Weigh-in for 7.27- 277.8, up 0.4 pounds. I need to catch this before it turns into some real damage.
I’ve decided I need a little more honesty on this blog, for accountability. It’s not that I’ve been dishonest, or lied about anything, which I haven’t, but I also haven’t really detailed what has happened when I’ve taken a step off the wagon, or how far I’ve gotten. I know if I have to write down what I eat and share it with others, it’s going to be a pretty big deterrent for eating a lot. At least that’s what I’m hoping it’ll be. A couple of months ago, I said I’d write down what I eat, every day, and I haven’t been. I am going to put a little “disclaimer” at the bottom to ask people to not comment on the foods I eat. If it’s bad, believe me, I know it and I beat myself up enough without having someone read my blog and tell me what I’m doing wrong. I really do know. Thank you for your support though; it really is appreciated. So here goes.
The last two days haven’t really been very good, eating-wise. What is it that makes a person heat two burritos up, and eat them, and then heat up two more, and take another bite of burrito and another, all the while, telling themselves that they aren’t hungry; they don’t need to eat more; their stomach is starting to hurt; you’re going to be miserable pretty soon. I said all those things to myself last night, in a pitiful attempt to stop eating. I also made a box of Pastaroni and ate it. I know, what was going on?
I don’t know for sure, but I’ve got a good guess. Jeff had his clinicals last night and was gone until 11:40PM. I was definitely feeling lonely, and a little bit down, and a little irritated at something my sister had done earlier that day, and it took me back to my habits of 6 or 7 years ago. Literally, I felt as if I had gone back in time; I was 20 or 21 again, living on my own in a quiet dark house, depressed and lonely and eating so much that I don’t know how I didn’t expect to get to 315 pounds in 6-ish years. Wanting to lose weight and be thin and happy, but not exercising or making any actual effort to do so.
It was really depressing to me. Even writing about it makes me hurt. Those were such miserable years.
Well, to grab myself by the seat of my pants, and give myself the proverbial kick in the butt, I searched the house high and low last night, looking for my “Beck Diet Solution” book. I finally found it, and realized had I stopped and thought about where I had it last, it wouldn’t have taken a 1 hour search. I pulled it out this morning, and read the introduction and days 1, 2 and 3. The Beck Diet Solution uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help change your thoughts, and help find ways to avoid mental sabotage when you’re trying to change your habits. The other two times I did it, or refreshed myself, my weight dropped more than any other time.
The first day’s job is to write my advantages to losing the weight. My reasons for taking up this lifelong journey of losing and maintaining my weight.
My reasons are:
1. Jeff may follow my example and lose weight. We may be able to get pregnant.
2. I want to run (actually run) a 5k.
3. I will be able to look at myself in a mirror without feeling disgusted or ashamed.
4. People will have no reason to discuss my weight, or catalog what I eat.
5. Shopping for clothes with my sister Lisa will be fun.
6. I’ll be hot in a bikini.
7. Dad will think I’m beautiful.
8. The seatbelt of my car won’t hurt where it presses into my side.
9. I’ll fit into an airplane seat.
I’ve actually re-done this book about 2 (3 now) times and each time, I write down my reasons for wanting to lose weight, and it’s kind of fun to see how they change after 6 or so months.
This part has always been a little hard; you’re kind of digging into emotions and feelings, and it’s a little draining, but I did finish it. On day 2, the job is to pick 2 dietary plans. I’m not using the word diet because that always seems short, like it will end. It won’t. I’m changing the way I eat, and I want something that will be sustainable forever if need be. The reason for 2 plans is that if you fail on the first, you have a plan B to fall back on, immediately, instead of stopping altogether because you gave up. Since I’m on weight watchers and feel like it’s a good match, I’ll be staying with it.
And for day 3, the job is to make a point of only letting yourself eat, if you’re sitting. When you’re cutting some cheese, for example, and cut yourself a slice, you’re going to be very aware of eating or not eating it, if you make yourself go to the dining room to sit down to eat that slice. This is one that I’ve struggled with the most, and never quite mastered, so I wrote it on my hand, as well as writing 3 response cards.
Example
THOUGHT: It’s ok if I eat standing up this one time. I’ll eat my next meal sitting down.
RESPONSE: “Just this one time” is not ok. I have to face the fact that I probably can’t lose weight and keep it off if I refuse to change my habit of eating while standing up.
OR
I enjoy spontaneous munching. I don’t want to stop eating while I’m standing.
RESPONSE: I need to sit down to eat. When I eat standing up, I just don’t notice what I’m eating. I could eat way too much and not realize it. I might not want to give up this behavior, but I’ll enjoy being thin much more.
The idea is that when I find myself struggling, it will help me to straighten myself out by reading the cards. It actually does work, and if you do all 6 weeks, it’s pretty well ingrained. The reason I fell back into my old habits is that through the last 6 months, I’ve slowly forgotten to use the cards if I felt I needed them, or stopped using the positive thoughts. This is what I’m going to work on.
Wow, this is longer than I had intended. I’ll finish up now.
7/28 dinner through 7/29 lunch
4 burritos
1 box pasta roni
2 C. watermelon
1 cheese stick
1 serving reduced fat wheat thins
1 C. chili
1 C. canned corn
Disclaimer: Please don’t comment on the foods I eat. When it’s bad, believe me, I know it and I beat myself up enough without having someone read my blog and tell me what I’m doing wrong. I really do know. Thank you for your support though; it really is appreciated.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Terrible weekend food-wise, but I'm cracking the whip!
This weekend actually turned out pretty nice weather-wise. We didn’t do very much, so it was pretty relaxing. On Saturday, we watched my niece and nephews for several hours, and had a great time. They played around in the kiddie pool and I sat on a blanket with Sienna and stayed cool in the shade. It was great! Here's a cute picture. Sienna, Gabriel and Sammy, left to right. Seriously, getting them all to look/ maybe smile at the camera at the same time is some tough work!
My eating was so definitely off this weekend, I don’t anticipate anything good at my weigh-in tomorrow evening. I did however, on Saturday, walk 4 miles and do 11 ½ minutes of strength and butt exercises. I think the butt exercises are paying off, because Jeff commented on it the other day, and I’m noticing a little difference too, I think.
On Sunday, we went to a graduation party for my cousin, which was a lot of fun, but again, my eating suffered. I decided it’s time to pull out my Beck diet book, which started this whole thing for me, over 9 months ago. When I really feel myself lapsing, I rev myself back up and on track by reading the book again. This time, I don’t have to get it from the library because a friend of mine bought me a copy when she bought herself one. YAY! For those who don’t know, the Beck Diet Solution works with any diet and uses a version of cognitive behavioral therapy to help teach you to change your habits. It really does work, but it is interactive and you have to be willing to put a few minutes each day into it. But it’s worth it! So I’m going to be getting on that. (Dangit, I just realized I left my book and notecards at home, so tonight I’ll be getting on that!)
