Hi EP land buddies. Checking in to tell you all I'm still doing well and still plodding away. I'm proving this to myself that I can do this by eating healthily without a structured meal plan and that the occasional splurge is not going to derail me... in fact, it will bolster my confidence that this can be a long-term dealio. Last week, I went to the gym for spinning on Monday, tae bo on Friday, and 9-10 miles of (flat) roller blading yesterday.
I've been cooking a lot still too. Last night, after going roller blading, (B biked), we made a homemade pizza using the trader joe's garlic herb pizza dough. In my opinion, it was better tasting than the whole foods whole wheat one (much cheaper too! only 99cents for enough dough for one pizza), although it probably had less fiber, and in reality I should next time compare the TJ's whole wheat for a more fair comparison. Anyway, I digress. My half had mushrooms, green peppers, and onions, and his half had turkey pepperoni, green peppers, and onions. Yummy!
Yesterday morning we made waffles with berry syrup. The night before (Saturday), we made shrimp fried rice (with carrots, peas, eggs, baby corn, and green onions), which although fried rice is my "easy meal", turned out really well for some reason. I can't remember everything else I made before that, but I feel like I've been cooking a lot lately. This also means I currently have lots of leftovers though, which is good for the week ahead! Over the weekend I also got the ingredients for a baked version of falafel (I'll post the recipe if it turns out well) that I want to try. You clean eaters out there will be happy to know the falafel calls for bulgur!
I also had a few indulgences, including the pecan chocolate chip squares that I brought over to my friend's house for UFC watching (and they were extremely popular, to my delight, which meant I had no leftovers ) and the cake and ice cream and the birthday party on Friday, to mention a few. (side note: I also realized I cannot buy toaster strudels because they are so good I cannot eat just one.) B made homemade salsa for the UFC matches which was also roaringly successful. It makes me really happy that he can hang with my friends.
Anyway, typing away here and I'm going to be late for work. I hope you all get off the week to a great start! Oh yeah, and PS: I'm down another 1.2 this week!
I kept my goal of not weighing in daily and only weighed myself once between last Monday and today. And... as of today, I was down 1 pound from last week! Whoo hoo! I have to run to work, but some weekend highlights including 4 miles of uphill roller blading, a birthday party, a pretty long walk, quality time with B, a little bit of DDR, and watching the movie Cars.
Last week, I had 5 totally on track days of eating and 2 where I consumed more than I wanted to, as per my food long. Here's to another losing week! Today is back to the gym.
I haven't made a new years resolution in a while -- at least a few years, because I tend to break them and get demotivated. This year, my roommate told me that she wants to try to lose 10 lbs. I too would like to lose weight, but I would also like to focus on healthy eating and activities. I think it's awesome to have a buddy in this -- a real life buddy, not that y'all aren't great because you are -- but someone who actually belongs to my gym and I can go to classes with and cook with. Both of which we have been doing, I might add.
Tonight we went to spinning followed directly by yoga. The spinning is always pretty intense for me, but tonight it was topped off because I went skiing (Santa Fe) yesterday (with B and his friends, no less -- my first time meeting his friends!) so my quads were sore pretty much from the beginning of the class. I'll have to plan better if I ever decide to do that again because I got really sweaty and then really wet and cold after spinning at the beginning of yoga. Still, it felt awesome afterward.
Yesterday, my roomie cooked a yummilicious recipe with couscous, spinach, and shrimp. I did top it off with hot chocolate and a homemade walnut chocolate chip cookie (more on where that came from later), but I stopped there and I am really happy with myself for that.
Saturday night I cooked spinach lasagna with ground turkey which I got from a combination of a recipe from WW and a recipe from Williams Sonoma healthy eating. I still have half the pan left even after a successful dinner party/double date with B and my roommate and her potential interest. Her potential interest brought over homemade, still warm chocolate chip walnut cookies, and of course I had one. But just one! Then we played DDR (dance dance revolution) and Singstar (karaoke game) for the PS2. All in all a fun evening.
I also officially weighed in today for the first time since before Christmas. I really wasn't sure what to expect. Came in at 131.2. So yeah, it's not awesome from a weight point of view, but my opinion was it could have been a lot higher also and I wouldn't have been surprised. I haven't decided yet, but I'll be weighing in either every week or every half week. No more daily weighing. We'll see how it goes.
