Day 23 - Going to Bed

Every day I look back and realize there were several things I forgot to post about.  Here are the ones from today (that I remember):



1. For lunch I tried a new frozen meal.  It was the Chicken and Vegetable Potsticker by Eating Right.  It was pretty gross.  I am pretty sure there were gross chunks of yellow egg in the rice.  If I had known about the egg chunks I would not have purchased it.  But that wasn't the only reason I disliked it.  The postickers were gummy and the rice/veggy mix was gross.  The sauce that was poured over the potstickers was also pretty gross.  I will not be ordering that one again.



2. Today I finally went over the 10lbs lost mark.  That means I finally get one of my "prizes"!!  My brother gave me a $50 gift card to Target for my birthday (which was on May 4th).


 I think I might use it to buy a cute new gym outfit.  I also REALLY need some new gym shoes.  I might go to the local mall for a new pair.  I am also in desperate need of a manicure.  That gel shit really destroyed my nails.  Usually my nails are long and strong.  They are now insanely short and keep peeling down the middle...OUCH!  There are so many options to choose from.



3. I ended up eating dessert tonight.  I could have gone without it but I felt like I needed to raise my daily calorie intake...WOW...RAISE my daily calorie intake.  Never thought I'd be saying that.  lol



4. I was thinking of trying to wake up early tomorrow morning to go for a run.  I LOVE early morning runs.  When you start your run it's still dark and you get to watch the sun come up.  By the time you're finished the sun it starting to rise and everyone is starting to wake up.  It is my favorite time of the day.



5. I noticed the cup of oatmeal I ate a couple days ago has about half of the calories of the cereal I eat every day.  That is solely because I have two servings of cereal and one serving of oatmeal.  I only need one serving of oatmeal because it's so filling.  I think I'll try oatmeal with a side of fruit tomorrow (if I remember).



6. Once again I wasn't able to make the new recipes I wanted.  I forgot I had to go to the drug store, grocery store, and Kaiser to pick up a prescription.  We finally got home at 8:00pm and I was starving!!  I was so hungry after the gym (my second trip to the gym) and I was worried I might make a bad decision if I waited until dinner to eat something.  The problem was, I didn't have time to stop anywhere.  While waiting (45 minutes!!) at Kaiser to pick up my prescription I decided to go to the car and pop open the bag of baby carrots I bought at the store.  Those satisfied me until we got home and I made dinner (chili for the kids and another frozen meal for myself).



Okay, I think that's it.  I sure I will think of more as soon as I close my laptop but it is 11:01pm and I need to get to bed, especially if I want to get up at 5:00am to go for a run.  Good night everyone...talk to you tomorrow.  xoxo

Day 23 - Evening Update

Holy jeezus batman. I was WAY under my daily calories for yesterday. I netted only 678 calories (1,024 - 346 from exercise). The app I use it track my daily caloric intake warned me that I was at risk for putting my body in starvation mode which slows your metabolism. 

As for today... I left my clients at 3:30pm and was wishing I had waited to go to the gym. Then a thought occurred... I could go to the gym AGAIN. That's right...I went to the gym TWICE today. If my calories were low yesterday they're definitely going to be low today. Guess I'll be able to have dessert after all. :)

I just finished dinner and afterwards I calculated my net calories for the day. Today I've netted only 476 calories!!! (1,104 - 628 from exercise). I am stuffed and don't really feel like dessert but maybe I should have some. I really don't want my metabolism to slow because I'm not eating enough. 

Alright...I have to make sure my kids take showers before they go to bed. I may write another post later or I may just go to bed. xoxoxo 

2nd WEEKLY WEIGH- IN

I lost another 3.4 pounds!!! Woo hoo!!! I am finally below the 170 mark and starting to get back to my normal overweight weight.

