On the (better) track

Well, my neighbor moved, and I will say it has given me a major change in habits. I've been cleaning my own apartment more, and I've been eating at home more.
The only thing I've been slacking on recently is my lunch bringing. I need to start bringing my lunch again, and stop eating fast food. When I have been eating out I've at least been trying to do so at Subway and other slightly better for you places.

I am meeting a potential new roommate today for coffee, but otherwise I haven't had coffee for several days. Or soda! I have been making tea at work and trying to make that my caffeine/hot drink of choice. Work ordered some tea to keep at the store and I tried the orange spice tea. It was delicious.

I've been slacking on health lately and I need to get better. I want to feel better about myself and just feel healthier.

I've also been either running two laps or walking three laps around the apartment complex for the last week or so, almost nightly. It's good for Oscar and it's good for me too!

Daily mile

www.dailymile.com

My first goal is 10 miles per week, better than 13:50 a mile. Pretty humble beginnings, but I think I need to feel like I can actually accomplish something.

When I was 21, I picked up running without any study of the sport. Probably averaged less than 15 miles a week at my peak, which isn't anything. But the changes in my body with just those miles in just a couple of months were incredible. I'm not stuck in a fat suit. Some people have a lot to overcome to lose any amount of weight– I'm not one of those. My body can be lean. I'm just lazy, partially, and mainly a huge overconsumer.

How many resolutions does it take to be in the shape I want to be? No idea. But here goes another one!

Oops

My neighbor's boyfriend moved in due to some unfortunate circumstances, and it's created some ripples, both good and bad.
The bad being: he has a dog also, and 4 dogs in a small one bedroom apartment (when two don't get along, one feels the need to mark his territory everywhere, and one is so stressed from the change she pees anytime someone looks at her weird), Oscar is One Dog Too Many, even though he's none of the ones listed above.
The Good: He's really nice, has stepped up to help my neighbor when she's needed it (and almost losing your job is one of those times), and LOVES to cook.
The Bad: They are not healthy meals.
The Good: They are delicious, and make me want to cook more as well. Hopefully I can inspire a few more healthy recipes.
The Bad: I have eaten like a gluttonous pig lately, and it shows.
The Good: I have worked out more, and I am going to the barn tomorrow. Not to ride, but to visit and hopefully traipse about to groom some ponies.

A couple here...

...and a couple there!! I tried on a pair of jeans that haven't fit for probably 8 months.... a wee bit tight but they FIT.
What changed?
A lot less soda and keeping groceries at work. I buy a loaf of bread, lunch meat, cheese and snacks (sun chips and yogurt and/or some version of pudding, and sometimes oreo's... oops), and now iced tea also.
I'm not sure if Snapple iced tea is really that much better than soda, but we're going with it.
I have been REALLY bad about Starbucks. I blame the pumpkin spice latte, and to help negate that I've also stored a small thing if pumpkin pie spice creamer at work to make coffee there. It's not that it tastes like a pumpkin spice latte (it doesn't, but it IS very good) but it helps.
I think it also had to do with my minimal once a week KILLER riding workouts. Which have stopped recently, and have me concerned. I desperately need to get back into the habit of walking. I also wish Houston had more options for hiking, instead of shady back-alley trails running along somewhat shady neighborhoods that just scream "Someone was murdered here recently."
Or maybe I'm paranoid.
I have also been working upwards of 50 hours a week, and not taking lunch breaks (I have been eating, just working while eating).

P.S. I loved checking on this blog and seeing so many posts from Mashley! It was motivating and as soon as I finish blogging I have every intent of flopping on the ground for a few minutes in an "ab exercise" fashion.

Hey hey, blog-ay-ay..

Welp!

I didn't drastically lose ten pounds in two weeks, but I am doing decidedly better. Good choices are coming more easily. Having the house clean helps. I can't explain why, but it does. I'm more inclined to cook, maybe. Or eat here.

Today, Polly and I struck out at 7 for a 40 minute powerwalk in the wet air. I came home and sauteed some Idaho Gold potatoes in olive oil and scrambled eggs and put it all on whole wheat tortillas for breakfast. Coffee too, plus the requisite water.

Lunch was unexpected; my former boss took me out to Elaine's (Richard's restaurant) and I had the tortilla-crusted trout, one buttered roll, and some slices of watermelon and plum. And iced tea with lime. Yum.

Snack was a glass of 2% organic milk with Ovaltine. Super chocolatty, but it lasted me 'til well after six.

Dinner I just finished. I sauteed an entire zucchini, threw most of an old jar of Prego mushroom-y spaghetti sauce, and at the end threw in several huge handfuls of spinach to make the consistency really fibrous and yummy once it all boiled down. Ate that on top of whole wheat rotini, sprinkled some fresh Parmesan, and a plain slice of sprouted grain bread, toasted.

Right now after a few glasses of water, I'm enjoying a Diet Dr. Pepper (hey, it's been a little while since I've had one.. like since Monday, whoops) and thinking about the ice cream sandwich I have stashed away in the fridge for later.

I can't give up chocolate altogether. There's no point. I eat some version of it every day, but I think that's just The Way It Is. I was a little bad Monday - Tuesday, eating out twice (one time it was salad!) and frozen pizza (but Kashi!) and like an entire bag of edamame to myself on Tuesday.. And 1.5 glasses of wine. And two other drinks Monday. Whoops. Not willing to give that up altogether.

I feel better. I think my clothes are fitting somewhat okay. I went off of birth control pills —and onto condoms, which we are religious about, please note— and am interested to see what results that may yield in a month or two.

I think my baseline is getting better. Eventually I'd like to add more exercise, but just making sure I do SOMETHING 30 to 40 minutes three times a week is a nice change in consistency. I would like to run again.. It's just that I sort of hate running.. Hm!

Phew

My butt hurts from riding this morning. Which is good on the one hand; bad that just a month off of real riding has already begun to turn me into a limp mushroom.

Breakfast was a banana and a slice of sprouted grain with PB.

Lunch was a tuna sandwich with a tiny bit of mayo —tiny; I hate mayo really, but it helps the tuna out— and salt, pepper, and baby spinach. And four saltine crackers, and a Diet 7up.. And a handful of chocolate chips.

I have to fail at least once a day. Never have I ever (at my skinniest and fittest) skipped failing at some chocolate.

Also had a glass of red wine last night. Just one, and I don't feel guilty. This being in addition to fish tacos and chips, but whatever.

Stupid "no alcohol" plan.

Workout tonight.

"You may delay, but time will not." — B. Franklin

Leave it to Kara to bring this blog back up, whereas I have been eying its presence with disdain whenever I peek back into the Blogger world. But she's right— it was a good tool, and shouldn't be ignored.