Life has been busy on my end, but in a good way. I have book club on Wednesday and am looking forward to cooking for that. I'm going to do my best to check on everyone, but know that I am reading your blogs even if I don't comment on every post.
I know many of you are not doing the blog-thing this time of year, but I figured it is time for an update. I'm back in Chicago with the fam until January 1st. For most people this is the worst time of year eating-wise, and I won't claim to be above some temptations, but I will say this: my parents definitely are healthy eaters and usually it rubs off on me. My mom definitely eats a lot volume-wise, but if you look closely, it doesn't lead to weight gain because it is mostly vegetables and fruit. She eats very little in the way of fats, meats, and limits her desserts to just one (or none). My dad, though he loves sweets, just doesn't eat them if they're not around the house. Even if they're in the house, he seems to have become wise with what he eats... and neither of them does the binge eating that has plagued me in the past. So I have a lot to learn from them. :-)
On the food front I've been doing pretty well since I've been home. What can I say, I get all this healthy-but-yummy food prepared for me and who can really say no to that! It's been nice not having to go to work this week as well. I've been catching up with some old friends and playing DDR, which my dad got my mom this Christmas. It's pretty funny, but true!
Hope you are all doing well and have a great few couple of days before we ring in the new year.
thank you for all of your comments re: the income. so far it still hasn't been an issue/come up (other than in my head). i've been having so much fun with him, guys! we went skiing last weekend with 5 of my other friends and it was just a total blast. we happen to be the same level skiers, coincidentally.
i was on the chair lift with one of my girlfriends and mentioned the income thing as her b/f makes significantly less (in fact, he didn't come along because skiing is not what one would call a cheap sport and he is saving for christmas presents...) and she also had some good thoughts along the lines of how so many other things are more important and she'd rather pay for him if that's what it comes down to. also, spending habits are more important as sas3 pointed out -- being frugal rather than buying every new toy as soon as it comes out is important to me.
i think my hangup -- if you can even call it that -- is that i've never been in this position before. he's younger (ok, by less than a year, but still), he's been working for less time (I graduated early), and he has only dated younger women previously. haha. but i like him so much despite the other stuff.
things i like about him: he's really chill and goes with the flow on pretty much everything. he's fairly nerdy (tech savvy, although really i value his toilet-fixing skills above the computer stuff since I can do all that myself...), but honestly is probably the least nerdy of my previous two serious relationships. the best thing though is how nice he is... he is just super thoughtful and he seems to really like me too. i love nice guys. of course, when we talked about his past relationships (last night) it definitely occurred to me that they sound so different (both from me and from each other) that I started wondering exactly what he's looking for. is he just not that picky?
anyway, he left this morning for holiday and I'm leaving to go back to Chicago on Friday morning. I'm sure I'll miss him a little since we've been spending a fair amount of time together. This has turned into a doozy of a post and I haven't even addressed any of the EP related things yet. I haven't gotten on the scale since before the cookie party and not really wanting to right now. Eating has been off and on and I haven't really been resisting all the goodies at the office. However, yesterday I went to another spinning class and got my butt kicked again, which is always a good feeling!
uhhh, yeah. so the moderation thing didn't work out so well with me and the holiday cookie exchange. oops. yeah. moving on. tomorrow is a new day...and what's more -- it's a friday! whoo hoo! work will be busy (doh) because there are customers in town, but on the good side, that means the day should pass fairly quickly hopefully!
so about B. he came also tonight to the holiday cookie party. he's quiet, but gets along with my friends, which is definitely a good thing. and he's much less quiet when it's just me around than in a big group of people he doesn't know (go figure ). i haven't met his friends yet, but it's more a matter of it not working out the one time b/c i had a party of my own i'm wondering how often he really hangs out with his friends...
he is younger than me by just over half a year, but it's kinda still a deal because i have never really dated anyone younger than me with success. it has just never worked out... i've just always found younger guys to be immature. so far, this one seems better. at first i was thinking that maybe as the years pass we both get older and hence the maturity gap might contract, but then was talking to a mid-40ish older sister/aunt type who assured me that, "it (maturity level) doesn't get better with age." LOL.
but I'm on a tangent. he is a web developer / graphic designer type. i'm not sure about that one... i think it's cool, but -- OH OK i'll come out and say it: the income level is not super high. i haven't decided if that's important to me or not yet. i know it shouldn't be. how would you feel if you made more than your sig. other? by a lot.
he's skinny and taller than me by more than enough. i like skinny guys, so it's all good. so far i don't have too many hangups with him. i'm trying not to get too over excited about this one, but sometimes it's hard not to. oh yeah. and he's cute! super cute!
