Hi EP friends! I hope you all had lovely weekends as I did. B left on work travel Friday so I was afraid I might not know what to do with myself (all that extra time, oh my! And he's not coming back till NEXT Sunday. Stupid work travel...).
Anyway, but no! I was super busy this weekend. Friday night I watched the series Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (same guy who wrote Stardust, if you've seen that). I made a pumpkin loaf with raisins and substituted half the oil with chunky all natural applesauce. I was glad I made it not only because it was a big hit, but also because it stopped me from eating the yummy-but-very-unhealthy Tollhouse break-and-bake cookies that were hot out of the oven at my friend's house. I might have had one, but the pumpkin bread sounded better.
Yesterday, I baby-sat for my other friend's 15-month-old while they went to see the play, Annie (date time is hard when you have a little one). We went on a stroller walk, but other than that I didn't get much exercise yesterday.
Made up for that today though. But before I get to that, yesterday I also took a trip to Costco (where I am notorious for spending waaayy too much) and I bought a TON of fruit (a whole pineapple, two mini watermelon, bananas, apples, and kiwi -- sounds like a lot written down, but I do eat a lot of fruit!) , a three pound bag of frozen salmon portions, and Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax Granola. I baked the salmon with Trader Joe's Island Soyaki sauce (used it as a marinade). It was awesome! I had it with couscous and broccoli stir fry. The best part is I now have two yummy lunches for the week too!
Today I went for an 8 mile hike with some friends up a mountain. It was pretty strenuous, including a 3,775 elevation gain. To give you a reference point, the starting elevation is pretty high itself at >7,000 feet. I've done the hike before though and it's always fun. Since I got home I've just been kicking back, doing some reading, and eating.
Last week was fairly good on the food front. One day that I went way over my cal budget, but then again today was probably way under. And I biked to work every day last week! The only bad part about the weekend is that it's almost over.
Here's to a great week all round!
[Update: Had a good WI this morning. I'm out of the 130s! For the first time in months!]
The setbacks, the scale, the constant vigilance... I just don't want to do it anymore.
Uh... just kidding! Yeah that would be my April Fool's joke on you. But I made ya look, right? Anyway, nope, I'm not quitting anytime soon. Had a bad first half of last week and a good latter half and ended up with a maintain on this weekly weigh in. I'm not quite sure how that happened as there were definitely 3 days I ate way too much foodstuffs (I have been tracking daily intake & exercise on thedailyplate.com). Could be all the exercise. Last week, I biked in 4 out of 5 days to work, went to a 1.5 hour spinning class (which kicked my arse, btw. literally. it's still complaining), went on a ~ 2 hour long hike with B and 3 other friends, and played tennis with my roommate.
So yeah, B and I are still going strong. We had our first little (but somewhat major) argument last week which was basically just a bunch of little stupid things and miscommunications. All better now though.
I also made cornbread over the weekend and my [roommate's] dog tried to eat it! Luckily she was unsuccessful on the eating part, but unfortunately the cornbread was ruined (by being hairy and gross from landing on the carpet). We'd already eating about 1/5 of it and B was disappointed about not getting to eat more, so I made another pan the following day. I was happy he was a big fan of it -- he had previously said he hadn't found anything better than the Trader Joe's cornbread mix and I just couldn't believe that could be better than from scratch so... I made it.
Ended up being healthier than the TJ's mix also. For those interested, the mix (he has a box and I checked) calls for twice the amount of oil and has sugar listed as the 2nd ingredient. Sugar of course is better than the HFCS/corn syrup variety, but still... of course, he says that the reason he likes it is because it's sweet and not too dry. Anywho, I told him next time we're going to make both and do a taste test... and yes, he better lie if he likes the TJ's better because I will take it personally!
As ya'll know, I've been weighing in once a week, and today was just bad on the scale front. I don't know what got into my scale, but it kept repeating the blasted gain of 3.2 (from last week). Given that I had a good week last week on the eating front, I'm hoping this is some kind of error, and I am planning to weigh in again tomorrow or the day after and hope to see some type of recovery. Better see a recovery! But don't worry people - I actually feel like I'm being pretty good about eating (exercise was not ever really my problem area -- more about regulating the eating) and so I know that even if the scale was weird today, it's all good and I'm doing my thing.
Yesterday, B and I went over to a friend's house for a Easter lunch. I made an awesome salad with baby spinach, dried cherries, mango, granny smith, and pecans. Yum! I don't like dressing, but brought a mandarin ginger for the others. We also had lots of yummy food made by the hosts, including ham, pecan topped sweet potato casserole, cornbread, and pie, but I'm happy to say I ate maybe a little more than necessary, but not to excess.
I biked to work today as well as three days last week. On Saturday, B and I went for a hike on the volcanoes (no longer active -- just the tubes remain). Unfortunately, I'm still suffering from the dratted allergies... but now I'm on two drugs for it (as of last Friday). One is zertac; the other is a nasal spray. Stupid allergies! I hope you are all doing well and I wish you all skinny weeks!