Last of all, I’m really looking forward to this weekend. We’re going camping with my mom, 2 youngest sisters and brother, and my two other sisters with their husbands and kids and my aunt and uncle and their kids. Big group, but it’s really going to be a ton of fun! And we’re also going kayaking! This is one of those things on my bucket list, so I really can’t wait! I’ll try to get some pictures!
My eating was so definitely off this weekend, I don’t anticipate anything good at my weigh-in tomorrow evening. I did however, on Saturday, walk 4 miles and do 11 ½ minutes of strength and butt exercises. I think the butt exercises are paying off, because Jeff commented on it the other day, and I’m noticing a little difference too, I think.
On Sunday, we went to a graduation party for my cousin, which was a lot of fun, but again, my eating suffered. I decided it’s time to pull out my Beck diet book, which started this whole thing for me, over 9 months ago. When I really feel myself lapsing, I rev myself back up and on track by reading the book again. This time, I don’t have to get it from the library because a friend of mine bought me a copy when she bought herself one. YAY! For those who don’t know, the Beck Diet Solution works with any diet and uses a version of cognitive behavioral therapy to help teach you to change your habits. It really does work, but it is interactive and you have to be willing to put a few minutes each day into it. But it’s worth it! So I’m going to be getting on that. (Dangit, I just realized I left my book and notecards at home, so tonight I’ll be getting on that!)
Last of all, I’m really looking forward to this weekend. We’re going camping with my mom, 2 youngest sisters and brother, and my two other sisters with their husbands and kids and my aunt and uncle and their kids. Big group, but it’s really going to be a ton of fun! And we’re also going kayaking! This is one of those things on my bucket list, so I really can’t wait! I’ll try to get some pictures!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Plans are really good sometimes!
This week has been my most “on” week in the last 2 months! I’ve been eating better, and staying fairly well in my points range, and I’ve been exercising several times a week, about 5 actually. I did one of those older (but not hot pink spandex bodysuit old) jazzercise videos last night, and while it was totally cheesy, and the other trainers were so bouncy Jeff thought they were on crack, it was a really good workout. It used the resistance band a lot, which I really appreciated, and got my muscles really working! I felt really stupid while doing it, probably because Jeff was right there watching, but I did it!
For the last couple of days, I have actually tracked everything I’ve eaten. My only problem at this point is that I haven’t been tracking my evening meal until the next day. I know I haven’t skipped anything, or forgotten anything, but I know that it can be easy to forget something, so I’m working on writing it down while I make it again.
I was feeling totally stoked the other day. Jeff had a follow-up appointment for his finger, with his doctor who actually is a b*tch. Apparently he now has high blood pressure, and he was concerned that he may be diabetic, so they took a blood sample, but made him make another appointment for next week to go over the results. I’m a little irritated, because this is her usual pattern. Even though you could test his blood sugar in a matter of seconds, and hey, yes, it is high, she regularly makes him come in again. Every time he goes in to see her, it’s a two appointment thing because he has to “follow-up”, which a lot of times is definitely unnecessary. I really don’t like that woman.
Anyways, Jeff came home and asked me to help him to lose weight! So the next evening, we wrote out our weight loss goals, our diet plan, our exercise plan and our rewards. The best part is that we talked out our thoughts on each issue, so it’s an agreement of sorts, with both of our input. Neither of us can really disagree now, since it’s written down and agreed on. I particularly like our rewards. We did a 5 for $5; for every 5 pounds lost, we get $5. (Considering how low our allowances are right now, that’s a lot!) Number 2: When we collectively lose 50 pounds, we get an overnight trip to the beach. 3. When we have both lost half our total goal, we get a fancy dinner with champagne. (I don’t like to reward with food, since I have changed my perspective of it, and don’t want it to change to “I did something good so I get to eat”, however, we rarely go out anymore and especially not to fancy restaurants, so we both agreed it would be really nice.) Number 4: When each of us reaches ¾ of our weight gone, we are entitled to a tattoo. (We figured “entitled” was the best word, so that we don’t have to get it right away, but at any point in the future, we can.) And number 5: When we each lose our total amount of weight to get to our goal, we get a new wardrobe, up to $500! The amount may or may not be less, at the time it actually happens, but I love that one!
We both have around 120 pounds to lose. Jeff has 115 and I have 122 to go. We gave ourselves a year and a month, but I think that may be too short, in which case, we’ll have to push it out. He doesn’t know that though, so hopefully, he’ll actually put effort in this time.
I hope you all have a great weekend! If this sore throat goes away, I know I will!
For the last couple of days, I have actually tracked everything I’ve eaten. My only problem at this point is that I haven’t been tracking my evening meal until the next day. I know I haven’t skipped anything, or forgotten anything, but I know that it can be easy to forget something, so I’m working on writing it down while I make it again.
I was feeling totally stoked the other day. Jeff had a follow-up appointment for his finger, with his doctor who actually is a b*tch. Apparently he now has high blood pressure, and he was concerned that he may be diabetic, so they took a blood sample, but made him make another appointment for next week to go over the results. I’m a little irritated, because this is her usual pattern. Even though you could test his blood sugar in a matter of seconds, and hey, yes, it is high, she regularly makes him come in again. Every time he goes in to see her, it’s a two appointment thing because he has to “follow-up”, which a lot of times is definitely unnecessary. I really don’t like that woman.
Anyways, Jeff came home and asked me to help him to lose weight! So the next evening, we wrote out our weight loss goals, our diet plan, our exercise plan and our rewards. The best part is that we talked out our thoughts on each issue, so it’s an agreement of sorts, with both of our input. Neither of us can really disagree now, since it’s written down and agreed on. I particularly like our rewards. We did a 5 for $5; for every 5 pounds lost, we get $5. (Considering how low our allowances are right now, that’s a lot!) Number 2: When we collectively lose 50 pounds, we get an overnight trip to the beach. 3. When we have both lost half our total goal, we get a fancy dinner with champagne. (I don’t like to reward with food, since I have changed my perspective of it, and don’t want it to change to “I did something good so I get to eat”, however, we rarely go out anymore and especially not to fancy restaurants, so we both agreed it would be really nice.) Number 4: When each of us reaches ¾ of our weight gone, we are entitled to a tattoo. (We figured “entitled” was the best word, so that we don’t have to get it right away, but at any point in the future, we can.) And number 5: When we each lose our total amount of weight to get to our goal, we get a new wardrobe, up to $500! The amount may or may not be less, at the time it actually happens, but I love that one!
We both have around 120 pounds to lose. Jeff has 115 and I have 122 to go. We gave ourselves a year and a month, but I think that may be too short, in which case, we’ll have to push it out. He doesn’t know that though, so hopefully, he’ll actually put effort in this time.
I hope you all have a great weekend! If this sore throat goes away, I know I will!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Oh my gosh yesterday wasn't a very good day.
Well, weigh-in last night was 0 pounds gained and 0 pounds lost! Looks to me like I caught my slowly dwindling bad habits just in time before I had a real gain that could’ve taken some time to catch up to. I didn’t end up working out last night, but I kind of have a good reason.
