Date Night: Brought to You By Ann Taylor

Saturday is usually my splurge day, but I've got plans tomorrow that require a lttle more leniency so the splurge day is being delayed. But that actually didn't present too much of a problem. I did a little advance planning, so we managed to go out to eat for both breakfast (a big weekend treat for us) and dinner. Plus I managed a DIY margarita at dinner. All while staying within my calories for the day.

What I Wore on Date Night:

• tan courderoy skirt w/ cream embroidery (Ann Taylor Loft)
• cream tank (Ann Taylor)
• cream cowl neck sweater w/ bead details (Ann Taylor Loft)
• argyle socks (Target)
• brown boots (Cloudwalkers from Avenue)
• gold braided headband (Gap)

I think that these are all of the Ann Taylor pieces I own. Not really, but most of them certainly. And I'm no sure where I got the sweater and skirt, but judging by the mark on the tags, it must have been some place like Ross or Marshalls. That means I got them for a good price. Yay!

Food:

• breakfast @ Barbec's:1/2 c grits w/ margarine, 1 slice bacon, 1 egg over medium, 1 piece dry whole wheat toast, and coffee w/ cream
• lunch: 2 turkey hotdogs, cabbage salad w/o oil or nuts, cuties
• snacks: rice crackers, SoyJoy
• dinner @ Blue Mesa: Spa Churrascaritas, DIY margartia*

Total Calories: 1769

* Okay this is how I made my DIY margarita aka ghetto margarita. I brought a bottle of Diet Sprite with me in my purse. Then I asked for a shot of tequila, a large glass of ice, and some limes. I put the tequila in the glass of ice, squeezed in two lime wedges, added 1 packet of Splenda from the table, filled the glass with my Diet Sprite, and stirred. It was so delish and light. And the only calories are from the tequila. Basically I took a drink that normally runs at least 600 calories and made it for 150. Not too shabby. I felt a little weird about brining in the Sprite, but not too much. If they kept diet anything other than coke, I wouldn't have bothered. But I think it it made you feel weird, you could just ask for club soda instead and it would be similar.

Casual Friday: TGIF

Today I Wore:

• brown long-sleeve T-shirt (Old Navy)
• teal/brown plaid shirt (Style & Co.)
• denim skirt (Target)
• brown knee high boots (Avenue - yay they fit my HUGE calves)
• teal necklace (Lane Bryant)
• brown purse (via Ross)

Food:

• breakfast: yogurt w/ Better'n Peanut Butter (interesting combo), Whole Grain Total, coffee w/ skim milk
• lunch: pastrami sandwich, baby carrots, cuties, string cheese
• snacks: Soy Joy, 1/2 small Goji & Salt Chocolate bar
• dinner: Hoisin Glazed Chicken w/ Cabbage, slice of bread
• dessert: 3 oz Tequila Rose

Total for the Day: 1802 calories

Keep Your Fingers Crossed That This IS NOT ME

I love you, Ican!

Where Did This Come From??

Out of nowhere Day 4 kicked me in the ass. There I was, patting myself on my back for making it through Day 3, and the Day 4 just walked right in and started some shit. I was starving all day long. Now clearly I am smart enough to know that mybody doesn't need any food since I am well fed every day. And I couldn't even pretend that my hunger pains were real. There was an aching pit in my stomach 30 minutes after I finished eating lunch. A lunch that I have had many times, so I know it is filling enough to carry me through to snack time (3 pm, thank you very much). I thought maybe I was hungry, so I drank a bunch of water. That didn't even put a dent in it. So I was just hungry all day long. In fact, I am hungry right now. I actually have enough calories to eat an ice cream, but I've already brushed my teeth, so I'm not going to bother.

What I Wore While Starving All Day:

• black/white Paisley skirt (Target/Merona)
• black tank (NY & Co.)
• green wrap sweater (Target)
• black ballet flats (Apt 9)
• gold loop chain (Walmart)
• jade elephant (Ross)
• purple nylon purse (Daisy Fuentes)

Food:

Today I ate my the same breakfast, lunch and snacks that I have eaten all week. No need to post pics. Rand and I cooked pork chops with brown sugar apples, and yellow and green beans on the side. I forgot to take a pic, but trust me, it was delish. Yum.

My total calories for the day: 1750

Exercise:

Clearly I'm going to have a total fail on this this week. Damn.

Dreaded Day Three

Day 3 is always hard for me. That’s when my initial rush of enthusiasm starts to fade and I realize that I’m going to have to make healthy choices all day every day. I still think that your weight should be directly related to what you ate the day before. For example, if I ate cheese fried on Monday, then on Tuesday I should be heavy, but if I ate a salad on Tuesday, then on Wednesday I should be svelte. Why can’t it work that way?? Maybe that would be bad though. What would happen the day after you were sick and didn’t eat anything? Would you cease to exist? Yikes.

Anyway, in typical Day 3 fashion, I ran into obstacles first thing in the morning. When I was pulling into my parking garage, they were handing out bag breakfasts. Who has ever heard of such a thing? Oh no. I’m going to open it and it’s going to be a yummy, warm breakfast croissant from Jason’s Deli (there is a Jason’s Deli under the parking garage), and I’m just not going to be able to resist it.