The past week, as life has finally seemed to settle down and the threat of Road Trip Food (a.k.a, free-for-all garbage in a bag) is behind me, I've been able to make some much better choices.

Breakfasts have included occasionally two eggs, sunny-side-up, with sprouted grain flourless bread and salsa. Sometimes, like today, I just have Greek yogurt and granola or Kashi cereal— something with a lot of crunch. Other times, it's a slice of sprouted grain bread with peanut butter and a yogurt. (Been eating Wallaby Organic Lemon yogurt for awhile now.. Nomnom.)

Lunch today was Richard's doing (though I was pretty specific on what I wanted.) Scrambled eggs with spinach and tomatoes, a little bit of extra-sharp cheddar, and salsa in two whole-wheat tortillas. As "dessert" and a way to motivate me to go back to work, I drank a big cup of coffee with some chocolate Ovaltine powder (hey, vitamins, right?!) in it, and some organic milk. Also been eating a lot of soup.

Last night's dinner sounds completely random, but it is one of my FAVORITE things: what we call sweet potato "pillows," thick slices of sweet potato tossed in a bag with olive oil, thyme, sage, LOTS of black pepper, some cayenne pepper, and sea salt, and then baked at high heat. Plus a spinach salad with feta (I've found it's cheaper to buy the blocks instead of the crumbles, and it lasts longer.. and takes .2 seconds to crumble it) and tomato and balsamic vinaigrette, and.. call me weird.. but two veggie dogs with ketchup and mustard wrapped in wheat tortillas. I LOVE veggie dogs. Gross but true. Richard had a sausage link in his, but the same meal. He's been very open and happy to eat my rabbit food.

And most of all.. I drink every meal with a huge glass of water first. At least pint-glass sized, if not larger. Buying a Brita water pitcher has possibly been one of the best contributions to my well-being— part of the draw of drinking orange juice or apple juice or Italian soda (we have been stocking lemon and prickly pear flavors in our fridge; SO tasty) when I come in from the outdoors is that it's COOL, and easy, and fruity and nice. Now, having filtered water in a big pitcher that is constantly kept cold is one more reason I can't start chugging milk instead of water first. If I want something else, like juice, than I drink a glass of water first. A lot of times it curbs the desire to drink the juice in the first place, and if it doesn't, it means I drink the next thing for taste instead of thirst. Meaning I drink less. And then eat less down the line.

As for snacks.. a lot of natural applesauce (no sweetener,) crispbread with Laughing Cow light swiss and basil, tons of green tea— I find that the act of making tea with a little honey can substitute for my natural instinct to relax with some sort of food. That's not to say I don't still want to comfort-emotion eat, but the tea helps. I'm tempted to ask for a real tea set for my birthday so I can graduate from Tazo bags, but I'd probably screw it up.

I realize that I'm going to blow a lot of calories on going out with friends; even though I make "healthy" choices and avoid most meats and overprocessed things, I can still eat a lot of food in one sitting. But structuring the rest of my home meals accepting that fact is helping, and making me feel less like a lard.

As for working out, I've put no stipulation other than I need to do SOMETHING, at least 30 minutes of it, five times a week. Exercisetv.tv has 80-something free videos you can watch on the internet, and I've done a few of them in the evening when I don't have the motivation to power walk or go to the workout room and try P90X again. My job keeps me from being sedentary, but being in "working" shape is quite different from "work-out" shape. Yeah, I can throw saddles and lift buckets all damn day, but that doesn't mean I can run a marathon.

Finally.. I am reading (and this is hard to admit) Bob Green's "The Best Life Diet" book. And following it, in Phase I currently. (Still not totally sure I want to go without ANY alcohol for 2 months again.. I think I may count a weekly glass of wine as a health benefit instead of cheating.)

Basically what that entails is the following:

• Don't attempt to cut out foods altogether, unless they're just really terrible for you. (I'm pretty good, and I've been a pescetarian since May, and I don't really eat a lot of highly processed stuff.) (That said, I fully plan on eating a little bit of turkey at Thanksgiving, and when co-workers start hunting, I will happily be eating venison and other game again.)
  
• Identify your current physical activity level (there's some outlined in his book, or you can figure it out for yourself— I was surprised that I couldn't call myself more than a 1 [between 0 and 5] because when I started reading the book, I wasn't adhering to regular workouts even though my job was physical and I walk everywhere I can) and bump it up at least one level.
• Don't drink alcohol.
• 3 meals and at least one snack per day. Stop eating at least 2 hours before bed.
• Drink water when you eat.
• Take a multivitamin.
• Don't weigh yourself. (I don't anyway, except when I get on the Wii.)

After 4 weeks, you can either ramp it up to Phase II, or keep it at Phase I.

I don't care where my weight's at. My weight never gets that high, considering my height and build. I just want my clothes to fit better, and I want my endurance and core strength to get better.

Ugh

I suck at eating well.

I want to do better. The last couple days I've cut soda out of my day, and this week I plan on going to the grocery and getting more fresh foods.

I wish I had people around me who shared the same values to share and eat with. Otherwise all my food just spoils. And I'm lazy and could use some additional motivation.

That's all.

Clean Eating failsauce

Okay, so the first two days went well, but the meal plans were horrible (the salmon and artichoke quesadillas were not good at all, but probably my fault) and the shopping list is misleading. I bought half of most of the fruits and veggies (even though the shopping list says for ONE adult and recipes are laid out for ONE person) in an effort to prevent food from spoiling. Within 4 days half of the fresh foods bought were spoiled or beginning to spoil. I even attempted to cook/use the meals and snacks in the meal plan that were heaviest in fresh foods FIRST. Like rather than cooking the black bean burger and having chips/salsa as a side, I made a turkey burger and had fruit. I ate fruit like it was going out of style for two days in order to waste as little as possible and still ended up throwing most of it away.
Why wouldn't a magazine dedicated to FRESH FOODS put that into consideration? Wouldn't it make sense for the "two weeks shopping list" to have the cereals, grains, and other longer lasting foods first, then have shorter shopping lists every three days or so to purchase the fresh foods?
The point of the shopping list and meal plan for me was to have the planning done for me. I don't see the point in searching through the weeks worth of meals, then analyzing the shopping list to figure all that out. That was the point in buying the magazine.
Perhaps I was asking too much.
So while I was frustrated at the magazine and the failure that went with the list/plan, I failed miserably in the eating healthy realm for about 3 days. Drank soda, ate bad, unhealthy foods, starbucks, etc.
On the positive side of it, I had three TOUGH workouts last week and I've felt noticeably better. I've also dropped a little shy of 5lbs.
Definitely consider that a success!! Probably gained some of it back the last couple days but I have tomorrow off and I feel like I'm in a better place to try this clean eating thing on my own.