I was invited to a graduation party for my old friend’s husband. She and I haven’t seen each other in about 6 months other than church, and although my sister and I were the two who set her and her husband up. They got married in October of last year, and since then, have gone to (what seems like) great measures to distance themselves from the people who thought they were friends. She, I’ll call her M, and I have known each other since 1st grade, and had been best friends for most of the duration of that time. But over the last 10 years, she “wanted” to be good friends with me, but put literally no effort in maintaining our friendship and it’s tapered to the point of now, where we see each other in church, but don’t talk even there.
I think in the long run, I am sad to lose yet another close friend, yet at the same time, if I am in a friendship with someone, I want them to make some effort to nurture our relationship so it can grow. I would’ve liked (and used to picture us) to be friends until we’re old, with our kids and grandkids being friends, and our families knowing each other. At this point, I am not going to work anymore to try to be close to her, when it seems she doesn’t want that.
Now to the reason I didn’t work out last night, when I got home, I had marvelous plans to eat right and exercise after my weight watchers meeting. But when I got their invitation, as I was reading it, I realized it basically said they’re having a baby (though they didn’t go so far as to actually say it, I’m quite sure that’s what their “other announcement” is about) and it hit me that this person who I used to be so close to, who wanted a career for awhile is going to have a baby, and just ended up in pity-party mode. I mean, pity-party seems to make light of something that makes my heart hurt every time I think of it, but I think I’m trying to not let it get bigger than it already is. I don’t know if I’ll go to the graduation party, because, besides that we really are hardly friends anymore, hearing their announcement might just make me cry and I don’t want to do that. (Why I didn't exercise: I went over to vent to my sister for several hours and didn't get home until 11:15pm.)
Boy, looking at the above, yesterday was kind of a crappy day. Well, here’s the rest. I really love my weight watchers group. The dynamics are really supportive and encouraging, and friendly. Everyone seems to get along really well, and most of the group is interactive, which is one of the best parts of it. I went to the 5:30 a couple of times out of necessity and I really didn’t like it. NO ONE interacted. Every one just sits there with no input, seriously, and NO one smiles; Maybe it’s because they all just got off work, but it was actually depressing to be at that meeting.
Well, last night our leader told us that the regional director person apparently decided to combine all of the 4 Tuesday meetings into 2 meetings. Not only does that combine a ton of people into two meetings, they haven’t specified the times they’ll be having the meetings, and I’m worried that they’ll make the latest one a 5:30, which means I’d have to rush there after work to get there on time. I’m particularly not happy because I like my leader so much that I don’t want to go to a different meeting elsewhere, where the leader may not be someone I enjoy listening to. I know I got lucky the first time I went, that I fit into the group right away and got a fantastic leader, but I don’t think I could be that lucky again, and I really don’t want to have to go to a bunch of different meetings to find someone I like.
Ok. I really am done moping now. Yesterday is done and gone. Time to move on.
I was invited to a graduation party for my old friend’s husband. She and I haven’t seen each other in about 6 months other than church, and although my sister and I were the two who set her and her husband up. They got married in October of last year, and since then, have gone to (what seems like) great measures to distance themselves from the people who thought they were friends. She, I’ll call her M, and I have known each other since 1st grade, and had been best friends for most of the duration of that time. But over the last 10 years, she “wanted” to be good friends with me, but put literally no effort in maintaining our friendship and it’s tapered to the point of now, where we see each other in church, but don’t talk even there.
I think in the long run, I am sad to lose yet another close friend, yet at the same time, if I am in a friendship with someone, I want them to make some effort to nurture our relationship so it can grow. I would’ve liked (and used to picture us) to be friends until we’re old, with our kids and grandkids being friends, and our families knowing each other. At this point, I am not going to work anymore to try to be close to her, when it seems she doesn’t want that.
Now to the reason I didn’t work out last night, when I got home, I had marvelous plans to eat right and exercise after my weight watchers meeting. But when I got their invitation, as I was reading it, I realized it basically said they’re having a baby (though they didn’t go so far as to actually say it, I’m quite sure that’s what their “other announcement” is about) and it hit me that this person who I used to be so close to, who wanted a career for awhile is going to have a baby, and just ended up in pity-party mode. I mean, pity-party seems to make light of something that makes my heart hurt every time I think of it, but I think I’m trying to not let it get bigger than it already is. I don’t know if I’ll go to the graduation party, because, besides that we really are hardly friends anymore, hearing their announcement might just make me cry and I don’t want to do that. (Why I didn't exercise: I went over to vent to my sister for several hours and didn't get home until 11:15pm.)
Boy, looking at the above, yesterday was kind of a crappy day. Well, here’s the rest. I really love my weight watchers group. The dynamics are really supportive and encouraging, and friendly. Everyone seems to get along really well, and most of the group is interactive, which is one of the best parts of it. I went to the 5:30 a couple of times out of necessity and I really didn’t like it. NO ONE interacted. Every one just sits there with no input, seriously, and NO one smiles; Maybe it’s because they all just got off work, but it was actually depressing to be at that meeting.
Well, last night our leader told us that the regional director person apparently decided to combine all of the 4 Tuesday meetings into 2 meetings. Not only does that combine a ton of people into two meetings, they haven’t specified the times they’ll be having the meetings, and I’m worried that they’ll make the latest one a 5:30, which means I’d have to rush there after work to get there on time. I’m particularly not happy because I like my leader so much that I don’t want to go to a different meeting elsewhere, where the leader may not be someone I enjoy listening to. I know I got lucky the first time I went, that I fit into the group right away and got a fantastic leader, but I don’t think I could be that lucky again, and I really don’t want to have to go to a bunch of different meetings to find someone I like.
Ok. I really am done moping now. Yesterday is done and gone. Time to move on.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Update and a recipe!
Yesterday was probably my best day, eating-wise in quite a while. I packed my lunch on Sunday night, and wrote everything into my tracker, so yesterday was easy. I got home and made myself some mini pizzas on sandwich thins, with a spoonful of tomato sauce, some turkey pepperoni, fresh basil leaves and mozzarella cheese. They were yummy!
While I had planned on it, I ended up deciding not to do my water class last night, so I instead popped a movie into the dvd player, and jogged in place in my living room. The cool part was that I walked for the first 5 minutes at a faster pace, about 120 steps per minute, and then jogged for 30 minutes at a 180 step per minute pace. The cool part is that this is much faster than I used to go. It’s my slog (slow jog), but it’s still a jog. And I definitely felt the muscles working. After I finished, I got out my resistance band, and discovered 2 new exercises I can do for my arms, while sitting.
I held the handles in both hands, and wrapped the band around my feet (which were straight out, and did bicep curls, which worked! It was some serious work, and my arms definitely got a workout. (This is especially good because the ex-roommie took the weights with her. They were hers, although I was the only one who used them for the last 3 years, but now I am weightless. LOL) Anyways, the other exercise I had the band wrapped around my feet again, but I had the handles crossed in front of me. The awesome part of this exercise is that when I row my arms, I have to use my leg muscles to keep the resistance up, because the band tries to pull the legs together.
