pause...

hi y'all. i swear i am not dead, nor have i gained back a gajillion pounds or anything--i am just busy as hell. i am not going to bother updating this blog much over the next month. i am moving instead, and i can only handle devoting brain power to so much at once. i am still trying to eat fairly well, but i don't have time to cook as much as usual. i am trying to make large things that will last a few days. i am also getting a ton of exercise in the form of painting and lifting and packing and moving, but i am not even really trying to fit the gym into this picture. i DID, however, go ahead and get a new gym membership over near the new house, so i will be able to hit the ground running once we get moved in. moving day is march 24th, so i will keep you posted. i'm not gone--i'm just on PAUSE until i get moved. i will still be posting on my regular blog. and i WILL be back--i promise.

saturday around the house

food log:

• breakfast: oatmeal with cinnamon, brown sugar, chopped walnuts, and blueberries, 1% milk, tea
• lunch: 1/2 a bowl of minestrone soup and a low fat pimiento cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread. this is called--we're running out of stuff in the house to eat!
• dinner: chili at jenn's house
  
• snacks/other: 3 stolen bites of the hippie's peanut butter toast
• desserts/sweets: none

activities: cleaned the crap out of the house, but that's it. still feeling a tiny bt like i have been hit by a mack truck.

friday night dance party

food log:

• breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with cheese and spices, 1 slice of turkey bacon, and 1 slice of ww toast, LS V8, and tea
• lunch: take-out from neomonde (that place is addictive)--chicken salad, fruit salad, fatoush (which is a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, lemon juice, olive oil, and spices), hummus and 1 ww pita
• dinner: dinner out at porter's with some folks at dance class: had a few pieces of fried calamari, followed by roasted chicken in a broth gravy, mashed sweet potatoes, french beans, and a glass of mark west pinot noir--it wasn't perfectly healthy, but it was one of the healthier choices. i am still calling that the spurge meal of the week, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.
• snacks/other: no morning snack, some cashews in the afternoon, and a late night snack--a wedge of toasted pita with some crab dip on it (not large, thank god, as i know it was a fat bomb!)
• desserts/sweets: a chocolate and vanilla martini

activities: went dancin'

it was awfully fun being out with the folks from dance class, and i was pretty proud of myself for my restraint. it would have been VERY easy to have a re-run of last weekend's wine and martini extravaganza, but i held myself in check with one glass of wine and one martini. it's just too easy to get caught up in the social aspect of eating and drinking. i am still learning to not go crazy when i am out having fun. the dancing part was pretty great, too--i need more of that!

stressful thursday

food log:

• breakfast: oatmeal with blueberries, chopped walnuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon with 1% milk, tea
• lunch: lftover stuff from neomonde from wednesday's dinner
• dinner: pan seared grass-fed strip steaks, carrots, steamed asparagus, and mushrooms sauteed in olive oil and red wine
• snacks/other: cashews in the morning, a slice of w.w. toast and some V-8 in the afternoon
• desserts/sweets: 1 tiny and delicious french dark chocolate truffle

activities: had plans to go to the gym this morning, but woke up feeling ill. bleh. still feel a bit ill, if you want to know the truth.

work was horribly stressful today, and it was all i could do not to buy a 6-pack of beer and drink the whole thing. the fact that i didn't, and that i also didn't eat a bunch of hot wings and ice cream--that, my friends, is a triumph indeed. the fact that i didn't go to the gym is deplorable, but while i can fight my way around a headache, the nausea is a thing i am not good at overcoming. i'm going to bed.

wednesday, practicing a tiny bit of self-dicipline

food log:

• breakfast: 1 egg on 1 slice of whole wheat seeded bread (omega 3-seed from the 9th street bakery), 1/2 a piece of turkey bacon, LS V-8, and tea
• lunch: same pasta as yesterday, pinky. click here for the recipe.
• dinner: went to neomonde before dance class--had some majadra, some cabbage, stewed eggplant, and a chicken thing with squash and carrots and stuff in it. the triumph of dinner is that i stopped eating when i was full. neomonde is healthy, but the girl who always serves me give me a LOT of food. usually, i just eat it because, well--it's great, but this time, i was like--hmmm. i'm actually pretty full. and now i have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. yay for a modicum of self control!
• snacks/other: no snacks in the morning, some almonds in the afternoon
• desserts/sweets: 1 hershey's dark chocolate nugget with almonds

activities: went to the gym! whoo hoo! did weight training for legs, chest, and biceps, some ab work and stretching. i would have done some cardio, too, but i arrived late due to an alarm clock snafu. thank goodness we had dance class tonight--that's my favorite cardio anyway. :) here's to making it to the gym tomorrow and friday, too!

