I'm a loser baby

That's right! I have lost 5 big ones. Five-alive, five-arino, five-aling-a-ding-dong. okay, I'll stop. But I am pretty happy that all of "No thank yous" to second servings or any unnatural food has made me five lbs lighter in about 2 weeks. I also don't feel very deprived. I make more nutritious choices now and I almost like the challenge. (I know that sounds weird) For example, last night I was out in the North End and how can I NOT have a pasta dish when I am in the North End? So I ate a little less then normal yesterday throughout the day and then went to town on a gnocchi marinara. (Deeelicious) I had this instead of any meat sauce or cream sauce and the portions weren't that large either. Also today I had a little larger lunch, I am balancing it by having a light dinner (I'm thinking a creative salad of some sorts!)

All and all, I feel really motivated and I feel like this is something I can stick to. I look forward to my cheat-days, but balance the rest.

Woohooo!

This weekend I am hoping to plan out my week meal-wise so that I can come up with new innovative healthy recipes and shop for them and take care of some prep work so that I can easily make some healthy and tasty dinners.

Cheeseburger Paradise

Alright, alright...I caved. I ATE A CHEESEBURGER. And dammmmn was it good. But in my defence, we couldn't find a restaurant open and we ended up going to to a place where the only non-seafood options were Ribs or a Burger. So I had the burger with no bun (and there really was very little cheese on it.) and I had a salad instead of fries. And I calculated it up that I walked about 6 or 7 miles in total yesterday (went to the Boston fireworks on the Charles! So fun). I had thought about considering yesterday one of my cheat days, but I don't think a homemade breakfast sandwich (whole wheat light english muffin, egg beaters, some LF cheddar, and a Morning Star Sausage Patty) and a cheeseburger all day qualify for a cheat day, especially when you calculate all that walking. Oh, and I had four beers in total yesterday...but still with all the walking, I didn't "feel" like I ate bad.

But either way, today is a new day! I just had a coffee cup full of fresh berries from the farmer's market (so yummy) and am going to make a spinach salad for lunch. I have been wracking my brain trying to think of a nice healthy place for us to go for dinner on Monday. So far I came up with The Otherside Cafe. I love this place. I've never eaten here, but I've gone here a lot for happy hour and I've always wanted to eat there. They have vegetarian selections as well a raw menu and lots of healthy options. There menu is hard to find online and I hear that they recently updated it. But they have interesting sandwich combos, great apps (unique veggie dips). That might be a good option. I am still going to keep looking....stay tuned.

Today I wan to go out and buy a scale and I've gotta get more water going so today I'm going to focus on that. I am also dog-sitting my friends dog this weekend so I am looking forward to a long dog walk this evening and tomorrow morning!

the 4th!

timing is everything.....which is why the 4th of july coinciding with the fourth day of the new health kick is just unfortunate. things haven't been going so well in terms of working out (knee killing me, as well as god awful blisters from walking DC in flip flops) and eating (and drinking). i'd say today is a new day, but headed to a "field day" party with heaving drinking and hamburger/hotdog eating. the only saving grace is it will be full of activities such as beer pong, 3 legged races, egg tosses, and tug o' war - all of which are very adequate calorie burners.

pilates video is saving grace in terms of working out - did 40 minutes this morning and feel much better about myself. also made a delicious smoothie with banana, strawberry, and local honey (for allergies - you should buy some at the farmers market! - check out article). made a yummy dinner last night out of spinach fettuccine with lemon, olive oil, garlic and some parm cheese.

goals for next week...

• work on blog
• eat healthy while in boston
• figure out heart rate monitor
  
• bike twice
  
• pilates three times
• try to only drink two nights (maybe attend AA meeting?)

Friday (kinda)

I am very proud of myself! I was supposed to meet my friend Sarah for dinner tonight and instead I suggested that we make veggie pizzas and have a couple beers and watch a movie instead. This saves some cash AND calories. Oh, and because I lack focus and motivation at work today, I saw this article that I thought was very interesting: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/07/02/cl.produce.preparation/index.html

I've been trying to be good about posting useful links on the right hand side of this blog. Today I added "hungry girl". Although I don't always agree with what hungry girl says (she uses fat free cheese in all her recipes and that is just awful!) she does have some good tips and recipes. For example she suggests using pumpkin puree in baking instead of eggs and oil, which sounds like a great idea to me...

I'm glad that you did not ask the little girls what sweeteners they use and what the calorie count was. I agree, it is your civic duty to buy lemonade, just watch out for when they start selling cheeseburgers...(I'm not quite sure why all of my references are cheeseburger focused. Does that mean something?) I also really like the video recommendations. Keep 'em coming!

So as this week is coming to a close, I feel very healthy and focused on staying that way! I also feel a little lighter. Although this could be all mental, who cares? It is keeping me motivated and I can't wait to buy myself a hot new pair of designer jeans when I drop my 10. I'm having a lot of fun writing these as well as coming up with new recipes. It's a good challenge...let's keep up the good work!