While I know I got a great workout last night, I’m not sore at all. Again, it’s like yesterday, where I can feel the muscles work when I move them, but there’s really no soreness. Hopefully the water I drank after working out last night helped dissipate any soreness that might have remained. I really feel like I’m this close to being completely back on track. I still have to work on my diet, but the exercise part is finally starting to fall into place again. In the last 9 days, I’ve exercised 6 times. YAY!
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this, but I found a recipe on-line for Larabar lookalikes, that you can make at home. While they can be high(er) in calories for a snack bar, they are all natural, and completely good for you. Mine were two points each, but you can adjust the quantity, etc., as much as you want to. I threw together some dates and dried apricots into my wonderful food processor and processed the crap out of them until they pretty much balled up into one big ball. Then I put it into a bowl and added cashews to the processor until they were almost powder. Then I mixed them together, and weighed them on my scale, so I could take off pieces to roll into a ball, that would be a measured calorie count. I made them 2 points each, which was perfect for a snack.
This recipe came from the Enlightened Cooking website. Oops, I tried to add in the hyperlink and it wouldn't let me. If you use that wonderful thing called google, just put in "Enlightened cooking" and "Larabars". It'll bring it right up. Here it is.
VERY CHERRY BARS (use as a template for almost any combination)
LARA BARS use a multi-layer package that keeps out UV light and oxygen, which, in turn, maintains freshness without the use of preservatives. I use plain old plastic wrap and my refrigerator, then pop one in my bag when I’m ready to go.
¼ C. roughly chopped dates (not pre-chopped)
¼ C. dried cherries or dried cranberries
1/3 C. whole pecans, almonds or walnuts
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
Set out two pieces of plastic wrap for shaping and wrapping the bars. Do this first; you’ll have sticky fingers when you need it. (I actually just made them into balls and put them into a storage container in the fridge.) Place the dates and cherries in a food processor. Pulse until processed to a paste. Transfer paste to a medium bowl (don’t clean processor).
Add the nuts to the processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the nuts, along with the cinnamon, to the bowl with the fruit paste. Use your fingers to knead the nuts into the paste (just keep squishing, it’ll happen).
Divide mixture in half. Place each half on each of one of the sheets of plastic wrap. Wrap the plastic around each bar and start squishing into a bar shape form, 3 and 1/2 inches long, 1 inch wide and 3/4-inch thick); press against countertop to flatten bottom side, flattening top side and ends with flat of hand. Tightly wrap the plastic around each bar and store in the refrigerator. Makes 2 bars.
Nutrition per Serving (1 bar): Calories 207; Fat 9.4 g (sat .8g, mono 5.2g, poly 3.1g); Protein 3.9g; Cholesterol 0mg; Carbohydrate 24.9g; Sodium 0.4mg.
On her blog, there are a whole slew of ideas of different combinations. It’s totally worth the short time it takes to make them, and saves you money. The bars usually sell for around $1.99 but if you get the dates, etc., in bulk, the homemade ones can be around $0.50, or less, like mine were.
While I had planned on it, I ended up deciding not to do my water class last night, so I instead popped a movie into the dvd player, and jogged in place in my living room. The cool part was that I walked for the first 5 minutes at a faster pace, about 120 steps per minute, and then jogged for 30 minutes at a 180 step per minute pace. The cool part is that this is much faster than I used to go. It’s my slog (slow jog), but it’s still a jog. And I definitely felt the muscles working. After I finished, I got out my resistance band, and discovered 2 new exercises I can do for my arms, while sitting.
I held the handles in both hands, and wrapped the band around my feet (which were straight out, and did bicep curls, which worked! It was some serious work, and my arms definitely got a workout. (This is especially good because the ex-roommie took the weights with her. They were hers, although I was the only one who used them for the last 3 years, but now I am weightless. LOL) Anyways, the other exercise I had the band wrapped around my feet again, but I had the handles crossed in front of me. The awesome part of this exercise is that when I row my arms, I have to use my leg muscles to keep the resistance up, because the band tries to pull the legs together.
While I know I got a great workout last night, I’m not sore at all. Again, it’s like yesterday, where I can feel the muscles work when I move them, but there’s really no soreness. Hopefully the water I drank after working out last night helped dissipate any soreness that might have remained. I really feel like I’m this close to being completely back on track. I still have to work on my diet, but the exercise part is finally starting to fall into place again. In the last 9 days, I’ve exercised 6 times. YAY!
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this, but I found a recipe on-line for Larabar lookalikes, that you can make at home. While they can be high(er) in calories for a snack bar, they are all natural, and completely good for you. Mine were two points each, but you can adjust the quantity, etc., as much as you want to. I threw together some dates and dried apricots into my wonderful food processor and processed the crap out of them until they pretty much balled up into one big ball. Then I put it into a bowl and added cashews to the processor until they were almost powder. Then I mixed them together, and weighed them on my scale, so I could take off pieces to roll into a ball, that would be a measured calorie count. I made them 2 points each, which was perfect for a snack.
This recipe came from the Enlightened Cooking website. Oops, I tried to add in the hyperlink and it wouldn't let me. If you use that wonderful thing called google, just put in "Enlightened cooking" and "Larabars". It'll bring it right up. Here it is.
VERY CHERRY BARS (use as a template for almost any combination)
LARA BARS use a multi-layer package that keeps out UV light and oxygen, which, in turn, maintains freshness without the use of preservatives. I use plain old plastic wrap and my refrigerator, then pop one in my bag when I’m ready to go.
¼ C. roughly chopped dates (not pre-chopped)
¼ C. dried cherries or dried cranberries
1/3 C. whole pecans, almonds or walnuts
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
Set out two pieces of plastic wrap for shaping and wrapping the bars. Do this first; you’ll have sticky fingers when you need it. (I actually just made them into balls and put them into a storage container in the fridge.) Place the dates and cherries in a food processor. Pulse until processed to a paste. Transfer paste to a medium bowl (don’t clean processor).
Add the nuts to the processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the nuts, along with the cinnamon, to the bowl with the fruit paste. Use your fingers to knead the nuts into the paste (just keep squishing, it’ll happen).
Divide mixture in half. Place each half on each of one of the sheets of plastic wrap. Wrap the plastic around each bar and start squishing into a bar shape form, 3 and 1/2 inches long, 1 inch wide and 3/4-inch thick); press against countertop to flatten bottom side, flattening top side and ends with flat of hand. Tightly wrap the plastic around each bar and store in the refrigerator. Makes 2 bars.
Nutrition per Serving (1 bar): Calories 207; Fat 9.4 g (sat .8g, mono 5.2g, poly 3.1g); Protein 3.9g; Cholesterol 0mg; Carbohydrate 24.9g; Sodium 0.4mg.
On her blog, there are a whole slew of ideas of different combinations. It’s totally worth the short time it takes to make them, and saves you money. The bars usually sell for around $1.99 but if you get the dates, etc., in bulk, the homemade ones can be around $0.50, or less, like mine were.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Trying new dvd's. What a laugh!