[Update: Scale went down by 2 lbs today. Not all that I had "gained", but it's something. Daily fluctuations strike again...]
Happy St Patrick's Day! Life in the southwest has been going well. One of the perks of living within driving distance of Colorado is tons of great late season skiing, which I got to do last weekend. My friend's aunt has a time share in Pagosa Springs, CO which she wasn't using last weekend, so 5 of us drove up there on Thursday night and skied Friday and Saturday. Skiing was awesome. After four seasons of living in NM, I am a black diamond skier. I also ate it big time attempting a way-too-challenging run called the Knife Ridge... scary! But I did get major props for guts (and probably should have also racked up some points for stupidity). On the food front, I ate in moderation all weekend, but I did splurge and eat some things I don't normally eat, like a slice of [real] bacon one morning and a sausage and pillsbury biscuit another one. Very happy with all of my choices.
Yesterday was mostly a relaxation day filled with loads of laundry (3 to be exact), a Trader Joe's and normal grocery run, scrumptious meatball making (96% lean beef and 99% ground turkey), and some Battlestar Galactica watching. B and I made about 50 meatballs! I gave him some and froze the rest for an easy protein addition to whatever meal I'm eating.
I'm really behind on my tivo...I'm at least one Biggest Loser behind and many many American Idols. ...but I think this is a good thing because it means I've been doing lots of other, non-tv-related things with my time. Such as biking. My roommate and I biked into work for the first time in 2008 last Thursday. It's not a super long ride and is downhill the whole way in... however, the way back is uphill. We were lucky enough to get a tail wind though almost the whole way home, so I can't say it was a hard workout of any sort. ...but it was fun!
Back to work today was not a whole lot of fun. Was super busy at work and I was also exhausted due to having a pretty action-packed weekend. Tonight is definitely going to be an early one. Hope you are all doing well.
i know, i know, i'm overdue. i've been quite the busy bee lately though. last week i had work travel (again) from tuesday through thursday, but the fun part is i was able to then turn it into an extended weekend and hang out with some friends in DC friday and saturday. the week before that, my dad (recently retired) came to visit me for about 4 days. we got in some good hiking and walking while he was here. before that... i don't remember anymore what i was really up to...
here's a pic from my trip to MD/DC last week. it's so good to see old friends!
...and even though I haven't been blogging, I've still been weighing in weekly and updating the chart. the good news, which i'm really happy about, is that the past two weeks have been consistent losses. the bad news is that i went back through my history and my weight today is 0.2 different than it was 1 month ago. however. i'm not focusing on that, because i have all the time in the world (as long as I stay healthy).
my allergies are acting up, which sucks (I blame it on the juniper pollen in the air, which I'm allergic to as well as mulberry). on the good side, it means because i can't taste my food so well I'm not prone to snacking and overeating. but don't get me wrong -- I'd much rather have my taste buds back and fully functional!
things with b are still going really well. we've been hanging out pretty much every weekend and sometimes during the week as well. oh yeah. he met my dad. it went well, but really, in my family the scary parent is my mom. so that test is yet to happen. and we're planning to go skiing with other friends on friday and saturday. this means missing a few st. paddy's day celebrations, but i'm ok with that.
anyway, it's about time for me to get to sleep, but i wanted to write a quick post before another 3 weeks went by. hope everyone is doing well and i wanted to say that i have been reading your blogs and getting lots of inspiration from you all. :-)
working on the eating-when-not-hungry-at-night thing
This past week was a bad one on the scale front. I seem to have some spotting for some reason though this week, so maybe it is partially that. I did have some bad eating days, so that's partially it also. I have been eating out some, but making healthy choices (went out for Pho on Saturday), and trying to cook a lot more (made blueberry muffins for B last weekend, but ended up eating 5 on Sunday. Oops. They were small - or rather, normal sized, rather than what you'd get at a bakery or *$'s).
Mostly I'm just still working on the night snacking = eating when not hungry. It's usually chocolate or sweets of some sort. I think if I can get that under control for good, I'm golden. I'm trying to take a cue from my roommate who just doesn't do it! I know she has in the past, but at this point she's past it. Last night we played DDR for over an hour and watched some TV.
I've also been making a lot of meals from Trader Joe's (frozen turkey balls, teriyaki chicken, pre-mixed pizza dough) where I add my own sides. This week I also bought some kiwi which has been super yummy! Hope you guys are doing well. :-)
[update: celebrating day 2 of no night-eating. tonight i went to B's house and we made homemade pizza (my half had light cheese, mushrooms, green peppers, turkey pepperoni, and onions) and watched Run Lola Run. yum! and good night!]