Taking the proverbial Health Bandwagon Reins

That's right. I'm not just going for the ride anymore, I'm taking the reins.

What does that entail? A hell of a lot more work, but I'm going for it. I have a two week meal plan, that I'm sure I'll modify to an extent (already did!) but it will be a HUGE major change. I already had a few items on the grocery list (tuna, salt/pepper, cheese, etc.) and overall the two week grocery list of fresh foods cost a total of just under $110. ~$55 a week for foods, well, probably a little less due to the fact that some of the foods will last longer than the week or two (black bean burgers, cereal, tofu, black beans, cheese, nuts, etc) and some of the packaging was more than the suggested.

Here's today's plan, minus breakfast due to the fact I went grocery shopping at 11am, way past breakfast time!
Lunch: Grilled black bean burger with low-fat swiss cheese slice, tomato slice, and Boston leaf lettuce. Side: orange. Modifications: provolone cheese instead of swiss, and a THIN spread of mayo made with olive oil (DELICIOUS!) Substituted red seedless grapes for the orange due to the oranges being not quite ripe.
Results: delicious, took less than 5 minutes to put together, and I couldn't finish the grapes because I was so full!
Dinner: Is going to be amazing. Salmon and artichoke quesadilla's with fresh all natural salmon. I was supposed to get fresh wild Alaskan salmon, but it was like $21.99/lb so I went with the fresh all natural salmon which is obviously not wild, but is supposed to be preservative, additive, antibiotic and growth hormone free.

Grocery list, and meal plan is from Clean Eating Magazine and I am excited to get healthier and hopefully combine this with my workout routine and lose some weight!

Bad News

I just ate an entire pint of Blue Bell Happy Tracks.
Approximately 900 calories and I don't want to know how many grams of sugar, or fat, or whatever.
Soft food diets are not good for weight loss.
At least for me, when I'm pouting.

Soon

While waiting for my prescriptions I was browsing the magazines a few days ago. I found a magazine called "eating clean" and decided to purchase. It has a couple grocery lists and meal plans for more than one week for a single adult- ME!

It was only $4 and depending on the cost of the groceries (and as soon as I can eat solid foods) I think I am going to give it a real shot. It says to expect to lose upwards of 14lbs but it boasts healthy, clean (not completely sure what that means but whatever) foods and I could use a little more health and clean in my life right now.

Forced weight loss

The one thing I will say is not eating generally leads to weight loss.

Seeing as my jaw is not functioning appropriately, I have been subsisting on smoothies, eggs, baked potatoes (mashed up), and yogurt. I feel like I've lost a little weight, but will probably continue that trend over at least the next week.

Been working out at least twice a week and trying (and failing) to wake up earlier to take oscar for walks.

Work has been 45-50 hours a week, but with the new car payment and additional student loans coming in the overtime pay is much welcomed.

I'm about to ingest some serious drugs (steroids for anti-inflammation and pain meds) so we will see how that goes.

Blubber

Ate about 1700 calories today. And that was actually very very difficult. Tracking them does put it into perspective. The perspective being, "those little tiny Easter Rolo candies are remarkably pricey when it comes to calorie content."

I didn't really exercise, save for scampering around for riding lessons, trying to show the girls how to run the cup race. (I was on foot. They were not.)

In other news, looking at pictures of our Easter vacation made me want to cry for two reasons— (1) It wasn't long enough, and I want to go back. And (2) I almost don't recognize myself. I have cellulite. I never really had cellulite to speak of before. My legs were one of my favorite features. They are reminiscent of gelatin now.

I don't think blame can be placed on consistent birth control pills, but it would be nice to.

I suck!

Also starting to use my iPod app again for tracking calories.

Gotten fat.

But can still hike like a mofo; found that out on Easter and pretty much destroyed my feet.

Was good today.

Just depressed at my size.

Step by step

My budget was rearranged recently to allow for the purchase of a car. The majority of cuts were in dining out and personal training. Although I will be hopefully ending the personal training gig soon ($140/month I just can't justify), I will HOPEFULLY be able to keep up the routine of going to the gym.
The budget cuts in food has kept me actively eating at home (yay!) and my diet is consisting of a lot more baked russet and sweet potatoes, and as soon as I can convince myself to go to the grocery it will also include more rice and beans, and cheap poor people food. Like spaghetti-o's. Not healthy I know but $450/mo (including insurance!) is a LOT of money. The dent in my savings the down payment made definitely left some tears in my eyes. But I'll probably be saving well over $100/mo in gas (we're doing at least 30mpg right now, compared to the suzuki's 16-18).
Food choices have been so/so but my pants are fitting looser and I'm feeling a little better.
Really really trying to keep the coffee and soda to a minimum not only for my budget but for my health!

Food Diary

Okay part of the reason I've slacked on here is I have a food diary app that provides caloric intake and nutritional information for the foods I eat. It's not 100% accurate but it's pretty close and it's really neat.

This morning I had a blueberry muffin from the Target bakery. A big glass of water. I got home from running around at the dog park and baked a sweet potato. Just a tiny bit of unbleached sugar and soybean margarine for a little extra flavor. Just finished off half a cup of Fage 0% fat greek yogurt with about a teaspoon of honey and lots of Bear Naked fruit and nut granola. I'm riding and I'm still a bit sore from Monday so I'm going to eat some carbs and hope maybe it'll keep me going! I really love the Simply Asia Sesame teryaki noodle bowl. ready in like 3-4 minutes, so not healthy, but delicious for something quick and simple. It has dried veggies, so does that count for something?

Catching up

After a couple days of consistently eating fast food, I finally shaped up. I bought a cucumber, tomato, carrots and baba gannouj and citrus green tea, which lasted for about 3 lunches at work. I'm finishing off the baba gannouj today which is on a sandwich with two slices of provolone, cucumbers and tomatoes. I also got more greek yogurt and an assortment of russet and sweet potatoes which cook quickly (microwave) and are delicious and healthy (with minimal add-ons, of course).
I rode HARD yesterday and although my legs are not sure my back is very muscle sore! I badly want to ride at the barn I tried out last night but I'm not sure if it will fit in my schedule. I felt so good afterwards I was pretty much dancing around the grocery. Okay, I was literally dancing around the grocery.

Lots of water with some slip ups here and there, but haven't had coffee since friday, and I have plenty of breakfast foods to keep me out of starbucks and kolache factory for at least a week!