This weekend was pretty nice. We had ok weather, though still not very July-like. We ended up spending most of the weekend relaxing at home, and not really getting much done. Now that the roommie is gone, we finally got our brand new pan set (wedding gift- 2 years ago now) and my hunter green kitchenaid mixer (also wedding gift), and I am so excited to use them. We always figured since we had the pans and her mixer to use, we wouldn’t get ours out until she moved out and we needed them. I’m thrilled!
On Friday, I went shopping with my sister. I always love going with her, as we always have a great time. We took my niece Sienna along with us, who is getting to be so darn cute, and just had fun hanging out. To put a little sunshine in your day, enjoy. She's a little over 7 months old now!
Eating-wise, I did ok. On Saturday though, we went out for karaoke, and the bar was having Jaegermeister for $3.50 for a shot, $5.50 for a jaegerbomb, and $2.00 for Rolling Rock beer, so I had a few (too many) of those, and I know went waaaay over on my calories. But we had a blast, and it’s been so long since we’ve done it, that I’m going to say it’s not a huge deal. I just made sure to eat better for the rest of the weekend, and get lots of veggies in, and exercise more.
Lately, I’ve gotten a bunch of exercise videos/dvd’s to try out some new things, and it’s been… um, interesting. I got about 5 jazzercise videos on Ftriday night. So yesterday, I put one in, and it’s old. Like, probably back when jazzercise was created. It’s got Judi Sheppard Missett, and she’s, I swear, wearing a hot pink body suit, and purple leggings. It just clashes really bad with the camera, and at one point, when I was kneeling and leaning forward with my head almost to the floor, she said or did something, a nd I started laughing so hard I hit my head. LOL!
While there were a couple of moves I couldn’t do, I made it through the other 17 minutes, and totally got a great workout! Then, to add a few minutes more of exercise, I put in a jazzercise dvd of Judi’s daughter, and did that, and the funnier part is that it’s almost like watching the original. Her movements are so much like her moms, and like her mom, she just starts humming to the song at some points. It’s pretty interesting, but again, a good workout. When I was done, I could actually feel it in my muscles, so I made sure to stretch again, and drink a lot of water to avoid sore muscles. Which worked, because I’m not sore today, but if I do certain activities, I can feel the muscles tightening a little bit.
So, definitely getting better and back in the habit of exercising more often. In the last 7 days, I have exercised, intentionally, 5 times. Good score for me. This week, I plan to do the same. Tonight I’m going to the gym after work, to walk and do a little strength training for a half hour before my water aerobics class. I haven’t been there in about 4 weeks, due to sickness, etc., but I’m going back.
Another reason is that for the next 2 months, Jeff will be doing his clinical, and his hours are 2:30-11:00PM, luckily only Monday and Tuesday. So I’ll have to keep myself entertained so I don’t get too lonely. That’s where the exercise is coming in play tonight. Then I’m going to try to get all our veggies cooked and frozen so we can just pull them out of the fridge for dinners. I’m happy that the schedule doesn’t make him get up at 4am, but not so happy that we’re going to be doing the (as a friend put it) two ships passing in the night thing. He probably won’t be home until 11:30 at the earliest, and I’ve been trying to go to bed by 11. Oh well, I keep telling myself it’s only temporary. It’ll be over in 2 months; it’s only 2 days a week. (sigh).
Anyways, I’m not as down as I sound. I’m doing alright, keeping my fingers crossed that I have a loss tomorrow at my weigh-in. Wish me luck!
Thanks for all the support you've all given me. It really helps me when I'm feeling down and unmotivated.
Have a fantastic day!
On Friday, I went shopping with my sister. I always love going with her, as we always have a great time. We took my niece Sienna along with us, who is getting to be so darn cute, and just had fun hanging out. To put a little sunshine in your day, enjoy. She's a little over 7 months old now!
Eating-wise, I did ok. On Saturday though, we went out for karaoke, and the bar was having Jaegermeister for $3.50 for a shot, $5.50 for a jaegerbomb, and $2.00 for Rolling Rock beer, so I had a few (too many) of those, and I know went waaaay over on my calories. But we had a blast, and it’s been so long since we’ve done it, that I’m going to say it’s not a huge deal. I just made sure to eat better for the rest of the weekend, and get lots of veggies in, and exercise more.
Lately, I’ve gotten a bunch of exercise videos/dvd’s to try out some new things, and it’s been… um, interesting. I got about 5 jazzercise videos on Ftriday night. So yesterday, I put one in, and it’s old. Like, probably back when jazzercise was created. It’s got Judi Sheppard Missett, and she’s, I swear, wearing a hot pink body suit, and purple leggings. It just clashes really bad with the camera, and at one point, when I was kneeling and leaning forward with my head almost to the floor, she said or did something, a nd I started laughing so hard I hit my head. LOL!
While there were a couple of moves I couldn’t do, I made it through the other 17 minutes, and totally got a great workout! Then, to add a few minutes more of exercise, I put in a jazzercise dvd of Judi’s daughter, and did that, and the funnier part is that it’s almost like watching the original. Her movements are so much like her moms, and like her mom, she just starts humming to the song at some points. It’s pretty interesting, but again, a good workout. When I was done, I could actually feel it in my muscles, so I made sure to stretch again, and drink a lot of water to avoid sore muscles. Which worked, because I’m not sore today, but if I do certain activities, I can feel the muscles tightening a little bit.
So, definitely getting better and back in the habit of exercising more often. In the last 7 days, I have exercised, intentionally, 5 times. Good score for me. This week, I plan to do the same. Tonight I’m going to the gym after work, to walk and do a little strength training for a half hour before my water aerobics class. I haven’t been there in about 4 weeks, due to sickness, etc., but I’m going back.
Another reason is that for the next 2 months, Jeff will be doing his clinical, and his hours are 2:30-11:00PM, luckily only Monday and Tuesday. So I’ll have to keep myself entertained so I don’t get too lonely. That’s where the exercise is coming in play tonight. Then I’m going to try to get all our veggies cooked and frozen so we can just pull them out of the fridge for dinners. I’m happy that the schedule doesn’t make him get up at 4am, but not so happy that we’re going to be doing the (as a friend put it) two ships passing in the night thing. He probably won’t be home until 11:30 at the earliest, and I’ve been trying to go to bed by 11. Oh well, I keep telling myself it’s only temporary. It’ll be over in 2 months; it’s only 2 days a week. (sigh).
Anyways, I’m not as down as I sound. I’m doing alright, keeping my fingers crossed that I have a loss tomorrow at my weigh-in. Wish me luck!
Thanks for all the support you've all given me. It really helps me when I'm feeling down and unmotivated.
Have a fantastic day!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
A small gain, but I'm not distraught!
My Tuesday night weigh-in told me I was up 0.2 pounds. It’s not a big amount, and I’m not freaking out that it’s my first gain in 7 weeks, but it did make me buckle down some more.