AGH. ok. I really must get to sleep. I have a presentation at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Silly me! Take care everyone. =) And have a wonderful weekend.
Ok, so by now this is going to sound like a broken record, but I'm not able to comment on anyone's blogs (either). It has been a bit frustrating. I'm thinking I should save the comments somewhere -- or post the comments to my own blog instead :P
I've been really busy the last few weeks with lots of holiday festivities both at work and on the home front. I've been having a ball with my new roommate and we've been hanging out at home cooking, playing DDR, and even going to the gym. I dragged her to yoga last week and this week she dragged me to a spinning class (last night) which kicked my butt big time! Wow.
Last night, B and I made cookies for my annual cookie exchange party on Thursday. We did it last night because I have book club tonight. See, really busy. Anyway, he made peanut butter and I made amish ginger cookies. Neither is very healthy, but since my plan is all about moderation, I'm thinking it's good. I did have two cookies last night when they were still warm =)
Things with B are going swimmingly. He's a really nice guy. Last weekend he came over and fixed my toilet.
Take care everyone and I'll be reading if not commenting on your journeys!
Thanks to all of the people who have written to bring me back from the virtual dead.I am still alive, still well, still healthy, though we could all improve, and today a year older.I haven't felt much like blogging lately because I have been feeling like I haven't been making the positive changes and the standard I've held for myself.However, I do still read blogs and I definitely am here.I'm just not ready to go back to the structure of a program, I think.I've been reflecting and watching friends and seeing what works for different people.
A lot of changes happening in my life lately.Today I'm getting a roommate.Though I've gotten used to living alone after having done it for the past two years or so, I'm actually fairly excited because she is a good friend of mine (rather than a random person).Unfortunately, the circumstances surrounding her move are sad: she is going through a divorce, but I'm ready to make the best of it.This means I'll also be getting a dog!Yikes!
Also, I've been on a few dates with one fellow.Hard to believe, since I seem to be such a commitment phobe, but he's a nice one.We have gone to the movies, had various meals, gone hiking, gone to an art museum, and seen more movies with each other.I've been on 5-6 dates, which is a record for me for one individual since my last bf (quite a while ago now).And I kissed him and it wasn't disastrous.All good things.He's going to be meeting my friends tonight at a little get together at my house, so we'll see what happens.
I'm thinking of picking up Chinese take out (yes, very healthy, I know), and have told others to bring over wine.I'm keeping an eye out for the portion control factor. [Update: Did really well here! Ate a moderate portion of food and had one scoop of ice cream and one two-bite brownie. Oh and a glass of wine. Go me.]
I've really felt very special today.Thank you to all my friends out there; you definitely make my world a better place.
hey everyone -- i'm back from my whirlwind of travels and am glad to be back (well at least until thanksgiving). the weight loss ... well really, the weight loss mostly fell by the wayside for the most part during travel (read: i had crab cakes! and cinnamon rolls!), but i'm feeling positive.
i had a big nsv yesterday when i forced myself to go to weigh in. i *really*really* wasn't looking forward to it and had prepared a number of excuses for myself (for example, i was going on a hike), but i decided to just do it. and you know what? i felt better immediately. i can't really explain it - i think just having someone cheering you on helps tremendously. i also was reminded of the fact that while my diet hasn't been the healthiest, i have been keeping up the exercise. doesn't change the fact that i'm not ready to post to the weight graph yet though! :P some things never change.
after that, i ended up going on the aforementioned hike - with a new friend. i've actually been on a number of pseudo-dates recently and have met some cool people. not sure what's going on with any of them - some are definitely firmly in the friend territory, but it's something to do and it's kinda fun. =) On friday night, we went out to the flying star cafe (oh- and i ordered the matzo ball chicken soup, which was definitely another NSV for me) and had some pretty great conversation.
at the end of the night, we decided to go out for a hike the next day. it's definitely one of the nice things about living somewhere with the mountains practically in your backyard. the hike was so much fun! every time i'm out there, i just remember how fortunate i am and i feel very at peace -- AND it's a great workout! we were out there for about 4.5 hrs yesterday including lunch (i brought an english muffin with pb n j, yogurt, and cassava cake).
i've definitely over the past few months had to reflect a lot on how much this weight loss means to me. at this point, i can say that i'm not willing to give up things like eating out every now and then and going over to friends' houses for food. what i am willing to do though is to work on portion control, continue exercising, making healthy choices most of the time, and enjoying life!