I think getting back into a lesson program is going to be one of the best things for me. After yesterday I realized that in order to improve my balance and strengthen my core I need to work out more outside of riding, and I feel like I can follow through with that.

Renewed energy

Breakfast / Clif bar, water.

Lunch / 2-egg salad with mustard and tiny bit of mayo, sage, salt, pepper. Small portion of SunChips. Moderate to large portion of black grapes. 2 squares of Belgian chocolate.

Post-run snack / water, banana, some organic crunchy PB.

Dinner / 3 pieces of fried chicken at Moni's, with potato wedges, ketchup, a light beer, a Dr. Pepper, and another Dr. Pepper with a shot of Jim Beam Black. Ahaha.

Nighttime / 2 Grasshopper cookies and a cup of blueberry green tea with honey.

Did our first short endurance ride with Bandit— lots of posting and two-pointing.

Ran / jogged/ walked with Dicky for about 40 minutes.

My new motivations:

1. Not fitting at all prettily into my formerly "loose" hiking shorts.
2. Dragging my going-on-16-year-old horse on a 25 mile ride in the fall. I'm just bigger than I need to be for him to carry my ass!

Getting better

Although I still haven't gone to the grocery and I've spent FAR too much money on food that is completely unnecessary, Ive been doing pretty good. I got a calorie counter app on my phone and I've been tracking my calories and other nutrition by searching for the food items. Most of them have been easy to find and others have pretty close matches. For example I had a bottle of organic lightly sweetened citrus green tea and I found a fruit green tea that probably matched pretty close in sugar, calories, etc.

I want to update more now but I am pooped and I have a long day tomorrow.

Best panicked-lunch EVER.

So I'm trying to get a bunch of stuff done in the office today, as I got here late after leaving at 6 to take Polly to San Antonio International. I hadn't made time for lunch until two, and panicked and ran into the house to snag something. Generally that would involve an energy bar and a banana, but today I was feeling mildly resourceful and chopped the top off of a green bell pepper, scooped the seeds out, chopped up two hard-boiled eggs, fired them in with a big squirt of mustard and a little squirt of mayo, doused them in lite salt, black pepper, and a pinch of sage, mashed it up, and bam! Egg salad in an edible bowl. Haha. Put some herb veggie chips, two huge strawberries, and a handful of blackberries on the plate. Out-freaking-standing.

By the way, breakfast was a grande dark cherry mocha from Starbucks (it was 6 AM; I crashed) and one of their egg-white-and-roasted-tomatoes-and-spinach-on-wheat-wrap breakfast things. Pretty good. I had two British biscuits and a piece of homemade wheat bread for a snack.

Setback!

So I sat down after work and a bareback ride with Polly to have a carefully planned snack of sliced grape tomatoes, multigrain crackers, and white cheddar with a glass of water. I quickly got bored of snacking, ate the rest of the Rudy's BBQ turkey in the fridge, the rest of the sheaf of crackers, and at least four more large slices of cheese. And every single tomato. And even a handful of pretzels, for good measure. And a cookie. So that counts as dinner. Probably times two.

Dangit.

Also, the downpour was a delightful excuse for me to not run.

Double dangit!

Tomorrow is just going to be a terribly long day. Up at 530 to get Polly to San Antonio, back here, work 'til 4, riding lessons, babysitting.. Blah. Then up early on Friday for a meeting, more riding lessons and a barn tour, work, and the Youth Empowerment Retreat.

Past 24 hours or so

Lunch yesterday was eaten out with Richard, who was on break from his new job. (YAY!) I had a baked potato, dry, with a small serving of Wendy's (yeah, yeah, fast food.. It's been awhile!) chili on top and a couple of crackers and a large water. Dinner was night was precluded by a snack of six of those terribly buttery Town House multigrain crackers and some white artisan cheddar cheese, and some pretzels, and an orange. Eep. And a diet Coke with lemon. But as for dinner, really this time, that, too, was a minor fail. Lots of yellow corn chips and fresh salsa from the Ingram store, then a mix of fajita materials (sans tortillas) with lettuce, tomato, a bit of cheese, tons of black beans, and a mix of chicken and beef fajita meat. And like ten Nilla Wafers out of the pot of banana pudding. (I don't care much for banana pudding.)

Oh, and 2.5 rather strong margaritas.

Whoopsies!

This morning, for breakfast, I ate another Clif Bar (chocolate chip) and drank a lot of water. Lunch was Taco Stand with my old (and favorite) boss— Mike's taco, which is a homemade-with-pure-joy flour tortilla with fajita chicken, onions, green bell pepper, tomatoes, pico de gallo, and guacamole. And a bottle of water. Snacked on a banana and two HEB mint chocolate cookies.

Craving some carbs, though. Like bad. Don't know if running is going to happen, but may ride this afternoon.. I did do quite a bit of cleaning at the barn.. Does that count? (Whine!)

I need to go to the grocery

Breakfast Cascadian Farms organic almond butter granola bar with yogurt covered fruitsnacks, and coffee with lots of soy hazelnut cream and organic unbleached sugar. (I love how using the words "organic" and "soy" make me feel healthier.

Lunch Interrupted by the fact that I opened my fridge door to make lunch and water came pouring out. Emptied a gallon of water out of the bottom drawer while trying to soak up the water out of the bottom of my fridge/off my floor and ran around frantically trying to find someone who worked for the apartment to get maintenance involved. Ended up wrapping a couple pieces of cheddar cheese in salami and snacking on that while working. Also drank lots of water. And ate a couple tootsie rolls.

Dinner Failure. Panda express panda bowl with orange chicken and chow mein. Fortune Cookie outlook was pleasant, something about looking forward to new business or personal prospects. Whatever that means. And a Sprite. Plus lots more water.

Prospects for tomorrow are looking bleak. I'm out of lunch meat, my cereal is stale, I ate my last fruit snack and granola bar this morning, but I have a couple moderately healthy sounding frozen meals.

Woot!

Yesterday, I did pretty well. My self-esteem was circling the drain but for once, my motivation was stayed at a high. Fell off the wagon just the teensiest bit in the evening because snacking sounded so delightful, but here goes:

Breakfast was a Clif bar (favorite flavor, too— mint chocolate) and some organic coffee the local gas station in SA had on our way out of town at 6 AM., with a half-shot of vanilla syrup and some half and half for interest. I also had one bite of Richard's breakfast chicken, onion, green pepper, pico, and guacamole breakfast taco.

Snacked on organic dried cranberries (did you know that when you look at a package of Craisins, the first ingredient is sugar? Not cranberries. Sugar.) I'm sure these have plenty of sugar in them, but its definitely not the first ingredient, and it is at least evaporated cane sugar.