I’m slowly getting back on track. I have done Leslie Sansone’s 3-mile walk since Monday now, in the evenings. I haven’t been doing the greatest on eating though; I seem to do just fine for breakfast and lunch, but when dinner comes around, I just eat something I shouldn’t. Or Jeff says “let’s get pizza” and I don’t resist. Last night was a little better, though still not up to par.
But I did make his and my lunch for today, which I had been slacking on. I had been packing mine in the morning, when I’m in a hurry to leave, so I wasn’t grabbing everything I should, and I didn’t have time to write it all down. So last night, I packed it all, and wrote it all down, so I was fully prepared today.
I am determined to have a loss, and hopefully a good one, next week. I think that I’ve been lucky to have losses or maintains every week for the last 7 weigh-ins (except Tuesday). For a large amount of that time, I slacked and wasn’t tracking anything, and wasn’t exercising consistently. I think the reason that I did lose without any effort was due to the exercising I was doing about 7 weeks ago. I was doing both cardio and strength training, and when I stopped, the losses continued for nearly 2 months. That’s the only thing I was doing differently, and that’s why I think it may have made a difference. It may have kicked my metabolism into gear.
So now that I’m getting back into the swing of things, and doing cardio daily, I’m going to try to work in strength training a few times a week, to get my muscles stronger and my metabolism going better again.
I’m slowly getting back on track. I have done Leslie Sansone’s 3-mile walk since Monday now, in the evenings. I haven’t been doing the greatest on eating though; I seem to do just fine for breakfast and lunch, but when dinner comes around, I just eat something I shouldn’t. Or Jeff says “let’s get pizza” and I don’t resist. Last night was a little better, though still not up to par.
But I did make his and my lunch for today, which I had been slacking on. I had been packing mine in the morning, when I’m in a hurry to leave, so I wasn’t grabbing everything I should, and I didn’t have time to write it all down. So last night, I packed it all, and wrote it all down, so I was fully prepared today.
I am determined to have a loss, and hopefully a good one, next week. I think that I’ve been lucky to have losses or maintains every week for the last 7 weigh-ins (except Tuesday). For a large amount of that time, I slacked and wasn’t tracking anything, and wasn’t exercising consistently. I think the reason that I did lose without any effort was due to the exercising I was doing about 7 weeks ago. I was doing both cardio and strength training, and when I stopped, the losses continued for nearly 2 months. That’s the only thing I was doing differently, and that’s why I think it may have made a difference. It may have kicked my metabolism into gear.
So now that I’m getting back into the swing of things, and doing cardio daily, I’m going to try to work in strength training a few times a week, to get my muscles stronger and my metabolism going better again.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Starting to get back on track
Thanks for the positive comments! I took it to heart, and wrote “exercise“ on my hand in big bold letters. So when I got home last night, I would remember to exercise, and wouldn’t have an excuse not to.
Yesterday was our second anniversary so we had a special (kind of) dinner and Jeff sent me flowers! Which was an awesome surprise, getting them at work. We have a woman here who gets a bouquet every month, and I thought they were hers until I heard him say my name. I was so surprised, I got tears in my eyes. LOL, it’s not like Jeff doesn’t do thoughtful things, I had just forgotten that it was a special day for us, and was reminded of it when they arrived.
After we had dinner, Jeff needed to take a shower, but every time he has so far, he’s bumped his finger and it’s been really painful, so I told him to let me exercise and then I’d help him. I walked 3 miles with Leslie in 45 minutes, and actually felt strong! The last couple of times I did it, I felt really weak, even to the point where I didn’t feel like I could finish the video. Looking back, I think that’s because I had my abcess at the time, and it made me feel so much weaker than I am. So last night, I was feeling proud because I did finish it.
I also took my monthly measurements, so see how I’d done for June and I’m down another 2 inches! Which is quite a surprise since I really haven’t exercised in the last two weeks except last night. I’m trying to get back on this wagon, so I can keep seeing losses in inches and pounds. I have my weigh-in tonight at weight watchers, and am really crossing my fingers this week. I know my eating has been pretty poor, but I’m trying, really I am. And I’m going to keep doing this!
Yesterday was our second anniversary so we had a special (kind of) dinner and Jeff sent me flowers! Which was an awesome surprise, getting them at work. We have a woman here who gets a bouquet every month, and I thought they were hers until I heard him say my name. I was so surprised, I got tears in my eyes. LOL, it’s not like Jeff doesn’t do thoughtful things, I had just forgotten that it was a special day for us, and was reminded of it when they arrived.
After we had dinner, Jeff needed to take a shower, but every time he has so far, he’s bumped his finger and it’s been really painful, so I told him to let me exercise and then I’d help him. I walked 3 miles with Leslie in 45 minutes, and actually felt strong! The last couple of times I did it, I felt really weak, even to the point where I didn’t feel like I could finish the video. Looking back, I think that’s because I had my abcess at the time, and it made me feel so much weaker than I am. So last night, I was feeling proud because I did finish it.
I also took my monthly measurements, so see how I’d done for June and I’m down another 2 inches! Which is quite a surprise since I really haven’t exercised in the last two weeks except last night. I’m trying to get back on this wagon, so I can keep seeing losses in inches and pounds. I have my weigh-in tonight at weight watchers, and am really crossing my fingers this week. I know my eating has been pretty poor, but I’m trying, really I am. And I’m going to keep doing this!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Everything's going crazy!!!
Boy, the last few days have been crazy!!! We discovered that the ex-roomie owes us for accumulated electricity usage, but she is refusing her responsibility, on the grounds that I didn’t tell her about it before she moved out. I just wanted to say Duh! I mean, you can’t find out how much a person owes until you close the period, and since she never gave me an actual date for her move, I couldn’t close it until she had. And then she didn’t give me a date in the future, she sent me an email on the day of. So this whole mess has gotten worse because she’s just been a pain about it. $125 is no small amount for us to have to pay, especially right now when our rent went up $300. I’m debating taking her to small claims court. I know I have all the paperwork required to back up my claim, I just don’t know if I even want to bother. But then we’re letting her of scott-free and burdening ourselves even more. Jeff just wants to be done with her, but I want her to take responsibility for her actions. Still thinking…
And last week, on our last day off, we went to the driving range with my sister and BIL, cheap entertainment= a $6 bucket of balls to whack at! LOL, we had a great time, but Jeff tripped on the stairs and caught himself on his hand. His 3 fingers were on top of the stair and his pinkie apparently jammed into the side of it. It got really swollen, and painful, so on Friday he went to urgent care where they took an X-ray (which almost completely cut off his pinkie) and told him it was broken in the joint. But because it was Friday, they kind of splinted it and told him to call an orthopedic specialist on Monday to see if they need to do surgery on it.
Scared the crap out of me because he has clinical and school for the next 3 months, then he’ll be done with school, and the end was in sight! If his finger was broken, he wouldn’t be able to complete his clinical. Anyways, yesterday evening, his hand was going numb and he was having shooting pains up his arm, so we decided to go to a different hospital’s emergency room. Where they took a new X-ray so they could see what was actually going on, and discovered that his finger was just very badly sprained in the joint, not broken. So they put a half cast on it to keep him from reinjuring himself, and said to give it a week or so. I really feel like this is the right track now, and we probably saved ourselves money by going to the ER instead of him going to see a specialist today. Cross your fingers that it heals just fine.