-- Umm... EP deleted two of my posts... so for posterity, I'm copying them here. Feel free to stop reading now; you've probably already seen these!
11/02 TOM hit two days ago. I made it through the Thai incident without scathes. I wish I could say it ended there, but unfortunately after getting home last night I felt the need to indulge in chocolate in a bad way. WHY did I freakin have that stuff in the house? Well, because one of my friends brought over a big bag of hershey miniatures when we carved pumpkins on Monday. And I should have gotten rid of it, by any means possible, but I didn't. I'm frustrated with myself. I'm pretty sure this week's wi is going to be in the red and it makes me not even want to go in and further depress myself.
I will attempt to add some good news to this post... I ran 6 miles yesterday before I got on the plane to come home.
I will make today as good as possible. I'm already not looking forward to today because I have a ton of work to catch up on before I head out of town again (for work, this time not a fun recruiting trip) on Monday.
10/31 Hi everyone. I'm in the midst of my recruiting trip and so far it's been going really well. They let me go back to my alma mater occasionally, but I have to say this time has been THE MOST nostalgic. It's only my second time back here since graduating and the first time, the weather was so bad that I basically saw nothing of campus. This time though, I walked across the entire campus, into college town, ate at a dining hall for lunch (healthy sushi and fruit!), and almost cried just seeing everything. In a good way. I feel like college was part of a different lifetime for me.
I also feel old because I graduated so long ago that I know no one anymore on campus (students-wise). I did drop by an old prof who I TA'd for and that was just really weird. Everything was so different and yet so the same. It's strange how a place can have such an immense effect on a person. Wow.
Anyway, so far I've been doing OK on the food front. Obvs., it's always tougher being away from home and doing mostly all meals out, but I'm trying to make it work. Mostly I'm working on portion control and I think so far I've been doing well. We will see what Master Scale says when I return, but I am not beating myself up for anything.
I wish I were getting more exercise though - that's one area I definitely feel lacking. I have no excuse. There is a gym at my hotel. Definitely tomorrow I'm going -- that is a goal and now it's written down on virtual paper. =) One thing I realized though walking around campus: I used to get my daily dose of exercise just walking to and from classes! Wow! To think I used to do all that exercise AND go to the gym and now half the time I just sit on my ass at work... no wonder the weight has crept up since then!
Well, I should get ready to meet a colleague for dinner. We are doing Thai food tonight, which I know is not the most healthy... here is my plan: - Will not getting anything with peanut sauce or coconut milk. - Will get a soup to start off with or a salad if they have a small one. - Will ask for extra veggies in my dish, which will probably be a noodle dish. - Will only eat half of what they give me and dump the rest (no fridge in hotel room :- ah well probably better that way anyway).
Happy Halloween! I hope all of my EP friends are doing well and will check in with you as soon as possible (or as soon as I'm back at home, whichever comes first!).
unpredictable as always, my scale is down 1.6 lbs this morning from yesterday morning. (add to that that yesterday morning it was up from the previous day, which was of course annoying on a wi day!). i want to count yesterday as a fluke and update my weight chart so it takes a bit of a downward turn, but since I'm only logging (for now, unless times get really desperate) my Saturday WIs, it will just have to "weight" until next week. BUT... it still does make me feel a bit happier. stupid scale. why does it affect us so?
just keep reminding myself: must look at the trend rather than the daily fluctuations and eventually it will show a downward trend if i stick with the plan and the good eating! i played DDR yesterday again for the 300-cal burn period. I ate properly and ate a Healthy Choice panini sandwich for dinner - it was quite good! I also watched a movie and had some light popcorn and 1/2 a glass of wine -- not on the plan, but definitely an appropriate splurge.
) and the cake and ice cream and the birthday party on Friday, to mention a few. (side note: I also realized I cannot buy toaster strudels because they are so good I cannot eat just one.) B made homemade salsa for the UFC matches which was also roaringly successful. It makes me really happy that he can hang with my friends.
). i haven't met his friends yet, but it's more a matter of it not working out the one time b/c i had a party of my own i'm wondering how often he really hangs out with his friends... 