by the way, i sat down last night and wrote out my work-out for today. that really seems to be my key motivator. if I write it down, with a date and everything, it's like i have mentally committed to it. i HIGHLY recommend keeping a workout notebook if you need some motivation.

cold as hell

tuesday
food log:

• breakfast: oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, blueberries, chopped walnuts, and 1% milk, tea
• lunch: whole grain kamut pasta with roasted red peppers, mushrooms, and sundried tomato chicken sausage
• dinner: pan seared spiced pork loin chops, baby carrots cooked in chicken broth with marjoram and sea salt, and steamed broccoli
• snacks/other: nada
• desserts/sweets: 2 hershey's dark chocolate nuggets with almonds, and (i admit with shame) a starbucks oatmeal raisin cookie

monday
food log:

• breakfast: oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, blueberries, chopped walnuts, and 1% milk, tea
• lunch: went to serena with tina, had grilled chicken skewers with BBQ and cucumber yogurt dipping sauces, a side salad with balsamic vinaigrette, and a tiny fruit salad
• dinner: salmon with white wine and lime and stir-fried veggies
• snacks/other:
• desserts/sweets:

see how there are no activities listed there? that's because it's been so freakin' cold that i have stayed in my warm bed instead of getting up. i am done with that, however. tomorrow, i'm getting up, dammit. i feel all sluggish and crappy from being sedentary.

weekend food

saturday
saturday i wasn't TOO bad, although there is still not enough in the way of activity here to be remotely reasonable for aanyone, let alone a person trying to lose some weight!

food log:

• breakfast: 1 egg on sunflower toast AND oatmeal--i was starving for some reason--and tea, of course
• lunch: lunch at neomonde--got a sampling of chicken dishes, some majadra, and some cabbage
• dinner: went out with friends to the irregardless cafe, where it was VERY hard to find something healthy. i did the best i could and ordered a caesar salad and a "small plate" surf and turf that was a tiny steak with 3 shrimp, some roasted potatoes (i ate a few but not all), and some green beans--the bad things were the potatoes and the butter that was unexpectedly melting on my steak. and well--i had about 5 glasses of wine. *cringe*
• snacks/other: morning snack was a piece of toast, no afternoon snack--my lunch was too big
• desserts/sweets: a chocolate martini (yes--after the 5 glasses of wine)

activities: did a little dancing, but not enough to count as a real activity

sunday
sunday. hungover superbowl sunday. SLACKER sunday. let's just say, i declared it a sunday of fuckit. a phase 3 splurge. here's what i can remember:

food log:

• breakfast: a piece of toast, and then i thit the breakfast bar at whole foods: some scrambled eggs, 3 pieces of bacon, 1 piece of link sausage, a whole wheat blueberry pancake, a little bit of quiche, and some potato latkes--i ALMOST snapped and ate a muffin, but i walked away. and of course there was tea. a LOT of tea. with whole milk.
• lunch: a phase two lunch of tuna salad toasted on whole wheat sunflower bread with some LF cheddar
• dinner: okk--here's where it gets ugly. we went to a superbowl party. i made mac and cheese for it--from scratch, so i know exactly how bad it was with it's 3 kinds of cheese, whole quart of whole milk, butter, and semolina-flour pasta. so i had some of that, some crab dip, some taco soup, a couple of phyllo dough and pepperoni pinwheel things, some cilantro jalapeno hummus with w.w. crackers, some HORRIBLE but fabulous little chocolate footballs made of cocoa krispies and dark chocolate. i THINK that's everything, but who knows--i could be leaving something out of the feeding frenzy. the good things are a) i didn't have any alcohol in spite of the HUGE urge to drink a bloody mary and then a beer, b) i sisn't eat ALL the crap i wanted to, and c) i quit eating like a madwoman when i was actually full--miracle.
• snacks/other: see dinner
• desserts/sweets: also see dinner

activities: um--see dinner for that too.