Eating-wise over the weekend wasn’t great but wasn’t too horrible either. I have a feeling I’m going to be close to my weight last week, which is good, but not as good as I’d like. But what can I really expect when the only exercise I’ve been doing is swimming in the pool to cool off, and not tracking everything. For some reason, I’m really struggling with getting motivated to change and tighten things up a little more. I have mostly fallen off the wagon, “mostly” because I’m still paying a lot of attention to what I’m eating, and haven’t gained anything, but the rest I’m just slacking. I was doing so well 8 weeks ago, motivated, on top of it all, even getting cardio and strength training in. Now, I haven’t done that in almost 2 weeks. I need to figure out what I can do to get myself back on track again. Once I do that, I’ll be sitting pretty.
And last week, on our last day off, we went to the driving range with my sister and BIL, cheap entertainment= a $6 bucket of balls to whack at! LOL, we had a great time, but Jeff tripped on the stairs and caught himself on his hand. His 3 fingers were on top of the stair and his pinkie apparently jammed into the side of it. It got really swollen, and painful, so on Friday he went to urgent care where they took an X-ray (which almost completely cut off his pinkie) and told him it was broken in the joint. But because it was Friday, they kind of splinted it and told him to call an orthopedic specialist on Monday to see if they need to do surgery on it.
Scared the crap out of me because he has clinical and school for the next 3 months, then he’ll be done with school, and the end was in sight! If his finger was broken, he wouldn’t be able to complete his clinical. Anyways, yesterday evening, his hand was going numb and he was having shooting pains up his arm, so we decided to go to a different hospital’s emergency room. Where they took a new X-ray so they could see what was actually going on, and discovered that his finger was just very badly sprained in the joint, not broken. So they put a half cast on it to keep him from reinjuring himself, and said to give it a week or so. I really feel like this is the right track now, and we probably saved ourselves money by going to the ER instead of him going to see a specialist today. Cross your fingers that it heals just fine.
Eating-wise over the weekend wasn’t great but wasn’t too horrible either. I have a feeling I’m going to be close to my weight last week, which is good, but not as good as I’d like. But what can I really expect when the only exercise I’ve been doing is swimming in the pool to cool off, and not tracking everything. For some reason, I’m really struggling with getting motivated to change and tighten things up a little more. I have mostly fallen off the wagon, “mostly” because I’m still paying a lot of attention to what I’m eating, and haven’t gained anything, but the rest I’m just slacking. I was doing so well 8 weeks ago, motivated, on top of it all, even getting cardio and strength training in. Now, I haven’t done that in almost 2 weeks. I need to figure out what I can do to get myself back on track again. Once I do that, I’ll be sitting pretty.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Finally caught up!
As a follow-up to the last blog, my boo-boo is doing alot better. Living with Jeff is like actually being married and I'm down 0.6 pounds after a 2 week vacation!!!
I don't think it because I've been lazy, but I haven't tracked my foods for about 3 or 4 weeks now. I'm still losing, though more slowly than before, but I'm being successful which is what I want. (Knock on wood) I haven't had a gain in the last 6 weeks, and I'm really hoping to keep this going!
Up until 3 days ago, we hadn't had any hot days, and were still stuck with rain. Now it's been in the 90's, like a July is supposed to be. I haven't exercised because of the heat and my booboo, but we've gone swimming for the last couple of nights, and I'm definitely counting those as activity. It's just too hot to go outside and do anything else.
Things are really alot tougher, financially right now, due to the roommie being out. Our rent went up $450 for this month and August, then in September, it's going to go up again to $600, so we're doing what we can to pay off a few of our bills before it jumps again. In August, we'll finally be finished with 3 of them, YAY! Unfortunately, we'll be getting 2 new ones at some point when I get the bill for the ER and for my other appointment last month. Not looking forward to those. Then we switched our electricity from average pay to regular monthly pay, since the roommie's gone, and the bill we received says we owe $376! I so don't understand their fuzzy math, but I'm off to harass them about it.
Have a great weekend!
I don't think it because I've been lazy, but I haven't tracked my foods for about 3 or 4 weeks now. I'm still losing, though more slowly than before, but I'm being successful which is what I want. (Knock on wood) I haven't had a gain in the last 6 weeks, and I'm really hoping to keep this going!
Up until 3 days ago, we hadn't had any hot days, and were still stuck with rain. Now it's been in the 90's, like a July is supposed to be. I haven't exercised because of the heat and my booboo, but we've gone swimming for the last couple of nights, and I'm definitely counting those as activity. It's just too hot to go outside and do anything else.
Things are really alot tougher, financially right now, due to the roommie being out. Our rent went up $450 for this month and August, then in September, it's going to go up again to $600, so we're doing what we can to pay off a few of our bills before it jumps again. In August, we'll finally be finished with 3 of them, YAY! Unfortunately, we'll be getting 2 new ones at some point when I get the bill for the ER and for my other appointment last month. Not looking forward to those. Then we switched our electricity from average pay to regular monthly pay, since the roommie's gone, and the bill we received says we owe $376! I so don't understand their fuzzy math, but I'm off to harass them about it.
Have a great weekend!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Finally back from vacation!
Well, I’m back from vacation and have a lot to talk about. For the better part of it all though, I ate pretty well, and apparently well enough that I didn’t gain any weight, and even may have lost a pound or two. I didn’t go to weight watchers last week, since we were out of town, and another reason I’ll mention in a minute. I have my weight watchers meeting tomorrow evening, so I’m crossing my fingers that there’ll be a loss.
The Thursday before our vacation, we had a problem with our roommate and it finally came to a head, and we ended up asking our roommate to start looking for a new place to live. We had very good reason; 2 years of being taken advantage of and used finally was enough. The sad part for me is that she was my friend. We had been friends since I was in tenth grade in high school, so about 12 years. I guess in thinking about it, it’s not as painful as I thought it would be because my life has moved on, and she hasn’t grown at all, but I’m still disappointed in the end result.
We keep talking about it, Jeff and I, and we ask ourselves, “Really? She was surprised by this? She wasn’t expecting this?” I don’t get it. But she actually packed up her stuff and was out of the house by the 30th, before we got back from our vacation. It was gross because she only has her bedroom, approximately 12x15-ish, and she came up with 5 monster bags of garbage all from her room. Seriously, we got ants in our room because of an old cough drop in a drawer. How did she avoid getting ants or other bugs in her room when she had crap piled literally three feet high? Anyways, we’re both a lot less stressed now. This should’ve happened a long time ago, but it’s done now, and we actually feel like a married couple; not college roommates anymore!
