Vacation

We're on vacation until Saturday 9/2. Back then with more!

day 76 & 77: Friday & Week 11 Weigh-In

Friday's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: pistachios
Dinner: chili

Exercise: 15 min on treadmill, 30 min on bike, 17 min on treadmill

I weighed in a day early since we're leaving for a week at the lake this morning. Well this week I lost 4 pounds; which brings me to -40.4 pounds overall! I now have to break the pattern and lose more than one pound this upcoming week; I'm well prepared for vacation as far as food goes so I think I can do it.

Here's what I'm taking with me:
Breakfasts: smoothies - we FoodSavered the strawberries, blueberries and bananas into packets together and we're taking the VitaMix with us.
Lunch: salads - we've got some good ole salad in a bags of romaine lettuce and I froze some Green Velour earlier this week for ease of travel
Donners: I have frozen portions of chili and lentil soup that I've made in weeks past.

I may take some cans of pineapple with me and pick up some baby carrots on the way; but I'm keeping it simple and sticking with foods that I know I like. I think I'll be fine :-)

day 75: the week that wouldn't end finally did

Wednesday's Food:

Breakfast: smoothie

Lunch: wrap from the natural foods store, nectar bar

Dinner: 1/2 chocolate chip cookie

Exercise: 60 min treadmill, 15 min legs

Today's Food:

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner: chili

Exercise: none, rest day

Yesterday and today were extra super long days at work, it took a lot of time getting everything done so I can go on vacation with a clean conscience... And now I'm exhausted. I promise I'll be back tomorrow with a good post before we leave on Saturday morning.

day 73: stressed

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with Green Velour
Dinner: chili

Exercise: 60 minutes on the treadmill

I have 2 days left of work before vacation (woo hoo!) but in that time I have a ton of work to do before I go so that I'm not completely buried in work when I get back... it's stressing me out! When I get stressed out or overwhelmed I tend to shut down and not want to do anything at all... I don't know why that is.

So naturally today I wanted to come home and do nothing, sit on the couch and not work out. But I have a great hubby who convinced me to work out today even though I wanted to make it a rest day. I got on the treadmill and was just not having a good time; and I am lucky in the sense that usually I don't mind exercising and a lot of the time I really like it. But not today. I gave up after 28 minutes and came upstairs; and I immediately felt bad about it. I took a minute and listened to my body and realized that I felt good and wanted to go back and do more exercise. So I did, I went back downstairs and finished out the hour. I'm pretty proud of me.

Hopefully tomorrow and Thursday at work go well and won't be as stressful and annoying as today is.

Day 72: Q & A

Today's Food:
Breakfast: Smoothie (strawberries, blueberries, banana, flax seed, water)
Lunch: romaine with Green Velour
Dinner: Chili

Exercise: 30 minutes on the bike, 30 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes abs


Q: How much do you spend on ETL food?

I haven't ever tried to figure it out or kept track of how much money I spend on ETL food. I do think that it can get very expensive if you buy organic everything (I do when it's on sale but don't stress out about it otherwise) and are making different dishes every night.

Here are some of my "tips" for ETLing without spending an arm and a leg:

- buy from the wholesale clubs… Sam’s, Costco, BJ’s etc.
I get fozen fruit for my smoothies there (strawberries and blueberries) as well as fresh bananas for the smoothies. I also buy frozen veggies there, broccoli florets, and veggies mixes. (These make for easy and quick dinners). I also buy spices there, they are so expensive in those little jars at the grocery store!

- Buy fresh produce from farmer’s markets when available. This saves a lot of money over the grocery store and I think that it’s much fresher as well.

- Buy dry beans, not canned. This way you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for salt-free beans; and it’s really not that much of a hassle to soak and cook them. Many people use pressure cookers to greatly reduce cooking time… I’m not that brave.

- Keep recipes simple!

Overall, I’m saving money by not eating out or getting take out, not buying prepared or frozen food from the grocery store and not buying anything to drink (soda, beer, etc). I also buy only what I know I will use and not throw away. AND I’m improving my health which will mean less money toward health-related problems in the future.