whew--it's kind of tough to admit to the world that i had such a day of completely unhealthy eating. but there it is--and it would show on my body even if my mouth lied about it if i started eating that way every day (again). one day like that once in a while isn't going to kill me, but man--it's so easy to jump on the slippery slope and just fall totally off the healthy eating bandwagon. i am not letting that happen. but wow--reading that whole list makes me a tiny bit ill now that i am past it.

ps--i am backdating this post so things will appear in order. i am playing catch-up due to having been too damned busy to post.

end of a long long week

food log:

• breakfast: oatmeal with blueberries and strawberries and 1% milk, tea
• lunch: went to neomonde and got a chicken kabob, some stewed eggplant, and majadra--YUM!
• dinner: cooked out at harry and jenn's--had some filet mignon, grilled veggies, and roasted cauliflower with a glass of great red wine (pedroncelli mother clone zin)
• snacks/other: some strawberries and almonds in the afternoon, no morning snack
• desserts/sweets: none

activities: also none

another snowy thursday morning

food log:

• breakfast: one egg on whole wheat sunflower toast with two slices of turkey bacon, LS V-8, and of course, tea
• lunch: chicken chili
• dinner: heh--a bowl of cereal--now NOT creative is that? the hippie's got game night, and i was just tired and didn't feel like cooking--i had a bowl of kashi cinnamon harvest with 1% milk
• snacks/other: nada
• desserts/sweets: 1 hersheys dark chocolate nugget with almonds

activities: nada on that front, too. i have been super-stressed this week and not sleeping well, which means getting up at 5:30am hasn't been working out so well. it'sa catch 22--i know i would feel better if i were working out, and i can tell my body is missing it. BUT. i have been so tired, i just can't get it together. bleh. but i will--the stress is calming down a bit at last...

the day in the middle of the week

food log:

• breakfast: oatmeal with a little bit of brown sugar and a lot of cinnamon, some sliced strawberries and some blueberries, and some 1% milk, and i know this will come as a shock: tea
• lunch: went to lunch ith tina and ordered a turkey sandwich on cracked wheat bread, which turns out to be fluffy hite bread with a few pieces of cracked wheat in it--MISTAKE. i ate it because i was starving, but i won't order it again. watch out people--if it doesnt say WHOLE wheat, it ain't whole wheat. annoying.
• dinner: eting out again, which sucks. we went to chilis though, which is easier than many places to get something good--i had their guiltless grill salmon, which was some grilled salmon with mixed steamed vegetables (read: broccoli and some bits of other stuff), and black beans--it was pretty good.
• snacks/other: no morning snack, had some almonds in the afternoon, and a slice of whole wheat sunflower toast after dance class
• desserts/sweets: none today

activities: two hours of dance class--whoo hoo!

monday and tuesday--the busiest two days of the week

tuesday
food log:

• breakfast: cheesy eggs and 1/2 a grapefruit
• lunch: oven roasted turkey on whole wheat with lettuce and tomato, a little mayo, and a big bottle of water
• dinner: i made some cicken chili
• snacks/other: totally forgot a morning snack. had some cilantro jalapeno hummus with cucumbers int he afternoon
• desserts/sweets: sliced strawberries with about 1/4 tsp brown sugar and some 1% milk, 1 small piece of dark belgian chocolate (note: 1 small piece, means 1 section of a neuhaus candy bar, which is a little bit smaller than one of those hershey's nugget thingys)

activities: nada today. cramps were too bad to even think about it.

i don't know how the rest of you deal with the pms and first couppld of days of dms, but man--it makes me useless. i haven't given up or anything, and i am still mentally in a good place. but i know that some days it's just not going to happen. tomorrow i have two dance classes lined up, and then i will try to hit the gym on thursday and friday. if i make all of that, i will feel pretty good.

monday
food log:

• breakfast: two eggs scrambled with thyem, two slices of turkey bacon (from applegate farms, which was WAY better than the butterball stuff we tried first), LS V-8, and tea
• lunch: lunch at chili's with harry--got the chicken fajitas ith no sour cream and no tortillas, with sides of broccoli and black beans. yummy, but too much food.
• dinner: leftovers from sunday: grilled chicken breast, sweet potato, and some sauteed spinach
• snacks/other: no snacks
• desserts/sweets: 2 small pieces of belgian dark chocolate with praline

activities: morning gym plan crushed by new home inpection. then i wokred late and failed to go after work--there was just NO TIME.

sunday skinny time again

the sunday skinny:

01/28/07	current	goal	lost this week	lost so far	left to lose
weight:	207.6 lb	160.0 lb	-.8 lb	6.2 lb	47.6 lb
body fat:	???	25 %	???	???	???

food log:

• breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1/4 cup blueberries and a few chopped walnuts with cinnamon and brown sugar, tea
• lunch: a whole wheat wrap with tuna salad
• dinner: grilled chicken with a rosemary and lavender-based spice rub, sauteed spinach with garlic, a small sweet potato with a tiny bit of butter, and cinnamon and brown sugar
• snacks/other: no morning snack, a little bit of cilantro jalapeno hummus (made by THK from 28 cooks) with cucumber and red pepper
• desserts/sweets: 1 little piece of belgian dark chocolate

activities: um, let's see... knitting... cooking...

so. i am up .8 pounds this week, which i attribute to the following: 1) too much eating out, 2) not enough time in the gym, 3) pms and The Bloat. the gym, is of course, the biggest factor here as it always is for me. this week has to go better, so i will just be in the red again next week, which would suck. so. not all weeks can be golden, and there's no point in beating my self up about it--some weeks are just going to be harder than others. this one was particularly stressful, which with that whole house-buying thing WHILE pms-ing. it's just not a recipe for success. the good news is that i really kept making an effort to be conscious of what and how much i was eating, and that's definitely something. today is the start of a whole new week, so yay for that. :)

playing catch-up again

i haven't fallen totally off the wagon, but i HAVE been really busy the last few days. here's the food logs for the second half of the week, all at once. note the lack of activities. yeah. pms + house buying = not a lot of working out. more on this later.

saturday
food log:

• breakfast: big breakfast: oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar, 1 egg, and 2 pieces of canadian bacon, tea
• lunch: didn't really eat lunch
• dinner: dinner at the puryears: mussels and w.w. toasted baguette appetizer, grilled mahi mahi with white nectarine salsa, roasted cauliflower, grilled vegetables and 1 slice of whole grain bread
• snacks/other: morning snack was 1 egg to hold me till breakfast, afternon snack was a little bit of leftover chicken salad from neomonde, had a glass of wine with dinner
• desserts/sweets: none

friday
food log:

• breakfast: 2 cheesy eggs and 2 slices of canadian bacon, LS V-8 and tea
• lunch: whole wheat wrap with neomonde chicken salad and bibb lettuce, and a small caesar salad
• dinner: splurge meal of the week, which SUCKED. we went to angus barn with some work friends of the hippie's, and the company was way way better than the food. i had some cheese and crackers, olives, and spinach salad with warm pppyseed dressing, a bacon wrapped filet with no flavor whatsoever, sauteed mushrooms, 1/2 of a stuffed potato, and two bites of creamed spinach. angus barn, for all its formidable reputation, is expensive and crappy. trust me--go to outback instead. or better yet, grill your own filet.
• snacks/other: no snacks. had a glass of wine with dinner
• desserts/sweets: none

thursday
food log:

• breakfast: 1/2 cup of oatmeal with 1/4 cup of blueberries, cinnamon and 1 tsp of brown sugar, tea
• lunch: leftover mediterranean chicken stew
• dinner: went to neomonde--had an artichoke heart stuffed with lamb and pine nuts, some chicken stewed with zucchini and carrots, some majadra (lentils and brown rice thing), cabbage delight (cabbage and spices and bulgar wheat)
• snacks/other: no morning snack, afternoon snack was almonds
• desserts/sweets: none

wednesday is for dancing

food log:

• breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1/4 coup blueberries, 1tsp brown sugar and cinnamon, tea
• lunch: 1/2 a tuna salad wrap with lettuce and alphalpha sprouts on a honey wheat wrap and a small caesar salad that had WAY too much dressing on it, more tea
• dinner: went to chilis before dance class as there was no time to cook (amy came--hey amy!)--i had the steak and portabella fajitas with no tortillas, and i added black beans and broccoli instead of black beans and rice. i also skipped the sour cream, because i hate sour cream. it was all way better than i expected, so yay!
• snacks/other: had some almonds in the afternoon, but i completely forgot my morning snack--remembering snacks is a problem for me as i am not a natural snacker. however, i am really trying to keep my blood sugar levels pretty constant, so it's important that i work on this
• desserts/sweets: none

activities: dance class was tonight, plus we had a private dance lesson before, so that's two hours of dancing. i have to say, about 5 minutes before the end, i was just DONE. DONE!

still not feeling deprived or like anything is a big deal. this week is weird so far because of how little i have cooked. and in fact, i won't be cooking until satuday if plans go as they are likely to--tomorrow night's game night so i get to have neomonde for dinner, and friday we are going out for steaks. both have plenty of healthy options available, so yay for that. saturday i will be back to cooking full throttle. :)

notice how i don't count breakfast as cooking? i wonder why...

catching up

tuesday
food log:

• breakfast: 2 eggs with thyem and canadian bacon, LS V-8, and tea
• lunch: leftover 15 bean soup
• dinner: mediterranean chicken stew
• snacks/other: morning was a wedge of cheese and afternoon was a little leftover chicken salad, had about 1/2 a glass of red wine with dinner
• desserts/sweets: 1 small piece of neuhaus chocolate

activities: weight training for chest, biceps, and legs, some ab work and stretching

monday
food log:

• breakfast: 1/2 cup of oatmeal with 1/4 cup of blueberries, cinnamon, and 1 tsp of sugar; tea
• lunch: curried chicken salad and bbb lettuce in a whole wheat wrap and 1 medium tomato cut up with salt and pepper
• dinner: out to dinner with eric and kylie at bonefish, which turns out to be WAY less diet-friendl than you might think. i ordered shrimp and scllops "pan-asian style," which i thought would be stir-fried or sauteed, and instead was grilled with a sticky-sweet sauce all over it. next time i will order it naked. that said, the wilted spincah and steamed vegetables that came with it were great, as was my caesar.
• snacks/other: had a glass of wine with dinner. morning snack was a wedge of LF cheese, and well--i forgot my afternoon snack
• desserts/sweets: 1 hershey's special dark miniature with peanuts

activities: nada

sunday: last day of phase one

the sunday skinny:

01/21/07	current	goal	lost this week	lost so far	left to lose
weight:	206.8 lb	160.0 lb	3.2 lb	7.0 lb	46.8 lb
body fat:	???	25 %	???	???	???

whoo hoo! 3.2 more pounds! not too bad for the first two weeks--i know this is going to drop off dramatically as we move into phase two of south beach, but i am still pleased with the progress so far. actually i am a little surprised, given how slack i have been about working out the past few days. i definitely could have done better. i am still working on making it just a part of my daily routine.

and for today:

food log:

• breakfast: 1 egg with 1 slice of canadian bacon and 2 slices of turkey bacon, LS V-8, tea (many cups)
• lunch: garden salad with smoked tomato dressing and a grilled shrimp skewer
• dinner: 15-bean soup with ham--YUMMY and very comforting on a cold rainy sunday!
• snacks/other: cashews in the morning, and a wedge of light LC cheese int he afternoon
• desserts/sweets: none

activities: heh--i am not sure knitting counts for this type of activity. :)

today was more cooking than knitting for me, but i managed to fit in some of each. i was trying to get a bit ahead on come cooking for the week, which is almost a necessity when you are trying to be healthy--otherwise you end up eating out more, which is very hard when you are trying to be good. now, aoo i need to to pump my activity level up more. evn on sundays--i should start going for a walk in the morning or something. oh well--one step at a time. tomorrow we start phase two--oatmeal for breakfast!

saturday night out on the town

food log:

• breakfast: 2 eggs with thyme, two pieces of turkey bacon, LS V-8 and tea--same thing we always eat, pinky
• lunch: grilled chicken caesar salad from cafe carolina
• dinner: splurge dinner out at 18 seaboard. i had homemade pasta with pulled chicken and roasted parsnips in a broth and garlic based sauce--SO GOOD--and a field green salad with a rosemary vinaigrette with a glass of red wine and a glass of champagne
• snacks/other: no snacks for me today
• desserts/sweets: a lovely small piece of chocolate paris cake from hereghty

activities: house cleaning like a fiend, but that's about it

went to see pink martini and the symphony tonight with a group of friends--definitely had the splurge meal of the week tonight as well. i spent my whole day running errands and house cleaning, so i spent no time at the gym. next week i have to do better--i have been a real slacker the past few days, and i can FEEL it!

busy friday

food log:

• breakfast: two cheesy scrambled eggs with 2 slices of turkey bacon, LS V-8, and tea
• lunch: leftover luch from thursday--1/2 a chicken breast stuffed with spinach and some caesar salad
• dinner: grilled steaks, mushrooms, and red and yellow peppers
• snacks/other: turkey roll-up with swiss cheese in the morning, and almonds in the afternoon, more tea
• desserts/sweets: none

activities: nada--see below

had grand plans to go to the gym and kick butt after work, but alas--there were houses to be seen. our realtor is very busy, so we go when she calls. we were right next to jenn and harry's so we ended up spontaneously grilling out over there late. fun, but no gym for me.

snowy morning => no gym

food log:

• breakfast: two eggs with thyme, 2 slices of turkey bacon, LS V-8, and 3 cups of tea--it was dark and cold, i had extra tea today
• lunch: chicken stuffed with spinach and LF ricotta, small caesar salad
• dinner: salmon with white wine and lime, roasted cauliflower (my new favorite), and french beans
• snacks/other: an herbed turkey and cheese roll-up, and 15 almonds in the afternoon
• desserts/sweets: none

activities: not much today. i was a slacker this morning.

when i woke up this morning, it was snowing and sleeting, and it was dark and cold. i admit i STARTED to get up and go to the gym, but then--i let the bed win. it was warm and cozy and i just lay there for a minute listening to the rain fall before i dozed right back off again. it was amazingly peaceful, and i am not really sorry. i AM sorry that i am not going to make it to the gym at ALL today, since i have plans for tonight that i am unwilling to break. i guess it's all a matter of balance and priority. i will just try to do some extra lifting tomorrow so i at least hit every muscle group this week, and then i will add something cardio on sunday, even if it's just a walk through my neighborhood.

it's really weird how laid back i have been about this whole thing the past couple of weeks. in the past, i have always tended to get emotional and annoyed about the whole process. you know--beat myself up for every small failure, pat myself on the back for 3 days over every success, and eventually just get overwhelmed by the whole thing. so far, that is just not happening this time. and man, is that easier! plus i have now developed a pretty big repertoire of healthy recipes in my head, so that's easier, too. i don't know--i sure hope this feeling lasts!

posting early today, as i know i won't have time later, but i will edit if i eat anything i'm not planning to or end up slogging through the snow for 3 hours or anything like that. :)

damn, it's cold today!

food log:

• breakfast: two poached eggs with black beans and salsa, two slices of turkey bacon--a first for me, LS V-8, and two cups of tea
• lunch: leftover faux-jitas
• dinner: grilled beef burgers with cheese and tomatillo salsa, green beans with lemon, and asparagus salad--we had dinner with amy (thanks amy!) before dance class
• snacks/other: morning--i totally forgot to have a snack in the morning, but i am thinking that's ok since my breakfast was bigger than usual. had some almonds in the afternoon.
• desserts/sweets: none.

activities: weight training for legs, some ab work and stretching, plus dance class :)

making it to the gym this morning was a near thing. it was COLD, and fergus had come to cuddle up with me while i smacked the snooze alarm a few times. getting out of bed was haaaaaard. but i made it! go me! i did skip the gym cardio because my legs were so tired from the weights. i have decided i am ok with that since i have dance class tonight. tomorrow--no skimping.