5/6/14- Starting weight: 178.8
5/10/14 - Weigh-in #1: 176.6
5/14/14 - Weigh-in #2: 173.8
5/21/14 - Weigh-in #3: 170.0
5/28/14 - Weigh-in #4: 166.6

Total weight lost: 12.2 pounds

Once again I am not sure if the Alli pills I'm taking contributed to some of the weight loss and once again I don't really care. The Alli pills help keep me on track. If I hadn't been taking them I would have probably cheated on my diet several times the first week. The only way to truly know if they are working is to stop taking them and see if my weight loss slows. According to reviews I've read on Alli it does look like that will happen. Maybe down the line I'll scale back and see what happens... But for now I'm enjoying losing around 3 lbs a week.

I am not sure what the plan is for today. I have a client I see every other Wednesday. This is the Wednesday I would normally see them except they just moved and I'm not sure what the new schedule is yet. I have a feeling I'll be driving up to their house today to pick up files to work on at my office. I would really like to go to the gym today and get back into my normal gym routine but I'm not sure if my schedule will permit it. If I am working with this client, I'll see when they want to meet. If it's around 11am or 12pm I can go to the gym beforehand. If they want to meet earlier, around 10am I might be able to go to the gym afterwards. We'll just have to wait and see.

Meal plan for today:

I at breakfast already: Special K cereal

Lunch: Frozen meal or Subway sando

Dinner: New chicken recipe with a side of rice and veggies

When I find a recipe I really like ill post some pics of the dish with the link to the recipe and nutritional info. Out of the four new recipes I found yesterday I'm hoping at least one of them is a winner.

Time to sign off. I really hope I can make it to the gym this morning. I feel great from my weigh-in this morning and I would love to use this positive energy and mojo to burn some extra calories.

Have a great day everyone. xoxo

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 22 - Bed Time

I started writing a couple posts today but didn't have time to finish them.  It's now 10:20pm and I have to go to bed.  I figured I would come on here really quick and write out a quick recap of how today went.

I am happy to report that I was able to make it to the gym today for a quick work out.  The facilities had two ancient elliptical machines one of which was broken.  The other one worked okay and it kicked my ass.  I don't know what was different about this machine but it got my heart rate up and by the end of my 30 minutes workout I was sweating and about to collapse.  I then did ten minutes on the treadmill. 5 of which were to cool down.  I stretched for 10 minutes and then finished my work out with a few ab reps.

After a quick shower I hurried back upstairs to the office to make my lunch.  I was famished.  I tried to eat a snack before my workout, but since my workout was so late in the afternoon (2pm-3pm) it barley helped.  I only ended up eating 3/4 of my Three Cheese Ziti meal.  I felt full but hungry.  I think it has something to do with losing ellectrolytes while working out.  I have been extremely thirsty during my workouts and have been downing around 40-60 ounces of water during my sweat-fest.  Today I bought a couple jugs of Gatorade which I think may help.

For dinner tonight I was trying to decide between two new chicken recipes.  I got all the ingredients to make both at the grocery store.  Unfortunately when I got home I realized one of the recipes took 5 hours to make (the chicken had to marinate for 4 hours) and the other took 2 hours to make.  It was already almost 8pm and I had to feed my kids so I opted for making tacos instead.  The were delicious but I need to find some other dishes that are tasty before my kids start getting sick of having tacos several nights a week.

I am also happy to report that tonight was the first night (I think) that I did not have dessert after dinner.  Every night I either eat a Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich or 1-2 Snack Wells cookies.  Tonight I felt full but still had a minor craving for dessert.  I decided I would try to hold off.  About 30 minutes went by and I was still debating on whether or not I should eat a cookie.  I then remembered that tomorrow is my weekly WEIGH-IN and I said "forget it" to eating dessert, after all I am full and don't "need" to eat dessert.

I am very proud of myself and am still feeling great.  I feel like I have been doing really well over the past 22 days...let's just hope the scale agrees tomorrow.

Alright, I'm going to bed now.  Good night everyone.  xoxo

Day 22 - Morning Check-In

It is always so hard to wake up early after a nice long three day weekend.  This morning I snoozed my alarm several times before finally rolling out of bed.  

I haven't had breakfast yet this morning and it's awesome.  I usually wake up starving but the last two days have been different.  Yesterday I woke up and was only mildly hungry.  This morning I wasn't hungry at all.  I'm starting to get pretty hungry but I've already been up for 2.5 hours.  