Lemonade Stands

you gotta splurge....i too am a firm believer that eliminating all your favorites while dieting will never work. portions is key. this is why i stopped at the lemonade stand yesterday. i've always said that when you see kids selling lemonade, it is a civic duty to stop and purchase some. and yesterday, they crept up on me, and i thought of all the sugar, or worse yet the fake sugar, and almost kept going. then i realized that a few sips wouldn't kill me! it was so good!

yesterday was pretty ok for day one of getting in shape......i started my food log, i ran, i biked, and i drank a shit load of water. although when i added it all up last night, i was under in calories but over in fat. that damn peanut sauce at Pei Wei did me in (next time, salad rolls with NO sauce for me!). my knee is killing me still though, so off to the doctor i go. in the mean time, my Pilates video and my bike will be it for me. The video is the BEST, i recommend you get it! there is a ten minute work out, and then a series of 30 minutes total. check it out: CRUNCH "Pick Your Spot Pilates".

Hungry Girl

So I have learned that when changing your diet around it usually takes a day or two (or more!) for your body to realize what's going on. And obviously since I am trying to loose weight, I need to cut back on what I eat. So I have really been focusing on portion size and measuring out things. So I have a theory. Day one of a diet change is fine. Your body is like, "Whatever man, it's cool you didn't eat as much as normal. You were probably busy." But on day two it is like, "Umm, hey. What's going on? Where is all the food?". And by day three it's like, "Give me a fucking cheeseburger already!". But by Day 4 it gets all settled it and learns to accept that all of this will make you look better in the end. Because as my weight watching sister Beth says, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels". So that is my mantra for today while my stomach is growling in meetings.

In keeping with the theme of focusing on portion size, I've established a new found love for my ramekins. They are perfect for making little individual pasta dishes (the non-existent Italian in me DOES not give up pasta! I do either use whole wheat pasta or Barilla Plus, or there is one I used last night that was in a Purple box...extra vitamins and fiber and stuff and pretty tasty). Some pasta baked in one of those is great with a side salad. I've learned that you can't cut things out of your diet (except for all that hydrogenated stuff and unnatural things) you can only manage portion size. I've also decided that I need to buy a scale. (Not a food scale, a person scale) I'm on the hunt for one (I don't have a Target in walking distance of me). This should help motivate me as well as track my progress. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's Farmer's Market. I am going to stock my fridge with all kinds of yummy organic produce. Mmmmmmmm...

Well I am off to go walk the city. That counts as some cardio, right? :)

Oh, and I want to add another goal to yesterday's list....DRINK MORE WATER!

Great Expectations

Today I was motivated! I was already envisioning the hot new outfit that I am going to treat myself to when I drop 10 lbs (my goal). I laughed to myself as I walked around window shopping, thinking, "don't buy anything that won't fit you when you are 10 lbs lighter!" I focused on what I ate today, as I had packed a nice well rounded lunch and didn't even eat the afternoon snack of yogurt. Was also thrilled that today is Farmer's Market Day in Copley and was (key word here is was) planning on stopping for some fresh produce to make a sensible dinner, but totally got wrapped up in my healthy thoughts (and G. Love's new album..), walked right past the street I should have turned down and into the T I went. So nice farmer's market dinner is going to have wait until Thursday when I can go to the Coolidge Corner Farmers Market....ugggh. Not the best, but at least I didn't blow my diet....

But anyway...my goals so far for this drop 10 lbs scheme is:

1. I will NOT eat after 8. Unless I have yoga and in that case will make an exception and eat a larger afternoon snack and lighter dinner when i get home.
2. I am allowed two "cheat days" a month. These are days when calories don't seem to matter!
3. Once my toe recovers, I will run twice a week and go to yoga twice a week.
4. I will get off a couple of stops early on the T (unless it rains....can't get work clothes ruined!) and walk to work or home from work.
5. I will work to create at least one new healthy recipe a week to keep a good variety of food in my diet, and be sure to include more vegetables in these recipes.

More to come, but those are my healthy eating commandments so far...

Daily intake

A new month and a new beginning.... As of today the past does not matter - the fact that I ate a blueberry turnover, a chocolate molten cake, and an entire bag of peanuts yesterday is old news. I'm determined to get off my ass and get in shape. My motivational picture from last summer: Today's goals:

• Figure out where I need to be in terms of calorie intake, including max amounts of fat, and minimum amounts of protein, fiber, and calcium. More should be tracked, but baby steps! To do this, check out: www.nutritiondata.com. You can calculate what your intake should be, and even use the Pantry to see the nutrition info of each food you eat. For you Apple geeks out there, they even have a Widget download!
• Create spreadsheet tracking daily food, vitamin and water intake, as well as calories burned due to activity.
• Run 30 minutes, without complaining. Mantra to be repeated while running: "god it's nice out today, this is way better than work." Should that not work, stopping after run for yummy, healthy dinner is back up incentive.