Our late lunch was half of a turkey-and-cheese sandwich on 15 grain bread, half a can of Healthy Request Tortilla Soup, and way more SunChips than I should've eaten. Plus a glass of lemonade and a raw green bell pepper.

Snacked again on SunChips. I blame really wanting to see the bag decompose.

Supper was the homemade Italian sausage my half-bro and niece gave us, sauteed with fresh onions and green bell pepper, seasoned, and covered with tomato sauces to simmer awhile, on top of whole wheat penne. I probably snacked too much on the penne beforehand and didn't eat everything in my bowl. (But Hop did.)

Dessert was two squares of the big bar of Belgian chocolate Richard buys for me and a small glass of 2% organic milk. And later, as a snack, I had a Diet Coke on ice and two slices of Rudy's BBQ turkey. Totally unnecessary, but we were watching a movie and it just sounded good.

Trail ran with Polly and the dogs. It was my first day in over a month to not wear my Vibrams for running—I gave myself a pretty ouchie stone bruise the other day when I pummeled my foot down on something I shouldn't have— and I found myself contorting my ankles and pounding on my knees. I ran again this morning and definitely missed the feeling of near-bare foot on concrete and rock instead of my (delightfully comfy and broken-in) trail running shoes. May give them one more day to get the ouch out of the ball of my foot and swap back ASAP.

Oh, and this morning is a breakfast of green tea with agave, my first attempt at steel cut oats with some Greek vanilla yogurt and dried blackcurrants.

Noticing a difference!

Although most of my clothing is not fitting any better, ONE article has been noticeably easier to fit into. My half chaps! So apparently my calves are losing weight.
And after today, and let's be honest, yesterday, I probably packed it right back on.

Yesterday lunch was half a frontega chicken panini and black bean soup with whole grain bread. Black bean soup is low fat/vegetarian and the frontega probably isn't THAT bad... right.
Then sushi and probably 6 big glasses of water.

I also had a riding lesson in the morning/afternoon that involved JUMPING!!!!!! Well, sort of jumping. It was a cavaletti sized cross rail, but Andy got super strong and I was definitely sweating by the end of the lesson. Not to mention the 60mph wind gusts that were knocking jumping standards over left and right!
I'm looking for a new place to ride. I've been bitten with the jumping bug and I think I'm going to pursue, slowly, eventing. She seriously turns her nose up at eventing and I'm a little frustrated that we're not moving further in the lessons. I'm paying $35 for a 45 min lesson. Which is really cheap for a private. But the last 3 times her daughter's been riding their youngest, and well over half the time has been focused on keeping the witchy mare focused. Not to mention she's moving the horses to a place where there is pasture board and no real arena. Which is fine for dressage, natural horsemanship, etc. but not conducive to jumping.

Today was a major failure. Kolaches for breakfast, almond butter and blueberry preserve sandwich with whole grain bread. I am really beginning to like Oro Wheat products. So far all of their products have been very tasty, range in the lower end of fat/calories AND are generally in the lower end of price, too. A couple handfuls of dried berries and tropical fruits, and honey wheat pretzels. Plus several glasses of water.

Dinner involved a handful of tator tots and a grilled chicken wrap from sonic. I gave two to Oscar so that's kind of like cutting calories, right? Then I was hungry when I got home so I wrapped a couple small pieces of cheddar cheese in salami and snacked away. And some orange pineapple papaya type juice.

Conclusion

Ran the trails with Polly and the dogs. Ate a banana, a handful of South Beach mixed nuts, and some more water for lunch. Saving up 'cause we're going to stop in on my parents tonight and bring some tacos and have a drink and spend the night. :)

Edit, 948 PM--

Supper was Rudy's BBQ turkey. I skipped the bread and ate a couple of big handfuls of Sun Chips, baby greens salad with tomato, a little potato salad, and plenty of Rudy's sauce. Diet Coke and a slice of lime to drink.

Dessert was a small apple turnover with two scoops of ice cream, drizzled with honey and cinnamon.

And.. I did CRUNCHES. Legit ones. 40. Woot.

Holy balls, though. I can say it here. I have gotten heavy. When old pajamas are tight after a wash..

Flailing

I've taken special notice of my figure lately and it hasn't lent happy thoughts to my mind. I am a believer in the "beauty at any size" philosophy, and I agree with it and the confidence it can instill in people. The problem is that I'm not someone who wears my curves sexily or comfortably; I'm an outdoorswoman, I'm naturally more on the gangly side of things, and carrying extra weight is truly a hindrance to the activities I enjoy and the career I pursue.

I don't like feeling listless and deleting pictures off my camera because they make me sad about myself isn't something I've done in awhile.

Anyway.

This morning for breakfast I had about half a cup of black tea with a splash of 2% milk and honey and half of a boule (round, small loaf) of wheat bread I made this morning, with some Promise buttery spread stuff. I really haven't been hungry besides. Had a lot of water and spent about 25 minutes biking around. I may go see if Polly wants to jog.

Doing Okay

Friday breakfast was once again vanilla kashi shredded wheat. Did I mention fat free soy milk is what I use instead of regular milk?

Lunch was a handful of honey wheat pretzels, fat free Greek yogurt with a little bit of honey and granola (from Nature Valley; they're like mini bite-sized nut/granola clusters I crunched up and added), and a salami/turkey/cheddar sandwich with a little bit of chipotle mayo. Well, it WOULD have been but I was working on my student loan stuff and had to run into the bedroom to plug my phone in and Oscar ate almost all of the pretzels, so it was really like 2 pretzels. Silly me.

I also had a heavy workout; chest and legs. I'm sore.

I think (don't completely remember) I did fruitsnacks, yogurt and pretzels for dinner (lunch wasn't until like 2 so I wasn't really that hungry). I ran to the laundry mat and grabbed a can of coke there.

Saturday was bad news bears. I had a latte and "reduced-fat" banana chocolate chip coffee cake from starbucks, then forgot to pack my lunch for the rodeo, or bring any snack foods. So I had a giant coke and buffalo chicken strips with fries.

Then after I got home I decided I should go out and met a couple friends. I had tostada style nachos with grilled chicken, refried beans, lots of cheese and guac and sour cream. 2 beers and a whiskey sour.

Today started out with more Greek yogurt/honey/granola/nuts and fruit snacks. Today is Sushi Sunday so I'll probably have another light/healthy lunch to prepare for stuffing my face with delicious sushi.