Q: You eat so little... (ok this isn't really a question but a few people have commented so I felt that it would be worthwhile to address)

On Eat to Live, Dr. Fuhrman wants you to eat 3 meals a day ONLY WHEN YOU'RE HUNGRY. No snacking. At first many people are daunted by this idea. Many weight loss plans out there promote eating small meals frequently throughout the day stating that it will keep your metabolism up and therefore you will lose weight. However, Dr. F eschew's this advice, he states:

"Frequent eating is a form of overeating. It accelerates aging. One of the critical nuances that makes my recommendation so different from the nonsense about trying to keep up your metabolism is the understanding that it is almost impossible to achieve an ideal weight if you eat when you are not truly hungry. Eating more calories does not make you weigh less and the metabolic slowing from eating less calories is too small to prevent loss of weight from the lower caloric intake." (per the Ask the Doctor section on www.drfuhrman.com)

So here's a sample of the volume of my daily intake:

Breakfast: Smoothie… 40 oz (a whole Nalgene bottle filled to the very top, or 5 cups) Toward my daily goal of at least 4 servings of fruit, meets daily requirement for 1 Tablespoon of ground flax seed.

Lunch: a whole 10 oz bag of salad… romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage. Can have beans on this if you want but I prefer eating my beans hot. Sometimes 1 oz nuts/seeds on the salad depending on what’s in the dressing. This counts toward my daily goal of at least 1 lb of raw veggies, 1 cup of beans, and 1 oz. of raw, unsalted seeds or nuts.

Dinner: cooked veggies and beans. Counts toward my daily goal of at least 1 lb of non-starchy veggies and 1 cup of beans.

Dessert (if I feel like it): pineapple, apple, fruit & soy milk “ice cream.” Counts toward fruit.

For more info about the strict vegan rapid weight loss version of ETL that I am doing my best to follow check out: http://www.fatfreevegan.com/etl.shtml


Q: What is this Green Velour you so often have on your salads?

Here's the recipe:

Green Velour Salad Dressing
Adapted from DrFuhrman.com’s Green Velvet Dressing

Makes 2 to 2 ½ cups, 4 to 6 generous servings.

1 cup water
½ cup fresh lemon or lemon & lime juice
½ cup tahini (raw & unsalted please!)
½ cup frozen spinach or mix of green herbs
1 - 2 cloves garlic (more if you are a garlic freak, like me)
2 T no-salt seasoning blend of your choice (something like Mrs. Dash)
2 t Braggs

Place all ingredients in a blender and whiz it up until it is creamy and has a lovely green color, about 1 minute or depending on your blender.

To me, the predominant flavors in this dressing are the tahini and the garlic. If you aren't a fan of tahini... you might not like this. If you happen to be a fan of garlic and tahini or strong/spicy flavors in general you just might love it. I think that it tastes much better if I let it sit in the refrigerator overnight after making it to let the flavors come together. I use spinach all the time now rather than green herbs (the original recipe calls for parsley, tarragon, and dill) and like it much better than the original, but that's just me.

A big thank you to everyone who reads my humble little blog, and an even bigger thank you to everyone who leaves comments! You all keep me going!

day 71: week 10 results

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch/Dinner: tofu with steamed broccoli & cauliflower

Exercise: 65 min on treadmill, 15-20 min legs, 5 min on bike

Conversation between hubby & me this morning:

Nicole (10:28:08 AM): i'm bummed with myself
Hubby (10:31:22 AM): ??
Nicole (10:32:35 AM): i go one week where i lose a pound or nothing at all and then the next week I lose 4 lbs
Nicole (10:33:09 AM): I feel like these weeks are wasted time when I lose hardly anything
Hubby (10:33:13 AM): you didn't work out as much this week
Hubby (10:33:13 AM): you weren't working out an hour then 15 min weights
Nicole (10:33:56 AM): i don't think it's the working out so much
Nicole (10:34:17 AM): I think I've gotten a little lazy with the diet
Hubby (10:34:25 AM): ya
Hubby (10:34:29 AM): all that tofu
Nicole (10:34:32 AM): and I've been having too much salt
Hubby (10:34:32 AM): and junk
Hubby (10:34:35 AM): uh huh'
Hubby (10:40:30 AM): just do your best hun
Hubby (10:40:44 AM): you cant ride up hill every week
Nicole (10:41:20 AM): I know... I'm just impatient
Hubby (10:41:27 AM): sometimes you gotta coast a bit
Nicole (10:41:54 AM): we'll I've coasted this past week
Hubby (10:42:36 AM): uh huh
Hubby (10:42:40 AM): uphill now =)
Nicole (10:42:48 AM): yep
Nicole (10:42:53 AM): this week and next
Nicole (10:43:14 AM): and then just one day of coasting for my bday
Nicole (10:43:23 AM): and back to work

I have gotten lazy with the diet. The past few weeks with the losing 1 pound and then 4 pounds and then 1 pound prove it. I'm sick of the roller coaster. I don't like the guilty feeling that comes from cheating; but I LOVE the feeling of putting on clothes that fit better than they have in a long time. I like feeling good when I work out and not struggling through things. I love the "target me" in the image above.