On Friday night, I noticed a slight itch/ouch on my lower abdomen. I thought it was a pimple, and my mom agreed, so I put heat on it, hoping to bring it to a head. On Sunday it was worse, though still not at a head, and it was making me hurt when I walked even, which worried us all, in-laws included because we, at this point, are on vacation on the other side of the state. On Monday afternoon, Jeff was really worried, so we went first to the urgent care, then to the ER because urgent care was closed. The doctor took a look and said I had 2 abcesses in my abdomen. One small and one large abcess, about 2 inches below. So he ended up opening them up so they could drain. Unfortunately, I was in pain for the rest of our vacation and we didn’t get to a single place! The only place we went was a specialty store we always go to when we’re there. That was it. I really feel like this was the lamest vacation ever. I mean, this whole thing started literally on my first day of vacation, and while it’s mostly better now, it’s still draining and healing, so it does hurt a little bit. I bet, with my luck, It doesn’t get better until after my vacation is over, on Wednesday. I have to go back to work on Thursday. I am so not looking forward to it.
We got back home on Friday and were so happy to be back in our own bed. But we had a busy weekend ahead, so we really weren’t going to get to relax as much. On Saturday morning, we had our town’s Independence Day parade, which I’ve always enjoyed. My two youngest sisters (15 & 17) and I got up and left at 6am to go find a spot at the parade for the family. We have a tradition of stopping at McDonalds, so we did. Since I go there once every 3 or 4 months now, it’s not a big deal. The parade was lots of fun and we had a fantastic time!
Then on Sunday, we had a celebration/Thanksgiving lunch for my uncle who won a recent political campaign, which was really nice. I had one plate of food, and a piece of cake was perfectly full afterwards. It’s pretty cool to be able to eat a half a sandwich and a small amount of other foods and be full. Then we went to a 4th of July party at my aunt’s house, and while I put a larger amount of food than normal on my plate, I ate it really slowly because I was talking and hanging out with people, and got fuller faster. I did finish my plate, but it probably took me 30-45 minutes to finish it, and I didn’t have any room for the dessert at all. I did a good job.
I think, all in all, I did a good job on my vacation. There were definitely times when I are more than I probably should have, and didn’t exercise except for the one time (due to the injury), but I think in the end, I was successful.
Then today was a lot of fun. My sisters and I went to a big sale the Salvation Army was having. 50% off of everything! I found a number of things that I’m excited about, including a medium green recipe box that perfectly matches my mixer that we finally pulled out of the box. (We weren’t going to use it until we were roommate-less).
I also got a couple of movies, a nice vase, and a couple of games I’d been looking for. Then we were invited to dinner with my sister and her hubby to Macaroni Grill for their happy hour. Despite that it was happy hour, it was quite a bit steeper in price than I imagined it would be, but the servings were small and delicious! I really enjoyed it, and we had a great time with them! We went back to my Mom’s house for the fireworks she forgot and had a nice close to the night!
Sorry about the huge gap in blogs, but I had a tougher time getting to the computer over the last 10 days! I hope everyone had a good Independence Day celebration!
The Thursday before our vacation, we had a problem with our roommate and it finally came to a head, and we ended up asking our roommate to start looking for a new place to live. We had very good reason; 2 years of being taken advantage of and used finally was enough. The sad part for me is that she was my friend. We had been friends since I was in tenth grade in high school, so about 12 years. I guess in thinking about it, it’s not as painful as I thought it would be because my life has moved on, and she hasn’t grown at all, but I’m still disappointed in the end result.
We keep talking about it, Jeff and I, and we ask ourselves, “Really? She was surprised by this? She wasn’t expecting this?” I don’t get it. But she actually packed up her stuff and was out of the house by the 30th, before we got back from our vacation. It was gross because she only has her bedroom, approximately 12x15-ish, and she came up with 5 monster bags of garbage all from her room. Seriously, we got ants in our room because of an old cough drop in a drawer. How did she avoid getting ants or other bugs in her room when she had crap piled literally three feet high? Anyways, we’re both a lot less stressed now. This should’ve happened a long time ago, but it’s done now, and we actually feel like a married couple; not college roommates anymore!
On Friday night, I noticed a slight itch/ouch on my lower abdomen. I thought it was a pimple, and my mom agreed, so I put heat on it, hoping to bring it to a head. On Sunday it was worse, though still not at a head, and it was making me hurt when I walked even, which worried us all, in-laws included because we, at this point, are on vacation on the other side of the state. On Monday afternoon, Jeff was really worried, so we went first to the urgent care, then to the ER because urgent care was closed. The doctor took a look and said I had 2 abcesses in my abdomen. One small and one large abcess, about 2 inches below. So he ended up opening them up so they could drain. Unfortunately, I was in pain for the rest of our vacation and we didn’t get to a single place! The only place we went was a specialty store we always go to when we’re there. That was it. I really feel like this was the lamest vacation ever. I mean, this whole thing started literally on my first day of vacation, and while it’s mostly better now, it’s still draining and healing, so it does hurt a little bit. I bet, with my luck, It doesn’t get better until after my vacation is over, on Wednesday. I have to go back to work on Thursday. I am so not looking forward to it.
We got back home on Friday and were so happy to be back in our own bed. But we had a busy weekend ahead, so we really weren’t going to get to relax as much. On Saturday morning, we had our town’s Independence Day parade, which I’ve always enjoyed. My two youngest sisters (15 & 17) and I got up and left at 6am to go find a spot at the parade for the family. We have a tradition of stopping at McDonalds, so we did. Since I go there once every 3 or 4 months now, it’s not a big deal. The parade was lots of fun and we had a fantastic time!
Then on Sunday, we had a celebration/Thanksgiving lunch for my uncle who won a recent political campaign, which was really nice. I had one plate of food, and a piece of cake was perfectly full afterwards. It’s pretty cool to be able to eat a half a sandwich and a small amount of other foods and be full. Then we went to a 4th of July party at my aunt’s house, and while I put a larger amount of food than normal on my plate, I ate it really slowly because I was talking and hanging out with people, and got fuller faster. I did finish my plate, but it probably took me 30-45 minutes to finish it, and I didn’t have any room for the dessert at all. I did a good job.
I think, all in all, I did a good job on my vacation. There were definitely times when I are more than I probably should have, and didn’t exercise except for the one time (due to the injury), but I think in the end, I was successful.
Then today was a lot of fun. My sisters and I went to a big sale the Salvation Army was having. 50% off of everything! I found a number of things that I’m excited about, including a medium green recipe box that perfectly matches my mixer that we finally pulled out of the box. (We weren’t going to use it until we were roommate-less).
I also got a couple of movies, a nice vase, and a couple of games I’d been looking for. Then we were invited to dinner with my sister and her hubby to Macaroni Grill for their happy hour. Despite that it was happy hour, it was quite a bit steeper in price than I imagined it would be, but the servings were small and delicious! I really enjoyed it, and we had a great time with them! We went back to my Mom’s house for the fireworks she forgot and had a nice close to the night!
Sorry about the huge gap in blogs, but I had a tougher time getting to the computer over the last 10 days! I hope everyone had a good Independence Day celebration!
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