Finishing up the night

Spent the afternoon grooming the oldest fogies-- Dixie, Prince, and Charlie Brown. Ate a chocolate-covered big pretzel stick and, later, a plate full of cucumber slices, celery sticks, some peanut butter, and raw broccoli for a snack. Then meandered over to Polly's, where she cooked a supper of steamed rice with chicken in teriyaki sauce and fresh broccoli and carrots. Very tasty; she never overcooks her veggies and errs on the side of raw, which is perfect to me. More nutrients and more snap.

If I were less lazy about preparing fresh veggies, I'd be in much better shape. Ought to try and work that in.

I may make some fresh wheat bread tonight as well.

Failing my way through this

Alrighty. I've been absent for a couple days, mostly because I've been sucking. And I've been a wee bit sick.
I'll go back through yesterday, not going to go back futher than that because I don't remember. Likely a lot of subway sandwiches with brown mustard and thera-flu.
Breakfast: Cascadian Farms organic almond butter crunchy granola bar, and water. I was running super late (or so I thought, I was actually an hour early thanks to our district manager telling me i needed to be there at 8am not 9am). When I realized I was early I walked across the parking lot to the coffee house and had a white chocolate blended iced latte. Or frappe. Whatever they call it. I also inhaled some thera-flu capsules and made it through the first half of the day before pretty much dying at lunch. Mexican chicken enchiladas. I made it about halfway through with 5 or 6 huge glasses of water before the woman across from me goes "you're really pale. are you okay?" and then everyone decided I needed to go home because I apparently looked like death. I felt like it too and was having a hard time not showing it. When I asked if we could stop and get some cold medicine they told me to just go home.
Took Oscar on about a mile walk at a moderately brisk pace, then attempted to go out for st. patrick's day. I made it to about 11:30 before I felt really crappy, and stayed for about another 45 minutes before heading home.
Today consisted of kashi vanilla whole grain shredded wheat. Lunch was a TON of sushi (california roll, shaggy dog, and vegas roll). The proportions were fairly small, 3-5 thin small rolls per order, and a lot of water. The Vegas roll sounded good in theory (crab, salmon, cucumber, sour cream) but turned out to be deep fried and was NOT tasty at all.
Took Oscar to the far away dog park and was feeling a lot better. This park is about 14 ACRES and has a walking path around the perimeter. It's .83 miles and we probably did about 4 loops at a pretty brisk pace.
Dinner involved Amy's teriyaki bowl with some added less-sodium soy sauce and crunchy chow mein noodles. And some orange-papaya-something juice.
There was also a hazelnut blended latte in there somewhere too.
I have done really great at cutting out soda, now to work on cutting out coffee drinks.

Okay.. I'm feeling it now!

I was feeling strangely wired after laying down this lunch hour, so got up, put on some shorts and a tshirt and my Vibrams, and went for a nice 40 minute trail run / hike. I didn't have a ton of time as a couple of our Association office folks were coming out to do a training for me, but Hop and Georgia and I made pretty good pace and took a couple of stops to jam out to a particularly good iPod selection and snap a camera phone picture.

It was the first time in awhile (a) I've made the time to run and (b) I've had so much fun doing it! The initial uphill struggle always wears me down to a quick trudge, but once we started weaving around the hills and I got to accelerate through some turns and really stretch my toes out and grab some trail.. oye. It just felt grand, and very natural. Granted, I'm still terribly slow in the grand scheme of things, and my wind runs out much faster than my legs do, but the enjoyment is there with this particularly great weather. The difference with the VFFs really kicks in during the downhill. After leaving Mount Vesper, I took the rocky ridgeline trail down, which (when I'm in normal trail shoes, like my Salomons or something) generally means stopping, shimmying, grabbing a branch for support, etc. I'm terrible un-surefooted when headed downhill. But the Vibrams allow me to pitter-patter to the edge of a rock, grip, look forward and keep my movement going (though not always at a run, obviously) as I scampered down from boulder to trail to another boulder.

And then I hit a last stretch of paved road from the cabins to the river and then up to the office and our house and got moving about as fast as I could without truly pushing myself for speed. It was tiring and I practially collapsed into the house with my heart racing, but felt so good.

I just need to learn to hold on to that feeling!

After a shower, and some more work, I just ate my lunch of banana, Stonyfield Organic's probiotic vanilla yogurt, and half a handful of Kashi Go-Lean Crunch. (Thanks for leaving your box, Natalie. Hehe.)

Returning!

My last two days were somewhat of a mix of decent food choices (not low-calorie, necessarily, but relatively whole) and beverage-related celebrations of visiting friends and St. Patrick's Day. So from hummus and veg to screwdrivers and Blue Moon and chicken fajita and veggie tacos and dyed-extra-green margaritas.

This morning started out with a large Diet Coke and a Johnny's taco, which is egg, cheese, and lots and lots of pico de gallo. And a bite or two of Richard's cinnamon roll.

That's right. Two taco stand runs in two days. I've done worse.

Going to try and fit a run in today.

Also, that blog I linked to earlier.. Growing quickly tired of Kath Eating Real Food. I'm glad she's a self-assured seeming young woman, but..

Exhausted

Breakfast was potato and egg tacos with cheese and salsa, and a pear, and water, and a coffee.

Lunch was a lot of Allison's homemade mac and cheese, some halal fish nugget things (actually delicious), and a pile of raw broccoli and carrots and some couscous salad. Plus some orange punch and a boat load of water.

Snack— a package of those cheese-and-PB cracker things, sans preservatives and weird stuff. Gave one to do the dog, so that counts as cutting calories.

I helped cook dinner, or at least did some grillmastering with Richard, and then ate a good pile of that chicken plus nacho cheese, black olives, sour cream, salsa, and salad greens and broccoli over pita chips. (Different style of nachos that were halal.) And then had some magic bars. And then picked the chocolate off of a Klondike bar. And had several Arnold Palmers, easy on the lemonade.

As for exercise.. Just barn chores, four hours of riding without stirrups in the hills (so my thighs feel pretty fierce!) and bellowing commands. It was a good day, but this sure as hell will be a couple of exhausting weeks!

Catching Up

Yesterday was a long time ago. I'll try and recap a general idea of what I had for food.

Breakfast was definitely a bagel with veggie cream cheese. I remember this because it was Friday Morning Meeting. I then decided I was not fulfilled and had a sausage egg and cheese kolache from kolache factory.

