my cart.

$329, after nearly $20 in coupons.  It’s hard to eat healthy and cheap when you’re starting out.  We have none of the spices or vinegars or all of that stuff, so even though the recipe calls for two teaspoons of toasted sesame oil, you have to buy the whole $6.50 bottle.  As upsetting as the grand total is, it’s really an investment in our future, one that will hopefully pay off big time.  Plus, I can’t squawk too much when we were spending about that on eating out every paycheck.  And some of the meals should make enough to freeze leftovers, like the beefless beef-barley stew I’m going to attempt. Still, when you’re living hand-to-mouth, $329 seems like a lot to spend on groceries in one place! And I didn’t even get tomatoes because they were icky at Cub!

Even though yesterday was less than desirable food-wise, was certainly not a bust – I made General Tso’s chicken with spring vegetables thrown in over brown rice.  It’s definitely a must-make-again dish! So good! And I ate all my vegetables, and liked it! I think if I just threw some sauce on those veggies I could do that more often!

I haven’t been sleeping well again, up late, waking early, with broken fitful sleep in between.  I have decided that my big goal for next week is to cut down to 1 energy drink a day, the next week to half and by the end of May to be caffeine-free.  I kicked soda to the curb, I can go all the way, baby!

I made my first dessert and it got rave reviews! I was responsible for bringing treats for our monthly meeting this month. So I searched and searched.  I found a good recipe and then I improved on that even further.  So I made a carrot cake late last night. 

Then I realized this morning, the meeting is next week! Doh! But I brought it in anyway, stopping to feed a piece to Kevvin on the way in this morning.  I was told at work today that it was “amazing!” and “Oh my god that’s delicious!” and ‘It looks and tastes like it came from a fancy bakery!”  It even held up against the expensive bakery cakes this afternoon when the firm brought in birthday treats! And those comments all came from people who had no idea it was a modified, healthier recipe! I like compliments, but I had to know for sure – so I tasted…and omg yum! It was moist, flavorful, and just about divine! I’ll be posting that recipe later tonight, with nutrition facts, of course (cause I don’t have it here!).

No idea what’s on the menu for dinner tonight, it’s going to be a late evening because we’ve got an appointment at the couples’ counselor.

One week down...and the "loser" is...

ME! That's right! Score one for the Red Team! At the end of the first week, Lacy weighed in at 242.4, for a loss of an even 5 pounds! I weighed in at 235.0, for a loss of 5.6 lbs!

Honestly, I was mildly dicouraged.  I know I could have seen even a greater first week loss would I have included more exercise in my week.  5.6 lbs might seem like a lot or "unhealthy" because they say 2.0 lbs a week for steady, healty weight loss - but your initial losses are going to be higher when you have a bajillion pounds to lose.  Trust me, this 5.6 pounds is not noticeable, anywhere.  I just felt like I could have boosted the number last week and I failed at that.

So, this week, I am aiming for exercise every day.  Lacy and I just got in to a little tiff because she said she is going to do "at least one" Jillian Micheals' 30 Day Shred work out every day. She tried to pressure me in to the same thing.  "They're only 20 minutes..." Well, be that as it may, I'm starting out the way I need to.  Not to be on a crash routine I can't sustain just to win next week's weigh in.  I want to start slow and train my body, work up to it's healthiest.  I want to build a lifestyle I CAN sustain!  If that means getting my body more limber with a few weeks of yoga and walking before I dive in to a bajillion Jillian workouts a day, then that's what I'm going to do. Right now, 30DS is hard for me... I quit halfway through.  It discourages me and I don't want to do it or anything else for that matter.  I need to start slow and not expect myself to finsih multiple 30DS workouts a day or I'm going to get disappointed, discouraged and give up.  Not what I want to set myself up for!

This weekend was hard.  Saturday my son had a friend over for the entire day, and my nerves were about frazzled! An ice cold beer or 12 sounded fab after that! But I didn't.  I moved furniture and cleaned all day.  Went shopping with my ex-husband, and let my mom take the extremely dirty little kid out to dinner at 10PM (passing up her invitation to take me anywhere I wanted to go as a Mother's Day present.) 