So why am I letting myself have things I shouldn't? Why am I not keeping the promises I made to myself a few weeks ago about cutting out the salt? Why am I not doing the best I can? I don't know the answers to these things right now. All I know is that I am going to try much harder than I have been and I AM going to stop doing these things that I know I shouldn't. It's far far past the time for me to start keeping promises to myself.

day 70: wow... it's day 70!

Today's Food:

ok... I was kind of bad today... I didn't eat anything for breakfast or lunch because I knew we were going over to my parent's house to celebrate my mom's birthday and I wanted to be able to use my daily calories on "bad" stuff... well I don't think I was too bad...

Dinner: 1 light Beer, some Triscuts with cheese spread, a couple potato chips, Salad: 10 oz. romaine drizzled with a little green velour, sauteed cremini mushrooms that were marinated in lite italian dressing, and 1 oz of sunflower seeds (I didn't actually finish all of the salad)

Exercise: 50 min on the treadmill, 25 min on the recumbent bike

If I had a good week this week I could have less than 10 lbs to lose in the two weeks until my birthday. It'd be a great birthday present to myself if I were at -50 lbs then. I'm pretty sure that it's a goal I can reach as long as I stick with eating on plan when we're on vacation and get a lot of activity in. I don't think either of those things will be too tough because I'll basically have all the time I want to exercise when we're at the lake. It'll be really nice not having to worry about doing chores around the house or waking up early for work or anything :-)

Weigh-in in the morning, feeling ok about the past week.

day 69: new and improved?

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with green velour
Dinner: sunflower seeds, wrap from HFS

Exercise: 45 min treadmill

So I'm trying out a new template for the good ole blog. I did adapt the template already (with the background graphic) to make it more "full of veggies" and there is some other tweaking of colors etc. that I'd like to do... if I keep things this way.

Hubby was not an instant fan of the new setup... he thinks it's a bit too busy. I don't know, it's probably because I put time into changing things, but I like it and want it to work. What do you think readers? Let me know :-)

day 68: my favorite

Today's Food:
Breakfast: romaine with Green Velour
Lunch: smoothie
Dinner: stir fry with tofu

Exercise: 60 min treadmill, 15 min arms

My single favorite ingredient of all time is without a doubt tofu. I just love it. I could eat it every day. Hubby found me this awesome pic and I think I need a t-shirt of it...

Do you like crazy Asian stuff too? Check this little movie out: http://yoga.at.infoseek.co.jp/flash/kikkomaso_e.htm (click on "start")

My other favorites:
Smell: clean laundry
Movie: Amelie
TV Show: hmm... Prison Break or The Office
Cartoon/Animated: Initial D
Vehicle: 1957 Chevy Bel Air
Day of the Week: Friday
Restaurant: Zen Palate (in NYC)
Song: Fire Woman by the Cult (this changes fairly often)
Gum: Extra Peppermint
Part of ETL: losing weight
Activity: Whitewater Rafting

What are your favorite things?

day 67: what I learned from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Today's Food:
breakfast: smoothie
lunch: romaine with green velour dressing
dinner: cooked veggies & tofu w/ lightly toasted peanuts (raw unsalted peanuts)

exercise: 45 min HARD workout on the treadmill (lots of running and steep inclines)

When I was a young'un I was a firm believer that the book was better than the movie. Somewhere along the lines (probably when I was too busy with reading for college & grad school stuff) I got lazy and decided that the movies are good enough. I figured I'd seen the movie and I didn't need to spend my time reading the book.

Recently I've rediscovered my passion for books. I owe it all to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I really didn't know much about until I saw the movie that came out last year. When I found out that there were 4 more books in the series I had to get them, and bought an edition of the "trilogy" which had all 5 books and one short story. If you've never read these books and want something humorous and imaginative to read... I highly recommend them. If you've seen the movie and think you know what's going to happen; you are so wrong my friend. There are things in the movie that never happen in any of the books and vice versa. It's freaking great.