For lunch I think I had yogurt, a turkey/salami sandwich on wheat with sharp cheddar and honey mustard. OH I remember. I had a migraine and ate some baked crisps and yogurt covered fruit snacks.
I then took a nap and headed to work the rodeo where I had a freebird veggie burrito. But not before I rear ended a really sweet hispanic lady in bumper to bumper traffic. Luckily it was at approximately 3 mph and her car sustained minimal paint-related damage.
I'm a dumbass. My starbucks coffee lid fell off and I tried to put it back on, looked down, BAM. Her husband called me about 20 minutes later to let me know he had no intentions of following up on it, but I made sure they had my number and everything just in case. I suppose this is karma for my constant bitching about Houston drivers.

Today: vanilla kashi shredded wheat cereal. Lunch was provided by work and I managed to team up with my assistant manager and go for subway sandwich trays rather than the usual barbecue or masses of fried chicken and fried we usually go for.
Came home and had some more veggie snacks, a cup of strawberry yogurt and more yogurt covered fruit snacks.
Exercise: Yesterday I walked about 2 miles around the Rodeo. Today I spent half my afternoon frantically scrambling around the store and surrounding area trying to salvage a sad attempt at a special event. It didn't help that the weather was amazingly beautiful and was making attempts at getting anyone inside early impossible.

Saturday, continued

Lunch was at the local coffee shop in Ingram —pretty much the only one, Spirit Wind Java, but that's okay by me. The only trendy/cool-looking people I've met in Kerr County work there. I would consider Katie, who I met there for my veggie sandwich on wheat and blackberry iced tea, definitely on the cool spectrum of things. It was good. I seem to get so lucky in the way of friendships.

Dinner consisted of a couple of slices of Allison's amazing veggie pizza topped with parmesan, artichoke hearts, black olives, tomato, onion, and basil— camp food at CFA is sublime! And on the side cucumbers, carrots, and celery with Allison's homemade hummus, some strawberry punch and water, and five (five) servings of meringue with berries, kiwi, and grapes.

Exercise— well, I gardened in the morning and got my herbs and tomatoes going in their pots. After lunch and a plant seminar at the feed store, I grabbed the materials to build an 8x8 foot raised garden, including soil. So the rest of my afternoon was spent chucking fifteen 40 - 50 pound bags of compost, garden mix, and native soil out of the car, over the back fence, and spread out in the garden. That was work.

And after supper, Polly and her golden puppy, Remi, Hopalong, Georgia (the Boston Terrier we're puppysitting) and Atticus the Norwegian Forest Cat and I all went on a nice hour-long night hike.

So at the minute, I'm in a contented state of being sore and satiated. :} *burp*

Head start on the day!

Started off the morning with an organic probiotic vanilla yogurt and a Kashi bar. Going to go outside, away from the clutches of food.

This is me trying!

WORKOUT

Holy Jesus.
One legged squats.
Walking lunges (10 solid minutes).
And a shoulder workout.

I probably won't be able to walk tomorrow. Nikki gave me a protein pack and hopefully that will take away some of the pain.

This morning (I swear) is the last morning of Starbucks. Okay, maybe I'll splurge on COFFEE ONLY maybe once a week.
Lunch was Philadelphia roll with brown rice and low-sodium soy sauce.
A handful of pineapple, blackberries and strawberries.

Worked out, then had half of the protein drink thing and spent all evening at the dog park. Oscar laid down the entire way home and as soon as he got home he ate his dinner, drank some water and disappeared to go to bed.
When I got home I had a turkey and salami sandwich with honey mustard and sharp cheddar cheese, another handful of pineapple/blackberries/strawberries, and an experimental food that I bought thinking I'd hate it and suffer through...
IT WAS DELICIOUS.
Veggie Snax by Sunrise. They are tasty and crunchy totally something I can add to my "eat healthy" snack list.

I did pretty good at the grocery. I spent $100 and got a lot of healthier snacks (fruit, veggie snacks, nut & granola clusters, real fruit fruitsnacks, low-fat greek yogurt, and honey wheat pretzels). I also got milk (low-fat soy milk for cereal, and hazelnut soy creamer in an effort to spend less money buying coffee. I also got a coffee grinder.

I'm making steps in the right direction!!

Woe to my fat cells: Day 3/4 (Tues/Wed)

I won't even really go into specifics, and I did walk away with a purse full of free snack packs from various vendors, but here we go. So I can shuck the monkey on my back and go back to the Soyjoy bar and banana I brought for breakfast.

Tuesday. All day. Grazefest. Conference.
eggs
biscuit
hashbrown
coffee, cream/Splenda
gravy (? odd product)
chocolate Rice Krispie bar
Sweet Leaf organic mango green tea
Sweet Leaf organic sweet tea
strawberry-kiwi water drink (tasted of syrup)
2/3 turkey breaded product
1/2 wheat bun
small chicken biscuit thing (reminiscent of Chick-a-fil)
shortbread cookies
Capri Sun fruit juice
picked at a few (really bad) Sweet Potato fries, from LaBatt

Dinner. Buffet. Showed restraint. Kind of.
grilled, buttered veg (broccoli, carrots, squash, the like)
small helping of mashed potatoes sans gravy
pan-broiled tilapia (I think? it was a generic white fish)
big salad, no dressing, with some cold tortellini on top
small, small slivers of German choc cake, cheesecake, some other cake
coffee x 2
iced tea with splenda x 3


Wednesday.. I don't even remember. I'm not taking things seriously.

This doesn't bode well.

I did find a new blog to read today— Kath Eats. I'm going to do some reading, do some shopping, and come back.

I feel like I need to cut back on my social life and focus on what I'm putting into my mouth and what I'm doing with my feet.

Someday I will be less sarcastic here

So I'm going to write it down. I'm going to say it more than just to myself.
I need to lose weight.
I need to lose weight AND be healthier.

I know that seems like no big deal, but for me it is. Admitting I need to lose weight has always been really tough for me for some reason. Well, not really admitting it, but saying it to other people. Maybe it's because I've always hated hearing the little skinny girls complain about how "fat" they are and how much weight they need to lose and I've always wanted to make sure I don't become that.
But really. I weight almost 160. I'm 5'3". I was down to between 135-140 at the end of summer.

My clothes don't fit and I don't feel healthy. I need to lose weight.

Now. To actually follow through.

Day 3:
Iced hazelnut latte and reduced fat berry coffee cake (fail).
meal in a cup, slice of poppy seed bread and small bag of baked ruffles cheddar and sour cream chips.
Country Cheddar Amy's Bowl
Small handful of peanut butter/chocolate trailmix
5 small sushi rolls. Super unhealthy kind.
Half of a bottle of coke.
I've also drank a lot of water and have successfully avoided soda for several days. Today was it, though. I'm only going to allow myself one a week.

