Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Not quite a size 8 yet...lol

I am finally back after a long absence. It has been a really rough few months...I seriously fell "off the wagon" but I need to get back on track. I cannot do much in the way of exercise because my back problem came back with a venegance, so I'm trying some very gentle yoga and I'm going to try riding my exercise bike, too. I'm taking an herbal medication called Zyflamend, which is a combination of eight herbs that has been compared in effectiveness to presrciption drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex. Hopefully it works.

Anyway, here is what I have had so far today -

Breakfast:
Two slices of toast with margarine, coffee with sugar-free Coffee Mate

Lunch:
One small apple, one ounce of shaved parmesan cheese; one handful (approx. 10) almonds, iced tea

I'll post dinner and snackies later. Right now I'm planning on having spinach and cheese ravioli for dinner (no sauce, just sprinkled with grated parmesan and Italian herbs) and a spinach salad. I'll probably have baked Lays for a snack this evening.

That's all for now...:)

Friday, April 14, 2006

Getting Serious

Okay, I've been goofing around for too long...it's time for me to get serious here. My first excuse was that I didn't have the right food in the house. Then it was my birthday. Then it was my weekend vacation in Columbus. Now it's Easter.

But Easter will be over Sunday. And then there will be no more excuses...no birthdays coming up on which to have a piece of cake (with the most frosting, of course), no parties or out-of-town weekends to use as reasons not to follow a healthy eating plan.

I have leftover money from my weekend trip - I'm going to go to the grocery store and stock up on what I need to eat healthy. I'm going to follow The FIRM's 30-Day Diet as closely as possible, making subsitutions for foods I don't like or that may be inconvenient (such as cooking something for lunch, since I don't get lunches at work).

No more excuses...if other people who are far heavier and far busier than I am can do it, then so can I.

Another Thought of the Day

And once again it is from Laura from The FIRM:

"It IS important to focus on long term results, but is equally important to enjoy the journey in getting there. I know it is incredibly hard to change life-long habits, and to make choices that are very different than you are used to making; however, I also know that if you make one little positive adjustment in your thinking, you will be able to see your journey in a whole new, and wonderful, light.

If you will take a minute to recognize the enormouos potential and power that are in your hands, and then you take the next minute to decide how you want to use them, you can do anything you want to accomplish. If you will acknowledge to yourself that every step you make in the right direction is worthwhile, and then congratulate yourself on making that step, you will gain confidence and pleasure throughout your entire journey.

You know you will love it when you reach the end of your journey, but why wait to love that?? Love that you are on the journey. Love that you are living the journey. Love that you are able to make the journey. Most importantly love yourself for even thinking about the journey -- you chose to do this, ENJOY it!
"

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Better day

Today was better than yesterday but for some reason I'm having a really hard time sticking to a healthy eating plan. My mind is set but I find myself doing what I call "mindless eating," which is when you eat something without even realizing what you are eating. Then you have an "Oh crap! I didn't want to eat that!!!" moment.

But so far today:

Breakfast - Southwestern Egg Scramble (my own recipe!! - Egg Beaters to equal 2 eggs, low-fat shredded cheddar cheese, salsa); coffee

Lunch (yes, I actually ate lunch today) - A grilled cheese sandwich made with two slices whole grain bread, 1 tbsp margarine and two slices of low-fat American pasturized processed cheese food.

Dinner will be homemade pizza, made with pizza sauce, low-fat mozzarella cheese, pepperoni slices, onions and mushrooms. I will probably have a yogurt and some fruit (either grapes or an apple...or both) for a snack this evening while watching the Wings game.

No workout tonight - I twisted my ankle yesterday in the parking lot at work and while it's not swollen or bruised, it does hurt and I'm kind of limping. I'll see how it feels tomorrow and if it's still bugging me I'll do some upper body work.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Not a good day

Today was not good...I won't go into details but suffice it to say I won't get any awards for Sticking to My Diet.

No pita chips today at the store in the building so I opted for Combos. Had to eat them early because of a conference call so after the call I was still hungry so down to the store I go again for...another bag of Combos. Dinner was spaghetti and sauce - not bad, unless you do what my mom did and put chunks of kielbasa in the sauce.

But tomorrow is another day (thank you Scarlett O'Hara) so I'll just pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again.