Nathan (in what once was a white t-shirt) and his buddy Zach, showing me their dirty muddy hands!

Mother's Day sucked.  Lacy and I fought, we ran out of veggies, I was tempted with homemade turkey dinner, cheesy potatoes, gravy, etc. by my Grandpa.... I made it but it's not a day I wish to repeat.  Today is another sucktastic day foodwise, eating remnants of whatever is in the fridge, because I can't get shopping until tomorrow night... so two days, or it will be three, I suppose, with little if any veggies. Boo. 

Oh, AND, Aunt Flo came to visit.  I swear I got on Mother Nature's shit list some how...

There was some good food in there this weekend.... like:

Chicken with grilled zucchini, carrots, yellow peppers and tomato, and spicy sweet potato fries (yum!)

This 1 egg, 2 egg white omelet packed with spinach, garlic, yellow peppers and cherry tomatoes and FF American cheese! It was delish!

I'ev been doing well on the water intake - getting at least my 8 glasses a day, more often than not more!  It has been OVER TWO WEEKS since I last had a soda! No more Diet Coke! That habit was harder to quit than even smoking was!  I still have an energ drink every day, but I have to have something!



Vegetables are hard!

Vegetables are hard! Why did no one make me eat them as a child?! Seriously. The only veggies we ever ate growing up were canned corn and canned green beans. Now I'm an adult and vegetables make me gag. No, I'm not kidding you. I'm technically up to three vegetables not-from-cans that I can eat without gagging - and as embarrassing as it is, it really happens. I like spinach. Tomato. Zucchini. That's it.  I will eat carrots if they are cooked to mush and mixed with something else.  I have a really hard time with texture...that crunchy, doesn't feel like I will ever chew it enough to swallow it thing, yeah, can't do that.   Therefore, I prefer vegetables cooked.  Prefer isn't even the right word....I will have a better mindset going in to it if they're cooked....And lettuce? Is the most bitter, disgusting thing in the whole world! BLAH!

I was disappointed with my lunch - the leftover turkey tenderloin just didn't do it for me today.  So I wanted something super awesome and still healthy and low cal for dinner.  SWEET POTATO FRIES! I grilled chicken and sliced up some veggies - zucchini, yellow peppers, baby carrots, and yellow tomato and threw those on the grill in foil as well.  The zucchini was alright, good even, the peppers, doable, the carrots were still too crunchy, and the tomato just mushed into all the other veggies. The spicy chipotle baked sweet potato fries were so good! 140 calories, 4g of fat - perfect!

Before:

After:

See, that's not too bad, considering my disdain for veggies...  It brought two things to mind.

1) I have not been hungry once.  I have been under my 1300 calories every day.  At this point I was still only at about 1,000 calories, total, and I was so full I couldn't finish my yummy fries!  I eat 5 or 6 times a day, usually 3 meals, 2 snacks, sometimes 3, depending on if I have too many calories left after dinner still - then I have some protein before bed as well.




and...

2) This girl has to find a way to LIKE vegetables and not gag!  Tell me your favorite way to eat vegetables and what vegetables they are... preferably prepared healthily- no insane cheese sauces with 500 calories and 46 grams of fat - yeah, even I would like broccoli like that!



Help!! I have to figure out this vegetable thing if I'm going to beat Lacy's ass in the Biggest Loser competition!



It's Friday night and I've had a relatively emotional and shitty day (all I wanted to do was come home and drink beer until I was happy drunk, but I didn't! I resisted and for that, I rock).  I should work out, but I tripped over the computer cord earlier and hurt the foot I happen to have a screw in, putting that much pressure on it and doing yoga tonight would probably make me cry. So, instead, I'm going to call Lacy, say goodnight, hit the hay and wake up early tomorrow and get a jump on the day with some yoga. And a green monster, perhaps, jump on those veggies that don't taste like ass and/or make me want to vomit.