I got to my desk pulled out all my from-home breakfast items, and then I opened the dreaded paper bag. It contained a mini bottle of water, an orange, and a cherry cheese Danish in a plastic wrapper. No croissant. Thank You! Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good (and my good I mean really bad quality from the gas station type thing) Danish. But I couldn’t smell it or anything and it wasn’t the warm gooey cheesy croissant I feared. So I put the water and the orange on my desk and promptly offered the Danish to someone else so I wouldn’t eat it later out of boredom. Yay! You shall not defeat me, Day Three!!

Uh oh. Then I noticed that I brought twice as much yogurt as I should have. Normally I would just eat it since it was only the difference between 1/2 c and 1 c. Sneaky Day Three trying to get me! I divided it up and saved the rest for Thursday.

Then Maria emailed me to cancel Latin Spice b/c it's Ash Wednesday. Okay, maybe I could make myself go alone? Or at the very least I would do a workout video at home. Nope. I had to stay at work until 8. Oh crap - the food around my office isn't the best, esp given the options that are actually open after lunch. But then I remembered that when Tim stopped working here a few weeks ago, he left a Smart Ones in the freezer. And I had some extra fruit in the fridge. Sweet. Day Three is gonna be sorry it ever took on me!

What I Wore While Defeating Day Three:

• Paisley skirt (Anne Klein)
• Brown shortsleeve shirt (George – Walmart)
• Camel cardigan (Kathie Lee - thrifted)
• Teal belt (Nine West via Ross)
• Teal suede peep toe pumps (Style & Co.)
• Teal earrings and necklace (via Ross)
• brown purse (unknown - thrifted)

Breakfast That Did Not Come From a Brown Paper Bag (283 calories):

• 3 oz blueberries (32 c)
• ½ c. Yoplait plain, fat free yogurt (71 c)
• 1 T. Smuckers sugar free peach jam (10 c)
• ½ c. Ginger Zing granola (150 c)
• 1 Viactiv multivitamin (20 c)
• 1 bottle of water (0 c)
• 1 bottle SlimQuick Energy (0 c)

The Perpetual Repeat Lunch - today with added carrots!! (415 calories):

• Buddig pastrami sandwich w/ nonfat cream cheese (175 c)
• 3 lil cuties (80 c)
• 20 baby carrots (80 c)
• 1 string cheese (80 c)

Snacks aka How I make it From 3pm to 6pm Without Eating the Brownies that Karen Brought to the Office (330 calories):

• 1 cup of Eating Right miso noodle soup (130 c)
• 1 SoyJoy (130 c)
• 2 Wasa Fiber Crispbread (70 c)
• 1 travel mug of hot tea w/ splenda (0 c)

Whatever I Could Scrounge From the Fridge at Work for Dinner (475 calories):

• Smart Ones Swedish Meatballs - thank you, Tim! (270 c)
• 1 small orange (45 c)
• 1 small gala apple (80 c)
• 1 string cheese (80 c)

Dessert Back at Home (260 calories):

• 1 Weight Watchers English Toffee Crunch Ice Cream bar (110 c)
• 1 large glass of white wine (150 c)

Total for the day: 1643 calories (I made it through Day Three!!!)

Exercise: none except my "going to the bathroom" stairclimbing, of which I only did 6 flights (Give me a break. I really had to pee a couple fo the times I went and didn't think I could handle walking up and down stairs first.)

The Best Laid Plans

Sometimes even the best laid plans fall through. We were suppose to have pork chops for dinner, but when we peeled the foil off the defrosted chops, we discovered not two but one. A big one, but certainly not enough for Rand and I to split. Okay, no worries. We'll have tomorrows dinner instead. Hmmmm. We seemed to have forgotten to get pasta sauce at the store. So that was a no-go too. Rand suggested chinese delivery and I was just so disheartened that I was going to fail so quickly. I was getting ready to give in when I realized that we could just make breakfast for dinner. Yay! I managed to stay on track.

Today I Wore:

• brown skirt (Lane Bryant)
• brown tank (Lane Bryant)
• brown animal print blouse (Lane Bryant)
• orange cardigan (consignment)
• jade elephant necklace (via Ross)
• chandalier earrings (stolen from a friend)
• brown knee high wedge boots (Avenue)
• brown tweed purse

Breakfast (349 calories):

• 3 oz blueberries (32 c)
• 1.25 c Total Whole Grain (166 c)
• 1/2 c Yoplait Plain fat free yogurt (71)
• 3 T. Smuckers sugar free peach jam (30 c)
• 1 can Blade sugar free (30 c)
• 1 Viactiv multivitamin (20 c)
  

Lunch (415 calories):

• buddig sandwich (190 c)
• soup (120 c)
• 3 very small clementines - Lil Cuties (80 c)
• 10 baby carrots (40 c)

Snacks (210 calories):

• 1 SoyJoy bar (130 c)
• 1 string cheese (80 c)
  

Dinner (465 calories):

• 1 T butter (100 c)
• Fiber One pancakes (225 c)
• 1 egg (70 c)
• 2 slices turkey bacon (70 c)

Dessert (185 calories):

• 5 Girl Scout Trefoil cookies (170 c)
• 1 mug sugar free cider (15 c)
  

Exercise

none

Let's Get It Started

Let's get it started in here,

let's get it started, ha!