BTW - Work = CRAP 'Nuff said. >:P

Monday, April 10, 2006

I'm BACK!

I'm back from my mini-vacation to Columbus...I had an absolute BLAST!!! Best time I've had on vacation in a long time. Met some really cool, fun people and of course got to see the Wings...a lot!

I did not stick to any sort of eating plan, other than the plan to just eat whatever I felt like. It was, after all, a vacation and my birthday celebration as well. Really, though, it turned out to not be so bad because we really only ate one "meal" a day. Although would not want to see what the calorie count on the Long Island Iced Tea I had on Friday night was...it was huge.

Anyway, today is the day to get back on track. So far so good:

Breakfast - Two slices of toast with margarine; coffee with fat free cream and Splenda

Snack - French vanilla cappuccino from Tim Horton's

That's all thus far today. We're having meatballs and gravy for dinner tonight. The meatballs are made with lean ground beef and the gravy is fat-free. I think we're having salad, too. I'll finish my food diary for today later on tonight.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

A Good Birthday

You know, despite giving myself a break for my birthday, I did pretty good:

Breakfast - Two slices of toast with low-fat peanut butter and honey; coffee

Lunch - A bag of pita chips (6g fat, 130 calories) and a 20 oz. bottle of Diet Rite (no calories)

Dinner - Three manicotti (each about 4 in. long and 1 in. wide, filled with ground beef and various cheeses, topped with a homemade chunky tomato sauce); salad with Italian dressing; a 2 x 2 square of single-layer birthday cake (yellow cake with chocolate frosting); 6 oz. glass of red berry wine

Snack - A (slightly smaller) piece of birthday cake

I did not exercise, however; I'm not real happy with myself for not working out but to be honest, I forgot about it until around 10 PM and I wasn't going to do it then. So tonight I will try to get it in but I am going to be very busy this evening, as I am leaving for Columbus tomorrow morning. I have a short tape called Calorie Killer...if I have time I might try that one but it is, as the title suggests, a killer. If I can get through half of it I'll be happy.

Today so far I've done well:

Breakfast - Two slices of toast with margarine; coffee

Snack - A cupcake from Lloryn

Lunch - (coming up as soon as I post this) Pita chips and Diet Rite

My mom's making chicken and rice for dinner tonight; I'll probably have that with a salad. Not sure of what kind of snack I'll have tonight.

Anyway, that's it for now...got to get back to work.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Not Bad...

Today I did reasonably well with my food -

Breakfast - Omelet (made the same way as previous days), coffee w/Splenda and fat-free coffee cream

Lunch - none

Snack - Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte made with fat free milk, no whipped cream

Dinner - Turkey burger (ground turkey breast meat, onions and mushrooms) on a hamburger bun with Swiss cheese and lite mayonnaise, baked french fries

Snack - baked Cheetos

I did not exercise today because my back was sore and not letting me move very freely. However, I went to my chiropractor this afternoon and mentioned that I have begun working out with the FIRM. He said they are excellent workouts and his wife works out with them. He said she wasn't heavy or anything but that she really firmed up and has muscles now!! He encouraged me to continue with them, but he also said that if I feel that I need two days off between workouts, take two days and not feel guilty.

Tomorrow is my brithday so all bets are off - I'm going to go to T-Ho's and have a French Vanilla cappuccino on my way to work and I'm having my annual birthday dinner of manicotti and BIRTHDAY CAKE!! But I will work out in the evening. ;)

Monday, April 03, 2006

Thought of the Day

"If you are trying to lose weight, or trying to maintain weight loss, one of the best ways to ensure your success is to look at what your motivation is. Try to think beyond the obvious, albeit incredibly important, physical appearance reasons you want to do this. What is it that you really want?

Isn't it that you want to feel good? And, that you want to feel good about yourself? If you have these two things, then you have opened a whole new world of opportunities to focus on the things that matter most to you in your life: your family, your health, your career, ..... your freedom!

Find your motivation, and then set your mind for accomplishment. Focus on what you want and why, and then go for it. Everyday."

~Laura, FIRM Instructor

Sunday, April 02, 2006

So-so

I did okay today...didn't really follow the "eating programme" (I'm not too keen on calling it a "diet" because the word alone represents deprivation) mostly because I realized I do have to go out and buy some things.