When I first started my diet I felt hungry all of the time.  Eventually that subsided a little but I still had cravings at night and was feeling extremely hungry when I woke up in the morning.  By the second week my night time cravings started to calm down and now that we are in the third week, my morning hunger has calmed down as well.  My body is definitely getting adjusted to this new lifestyle.  I am happy I didn't give in during the first week (which was the hardest part so far).

I have to get going. I want to get to my client's early so I have time to take a long lunch and hit the gym facilities they have.  The last time I went to the gym was Friday (today is Tuesday!) and I am dying to get back to my normal workout routine.

Hope everyone has a great day!!

P.S.  Tomorrow is my next weigh-in!!  I am very excited but also a bit nervous.  I can't wait to see where I am at.  :)

Day 21 - Evening Update

It's around 7:00pm and I took a break from cleaning to come on here to write a quick post and then I'm off to make dinner.  As much as I wanted to go paddle boarding today, I didn't want to put off cleaning until later or possibly even next weekend.  As much as I am a fan of being on the water and getting exercise I can't put off my responsibilities.  I have spent the entire day cleaning and I am happy I did.  I feel like I accomplished something today which feels great.

For dinner tonight I am going to do something simple.  It is incredibly hot in our house and I am all sweaty from cleaning all day.  The last thing I feel like doing is turning on the oven or cooking in front of an open flame.  I think I'll make the kids some mac & cheese or maybe even some Top Ramen.  For myself, I will have another micro-meal with a side of fresh veggies (I am so many to choose from I am not sure what I'll have yet).

This is been a great weekend.  I don't ever want to go back to my old life style.  I feel great, have tons of energy, and feel healthier...losing weight is an added benefit to all of that.  I want to keep documenting how good I feel so that I can keep reminding my future self to NOT go off this awesome diet:

Dear Fat Self,
One day you may wake up and think "I don't need to diet anymore, I can lose weight with exercise alone".  Or maybe you fall off the wagon and binge on pizza, burgers, ice cream, and candy.  Or maybe you slowly stop going to the gym because you're too busy and then you lose all your motivation to stay with the healthy diet...  Whatever the reason is DO NOT GIVE UP.  Nobody's perfect and people make mistakes.  When you eat healthy and exercise you feel GREAT,  much better than you usually do.  You have more energy to do fun things with your kids and you and your kids are SO MUCH HAPPIER!!  Do not forgot that.  Look back at these posts and remember how awesome you were feeling.  You may hit a rut one day and you may think about giving up...DON'T.  Just take it one day at a time and you will be okay.
Sincerely,
Your Healthier Self

Day 21 - Three Weeks Yay

Today is my three week anniversary on my diet. I am feeling good and very stoked I've made it to week three.

I'm not sure what we're going to do today. I really feel like going stand up paddle boarding but I'm also kind of tired. It's been a very busy weekend. I have some housework I need to do and I also need to clean my car.

Before my diet every weekend I would wake up and start watching TV.  All I wanted to do was lounge around all day and relax.  I was mentally and physically tired and I needed time to recover after a long week of work.  If we had plans during the weekend, instead of being excited to go do something fun I wished I could just stay home and laze around.  Never having energy sucked and I felt like a fat lazy blob.  Ever since I started my new diet I am energized and feel great.  I woke up this morning and started watching House on Netflix.  After watching two episodes I became bored and wanted to get up and go do something.  That is such a change from how things used to be and it is awesome.  Having a pedometer also really helps.  You want to move around so that you get a lot of steps in during the day.

For lunch today I am going to have one of my Three Cheese Ziti mirco-meals.  After lunch I will decide what we're going to do today.  Whether I end up doing housework or end up going stand up paddle boarding, both are better than lying around on my ass all day.

I also realized something last night.  My daily calorie max was wrong.  The app I was using to track my daily calorie intake was set on losing one pound a week instead of two.  That is why it on 1,360/day.  When I updated the goal settings to losing two pounds a week it lowered to 1200 calories per day.  It was easy eating below 1,360 calories, eating below 1200 may be a bit of a challenge, especially at first.

Alright...time for some lunch.  Will check back in later.  :)