I'm currently housing a dog that does not belong to me, and likely bringing all sorts of problems into my apartment. He's underweight, intact and covered in fleas, but I cannot turn him back out on the street or to his home again. 3 strikes and you're out, lady.

Tomorrow is the day with the personal trainer, a trip to the dog park, and lots of running around. Chad Hedrick, the Olympic speed skater is doing a signing at my store on Saturday and I'm in charge of getting the word out. Of course they had to get the flyers completed the night before my day off.

Thanks, Marketing Department.

Failing my way through Day 2

Today started out optimistic and loaded with Good Proteins!!!! (<— lots of exclamation.)

Nalgene of water and a Clif Bar for breakfast at 7ish, followed by a hunk of homemade bread and some butter an hour or so later.

Lunch.. Sort of skipped, with the knowledge I was going to a conference later with the glorious Food Vendors. Ate some more bread. (Uh oh.) Drank a bottle of Snapple Green Tea. (~120 cal.)

Between lunch and cocktail hour.. Well.. Like I said. It's a camp conference. There's some great food vendors. And an open bar. So my diet looked something like this:

1 mini chicken salad sandwich on wheat
1 boiled shrimp
two or three handfuls of blackberries and raspberries
guacamole and corn chips
Gouda, Swiss, Brie, Cheddar bites
some small slices of ciabatta bread
chunks of pear
chocolate Rice Krispie treat bar doohickey
strawberries
a couple of bites out of a piece of what looked like delish roast beef— ehhh
two Jim Beam & Diet Cokes, with lime— so no scurvy!
a Crown & Diet Coke— more limes, more vitamin C!
a Shiner Bock.. or perhaps two

and now I'm reheating some of Dicky's Shepherd's Pie 'cause its delicious and clearly that wasn't enough food. o_O

So how can I redeem myself?

Um, I walked a lot? Sort of?

Day Two

First- Love the changes, Mashley. It looks great!!
Today started off not so great:

Breakfast:
Grande white chocolate frappachino or however the hell you spell the most fattening drink on earth with two shots of espresso.
Asiago cheese bagel with a little bit of cream cheese

Lunch:
Home made baked chicken marinated in lemon juice, dill, a bit of olive oil (okay, a lot), pepper and a few other random spices. With brown rice. I tried Green Giant's "Immunity blend" which contained cauliflower, yellow and orange carrots, cranberries and something else with a "delicious light butter sauce" but the veggies were gross. The mix of cranberries and the butte sauce just left a slimy buttery sugar flavor that was completely unappetizing.

Dinner:
Small slice of poppyseed bread and half of a paradise blend smoothie from Beyond Juice. The smoothies have a meal replacement formula and the poppyseed bread is supposed to be super healthy. I only had half of the smoothie because I was running late to yoga and needed to let Oscar out.

Snacks:
A small cup of dried fruits and a chocolate peanut butter trail mix
A couple bites of not very fresh spaghetti.
I did better with drinking a lot more water, but had a couple glasses of sweet tea from Chik-Fila that pretty much cancelled out all water intake.

Goals for tomorrow:
I don't go into work until noon so I'm going to try and get up no later than 7am (which means 7:30am), and take Oscar to the dog park.

I need to stop by the grocery and get stuff to make sandwiches and better breakfast choices.

My intro

Hola—

This is Mashley signing in. Kara was lovely enough to start our new blog attempt off, and I added a little color this evening. Hope it suits!

So my current situation. (I'm bracing myself using mint chocolate chip ice cream and some late-night courage.)

In the past six-plus months of young marriage, I've gained somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty-five pounds. I was about 125 in June. Do the math. This is not the end of the world (I'm having to convince myself, as I'm happier than I've been in my life in all other elements of my existence) but it has drastically affected my body TYPE. I've put weight on in a new and "exciting" way.. like a woman, not a kid. Meaning I suddenly have some serious hips and buttocks. (Up until this point in my life, I'm generally in the category of adequate-breasted awkward log shapes.) Which is FINE.. but last June, I was trying on things in a size 4/6. Many of those things I can still squeeze myself into, with much overhang and some covering outerwear. Alas, however: yesterday, I bought two pairs of crop pants at the Gap in a size 10. First pants I've bought in months. Granted, they're remotely baggy. But that's disheartening. My boobs are pretty slamming, though. And I do like my birth control, which I've been on for the longest stretch of my life thus far. Tradeoffs..

Anyway. I don't have any particular goals. (This is starting off well, huh?) I don't like setting number figures. It seems like whenever I'm trying to aim for a set of digits, I disappoint or make excuses. My greatest weight loss accomplishments have rolled around through (1) not obsessing over food, for the good or bad and (2) running or being overworked. I want to incorporate a concentrated physical activity into every day, and I want to limit the sugars and carbs I eat on a daily basis. This means I have to ignore most of what my unnaturally fit and secretly-hoping-he's-destined-for-a-metabolism-crash husband eats. Or, y'know, not eat as much.

Um so food log! That's right. Today I was a sloth. We woke up at 930 and stayed in bed, more or less, until 4. Netflix and breakfast-in-bed trays facilitated this. Also, it was raining.

But:

Brunch
2 eggs over easy
1/2 large white roll, sliced, buttered, and pan-toasted with basil
1/2 large Braeburn apple with honey and cinnamon
breakfast tea w/ splash organic milk & agave

Snacks
mint chocolate chip HEB ice cream(hehe)
Kashi Java Chocolate Chip chewy granola bar
Kashi oatmeal / chocolate chip cookies (oops)
honey-wheat pretzels
hummus
the remnants of Richard's orange soda
lots of taste-testing Shepherd's Pie

Supper
Richard's Shepherd's Pie (stew beef, peas, carrots, onions, gravy, mashed potato topping)
1 glass lemonade

Go Team Carbs!

First Day of Get Fit

Yesterday was personally humiliating. I put on a pair of nice black slacks I bought about 6 months ago. They buttoned but were so tight the zipper wouldn't stay up. Not to mention all you can eat FREE Chik-fil-A.

Anywho, woke up early-ish (about 7:45) had a Kashi granola bar and took Oscar for about a one mile brisk walk. Resisted the urge to get coffee, and instead went to Panera (fail). Had a sausage, egg and cheese on whole grain and a low-fat blueberry muffin. And a soda (fail x2).

Drank 3 big glasses of water when I got home and headed to the rodeo. Walked instead of taking the tram (to and from, probably another two miles round trip). BUT being a rodeo the only food available were hotdogs, hamburgers and nachos near the booth I was working.
Loaded Nachos. Soda.

I have chicken and rice already made with frozen veggies planned for lunch tomorrow, and I will stick to it.

Yoga is tomorrow, too.