However, I was pretty good:

Breakfast - Omelet made with 1/2 cup Egg Beaters (equivalent to two eggs), Canadian bacon, onions, low-fat shredded cheddar cheese and Tabasco sauce, cooked in Pam; leftover coffee from yesterday's trip to Dunkin Donuts

Lunch - About a dozen grapes

Dinner - Lean Cuisine Sesame Chicken entree; 8 oz. glass of milk

Snack (at the Mechanics game) - Soft pretzel; cappuccino

Snack (at home) - About 12 baked Cool Ranch Doritos

I also drank two cups of tea (made with Splenda and fat-free coffee cream) and probably three 12 oz. glasses of water.

The reason I only had grapes for lunch is that I had to eat dinner early (like 3:30) because I was going to the Mechanics game, which started at 5 PM, the time I would normally be eating dinner. It is also the reason I had two evening snacks.

I'm not too sore today from yesterday's workout, but I know that generally it hits the second day so I'm expecting to feel it tomorrow. But I'm still going to work out. Also, my back is fine today...nothing more than my usual annoying low-grade soreness.

I'm feeling a bit peckish now, but it's late so I might have a few grapes before I go to bed, but nothing else.

Oh. My. God.

I can't believe I did the whole thing..."Complete Aerobics and Weight Training," that is. Yup, I did the whole DVD!!! :D Of course I had to stop and rest a couple of times and wasn't able to do all the footwork properly, but I did it!! And the even better news is my back held out. It hurts now, though, but tomorrow's a rest day.

So no measurements tonight...I'm too tired. *yawn* Time to put the Fanny Lifter away and go to bed...

Saturday, April 01, 2006

The Goal List

My measurements will be coming this evening...I'll try to do pics too.

Today I didn't do too bad on my diet...I'll go into more detail later about exactly what kind of eating programme I'm following. I didn't really follow it so much today because I'm really anal about starting things on Sundays. LOL I had two slices of toast with margarine and coffee for breakfast (coffee with fat free coffee cream and Splenda); I skipped lunch because I was getting my hair done but I bought a coffee at Dunkin Donuts on my way home (Coffee Mate and Splenda); and made an omelet for dinner with three egg whites, one yolk, low-fat shredded cheddar cheese, onions, hot sauce and Canadian Bacon. I'm not sure what I will have for a snack but we have some really good grapes in the fridge, and I will probably have a cuppa this evening, too.

Here's my list of rewards - I'm not going to do it by pounds...at least not yet, since I'm not weighing myself. I know approximately what I weigh and I don't need a scale to tell me I weigh more than some professional football players. I'm going to do it by sizes. The most recent pair of dress pants I bought (last weekend at JCPenney) are a size 22 WP. So, using that pair of dress pants as a guide, here is my list:

Drop one size (20WP) -
two new FIRM DVD's
Drop two sizes (18 WP) - a professional manicure

*At this point I will weigh myself. This will be my "ground zero" so to speak*

20 pounds - new workout shoes
35 pounds -
real pearl earrings (6-7 MM pearls)
50 pounds - A day at a spa
65 pounds - three new FIRM DVD's (there are enough that I don't have!!)
80 pounds - new workout clothes + 2 new FIRM DVD's
95 pounds - a genuine gemstone pendant necklace or ring
GOAL WEIGHT (or GOAL SIZE, whichever comes first) -

1. A swimsuit (depending on time of year I reach my goal, this one may have to wait a few months)
2. A pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes
3. A Kate Spade handbag (over $250)
4. A weekend in Chicago

I know that last one is going to be an expensive one, and I may not be able to do all of it at once, but I figure since I'm looking at losing 100+ pounds, I DESERVE IT!!!

More later...

Thursday, March 30, 2006

And so it begins...on April 1st

Okay, so here it is...the first post of my blog. Nothing much to say right now, other than I will take photos of myself and measurements over the weekend - I am loath to weigh myself so I won't, at least not until I lose some weight and start fitting into my old clothes again. Then I will weigh myself so it won't be quite as much of a shock.

Officially I don't start this thing until April 1 anyway so I think I will enjoy my Starbucks Mocha Lattes while I still can...lol