Last week I was in the DC area Monday through Thursday for work. I tried my best to not sabotage msyelf the way I did on the last trip and did well for the most part (with the exception of a day or two). :-) I've been back since Friday though and totally enjoying being back at home. Yesterday went to the gym with my roommate and did elliptical and some weights, went for a leisurely bike ride with B on Sunday, and went skiing at Pajarito on Saturday. It was a lovely weekend and it's a little sad to be back to the work week, but we all have to make a living somehow, right!? Anyway, I know I haven't been posting as much, but I have still be updating the weight graph on a weekly basis. I haven't quite recovered from that abominable 5.8 after the last trip, but it's slowly going down and that's the whole point! Hope you all are doing swell. Take care!
First of all, thank you SO much to everyone who commented on my blog from yesterday. Honestly, your comments all made me feel so much better that it caused me to realize that I had been feeling worse about the whole scale ordeal than I even let on to myself. I'm feeling a whole lot better today especially since I'm back on track! Did not get to the gym, but did not overeat... so thumbs up to me for that.
I have been getting back into bars lately. I find that sometimes in the mid-afternoon or just before dinner it helps me to tide over my hunger by having a snack -- and I rarely overconsume these (unlike ice cream and toaster strudels...). Anyway, I really like the Fiber One Chocolate Chip Bars, GNU flavor and fiber bars, and certain flavors of clif nectar bars/LARA bars (both of these are date-based and contain 5 or fewer ingredients). When in a crunchy mood, I like the Nature's Valley bars.
I recently had a few LUNA bars and I'm thinking to add these to my repetoire. I think part of the reason that they seem to appealing to me (I used to not like them due to a slightly chalky taste that the bars have sometimes when they're fortified with vitamins) is that there are just so many flavors to choose from. Of the ones I've tried recently, I like the Chocolate Peppermint Stick and Cookies n Cream Delight. What can I say, I'm a big chocolate lover and both of these have major chocolate, not just in the coating but the actual bar itself.
After reading a bunch of reviews, I'm looking forward to trying the Caramel Nut Brownie, Nuts over Chocolate, Chocolate Pecan Pie, and (believe it or not) Chai Tea.
Today is the day that I post my weekly weigh in, and though I did get on the scale this morning, for the first time all week, it was a montrous number. So monstrous I put off posting until now. I was up almost 6 pounds (5.8, who's counting) since last Monday.
Honestly when I got on the scale I was really hoping for a maintain and I wasn't expecting anything THAT bad.
Can I blame it on the weekend out of town? Most certainly. I definitely went to town while out of town and although I did get my one workout in, it was after I got back from travel and it obviously wasn't enough to counteract a weekend of bad eating. I am very unhappy about the number, but I am trying to focus on the fact that I can make this week a good one and bounce back from this. I can do it. I have a whole week before I leave town again, and next time I leave town I am setting some more specific goals.
All today I have been feeling pretty shi**y and I really only think it's partially the scale factor. I think I just had a rough day at work. Here are a few positives, because positive thinking is important. I did go to the gym today for a spinning class, despite the fact that my roommate decided not to go (another friend did go, though). I did not binge today to comfort myself for the downright disastrous weigh in. I did record all my food for the day and I did retroactively record my food for the weekend... and yes, it was bad. But. I did all those things. Again, this is a process and I'm working on it.
There must be something about airports that encourages me to blog. I'm on my way to CA for a recruiting trip. I love having the chance to visit places that I've spent formative years because it inevitably reminds me of the good times that I had while I was in school. Also, another nice thing is that I still have lots of friends spread all over the country so pretty much whenever I travel I have people that I can visit. Tonight after the recruiting event I'll be meeting up with a former roommate and then tomorrow night after the career fair with a good friend from school.
Travel does present its own set of challenges eating wise. It is much harder to plan for random events and for tomorrow at least, I'm mostly at the mercy of what they decide to feed us for lunch. I do have a bunch of various bars with me (Luna, Lara, Fiber One, etc.) and some cheerios, an apple, and jelly snacks, so I shouldn't starve. I'm going to focus on making smarter choices and not binging. That's the goal! I'm still going to eat what I want to eat though. It would be nice if I could get some sushi in. :-)
I also committed to my roommate since we're both traveling this weekend that I will workout at least one time while I'm gone. She did the same, but she's going to FL for an interview and is going to go running on the beach as her exercise! Sweet!
I'm sorry to say that the falafel was just OK. I made it on Wednesday night and I still have lots of leftovers. I think there were a few things I'd do differently if there is a next time with respect to making it that would make it turn out better, but for now I'm not posting the recipe because it was not supremely flavorful. I did try the bulgur plain before I mixed it all in and I was happy with that and would probably make it again as a side starch dish.
B and I have somewhat different eating habits. We both like carbs, but I'm more of a fruit and veggie eater and he's more of a meat eater. As such, after we made the falafel, he made a comment that it was really good and if he made it he'd probably include some kind of meat. Ha. Then it's not falafel though! I think he should make a gyro perhaps sometime. He's also going out of town this weekend to Las Vegas to visit a friend who works out there. It'll be his first time.
Hope everyone has a light Friday and a happy, healthy weekend!