(yep, I'm serenading myself in my head. Thank you, Black Eyed Peas)

Today I wore:

• black slacks (Lane Bryant)
• magenta shortsleeve blouse (Target
• grey cashmere sweater (Old Navy)
• pink paisley chain belt, repurposed as a necklace (via Ross)
• magenta kitten heels (Steven by Steve Madden)

Food

So Day 1 went pretty well. But let's be honest here; if you can't make it through the first day, there are serious problems with your will power or motivation. Sheer ambition usually carries me along until Day 3. I hate Day 3. But more on that...on Day 3!

Let's look at pictures! Everyone likes pictures. And I find them to be highly motivating. Even when there are the oh so appetizing pictures of my take-it-to-work-in-old-chinese-delivery-plasticware.

Breakfast (312 calories):

• 1/2 c. Natures Path Ginger Zing granola (150 c)
• 6 oz Kroger brand lite yogurt, coconut cream pie flavor YUM (80 c)
• 3 oz fresh blueberries (32 c)
• 1 can Blade Sugar Free - thank you, CVS free stuff addiction (30 c)
• 1 Viactiv Multivitamin chew (20 c)

Lunch (415 calories):

• 1 packet Buddig pastrami (90 c) 2 slices Earthgrains 35 vegetable fiber wheat bread (70 c)
• 1 T. nonfat cream cheese (15 c)
• 2 c. homemade turkey noodle soup (120 c)


• 3 very small clementines - Lil Cuties (80 c)
• 10 baby carrots (40 c)

Snacks (210 calories):

• 1 SoyJoy bar (130 c)
• 1 string cheese (80 c)

Dinner (722 calories):

• 3 slices homemade veggie pizza w/ orange bell peppers, spinach, tomatoes, onions, feta, and basil
• 1 garlic cheese stick

Dessert (200 calories):

• 1 mug hot tea (0 c)
• 3 Girl Scout Dulce de Leche cookies (200 c)
  

Exercise

I've been trying to climb the stairs one day per week. For the last few weeks it always seems to happen on Mondays. Today I went up and down 3 flights of stairs every time I went to the bathroom. That's 12 flights of stairs today, which doesn't sound like very much but my legs are almost always sore for a couple of days afterwards.

Measurements & Meal Plan

Measurements

I googled fitness measurements to see exactly how to take my measurements. I used this site. But then I also had to add in my own "queso baby" measurement, since my queso baby interferes with the hips measurement. So my hips measurement is just below the queso baby, at the widest part of my hips. And the queso baby measurement is a little higher, getting the queso baby, but at a smaller part of my hips. Stupid queso baby. Stupid UT making me love queso resulting in said queso baby.

weight: 230.5
left arm: 15
abdomen: 42
waist: 39.25
hips: 49
queso baby: 50.5
left thigh: 30.5

no looking back.

Meal Plan

Monday: veggie pizza
Tuesday: pork chops w/ apples, green beans
Wednesday: spaghetti w/ meatballs, italian veggies
Thursday: lime grilled fish, WW corn fritters, brocolli
Friday: hoisen-glazed chicken, cabbage slaw, brown rice
Saturday: date night -eating out
Sunday: chicken curry w/ basmati rice

A New Beginning

So here is what I am thinking.

A private blog for me to track my weight, my daily look, and all the other little things I like to keep tabs on. And since this is private, why do I need to any put up a Mission Statement?? Well, just in case I decide to invite my sister or some friends to view this blog, just to keep me on track with the weight loss goals. Ugh. It's been so hard. Stacy and I both decided to "start the year right" and so far she has been really dedicated in both the eating and exercising debt and I just have not. I suck. But good for her, I am really proud of her.

I want to stop feeling gross. I want to exercise more, eat less (but better), really focus on taking good care of myself (my eczema is out of control), and not get slack on my appearance. I've put on 20 lbs since I met Rand almost a year ago and a lot of my clothes don't fit, so I've kinda stopped trying. Well no more!

Goals for Week 1:

Food:

1. Eat fruit at breakfast and lunch, eat veggies at lunch and dinner. Every meal, no exceptions.
2. 1800 calories per day, except Saturday which is date night.
3. Make a meal plan for the week AND STICK TO IT!

Exercise:

1. Take a casual walk with Rand around the neighborhood one day
2. Go to Latin Spice class with Maria on Wednesday.
3. Do one workout DVD at home.

Appearance:

1. Plan 4 outfits for the week that are pulled together rather than thrown together.
2. Slather on body lotion every night before bed.

Good Luck to Me!

Sadly, what am I off to do now? Eat a burger with Rand at a new place down the street - John's Cafe. I know you aren't supposed to do a big splurge before you "start" b/c really I am just supposed to be making lifestyle changes, not going n a diet. Whatever. I'm going to eat a burger, and fries, and quite possibly a milkshake if them have them. Let the chips fall where they may. I'll worry about it Monday.