I felt the same way about Harry Potter, I love the movies and never felt like I should read the books, well I've changed my mind... I think I am going to start whittling away at the HP books now. I just recently finished The Devil Wears Prada this weekend and am interested in seeing the movie. It's interesting the adaptations that are made when making a book into a film - seeing what's been left out, put in, or changed.

Relating this rant to weight loss and ETL... I think (hopefully hubby will agree) that I'll use books as a reward for staying on track. As long as I'm good and keep eating right and exercising (I had a GREAT workout today BTW) I can get more books, as I finish the ones I have of course.

day 66: the hardest part

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with Green Velour, Garden Veggie Triscuts
Dinner: stir-fry veggies

Exercise: 60 min on the treadmill, 15 min abs

The hardest part is the waiting. Waiting for the week to be up so you can weigh yourself again and inch bit by bit closer to your goal. Waiting to meet the milestones 25 lbs, 50 lbs, etc. Waiting to fit into the clothes you have in your closet that you've been waiting and wishing to wear for all to long.

I feel comfortable with things right now, and I feel like I have some good momentum going on. Maybe I have too much momentum... mental momentum... because I just can't wait for my body to catch up to where my head is. And that thought is a little bit disconcerting to me. It makes me worry that I'll run out of drive and steam and that every day will become a chore. I definitely don't want that to happen, and as I think everyone does, I want things to become easier not become more challenging.

What to do to prevent the fizzle out of the momentum? Well I think that one I have to focus more on the small goals. Such as getting to -50 pounds by my birthday and getting into that outfit by my anniversary. Having the goals isn't the problem; it's committing to the goal in my head. It's focusing on that goal rather than the big overall goal end-product. I've got to think about how I'm going to get that part in line...

day 65: ouch...

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: pita (falafel, tomato, lettuce, spinach)
Dinner: portobello / zucchini stuff

Exercise: 45 min treadmill, 15 min legs

I'm not a good sleeper. It's tough for me to fall asleep most nights and really tough for me to wake up in the morning. So after not feeling particularly stellar all day yesterday and then having a rough night of sleep last night, wake-up time was rough enough without work calling...

Yeah, I was supposed to be there an hour earlier than usual this morning.

I had set up an appointment myself with a student to come in to take an exam. The problem was that after being away from the office since last Thursday morning I completely forgot about it. I felt so bad! Luckily my boss is amazing and didn't get mad at me at all; I told her where the exam was and said that I'd be there as soon as I could and I did... sheepishly getting there 40 minutes late.

I got through the morning ok enough, I feel like I'm drowning in work and just can't get back on top of things. I know that I need to get caught up (at least) this week and next so that I don't lose my mind when I get back from vacation.

I had a lunch date with a friend at 1:30 this afternoon; and just as we were finishing lunch the receptionist called me. "Um, Nicole... are you on your way back? Katina is here for her appointment with you." Oh crap! I forgot TWO appointments in one day!? How could I do that? What's wrong with me?

For some supremely lucky reason; I didn't get into any trouble at all. The worst part was my shame in myself. Talk about a case of the Monday's!

day 64: two months

Today's Food:
Breakfast: gardenburger barbeque "ribs" (regretting this one)
Lunch: 1/2 bowl of lentils
Dinner: portobello & zucchini with marinara over 1/2 cup of brown rice

Exercise: took today off

Well this past week was week 9 of ETLing, but this was the two calendar month mark. It's hard to believe that it's been only 2 months; it seems like it's taken so long to get here and I've learned and changed so much. Hopefully in another two months I'll be able to say the same things and will have had as much success and personal growth.

Today was prep and chores day, like every Sunday is. I put together my smoothie kits for the week and made a concoction that was inspired by something that Karena made a few weeks ago with portobello mushrooms, zucchini, and tomatoes (I think). I ended up roasting everything in the oven and making a marinara sauce with the tomatoes and putting it all over 1/2 cup of brown rice per serving. It's not as good as I was hoping; if I had to do it all over I would leave chunks of tomatoes instead of making a sauce.

In a few weeks hubby and I are off to a cabin on a lake with his family for a week. We're looking forward to some time off from the responsibilities of daily life (I'm excited about being able to exercise whenever I want and not having to deal with work stuff for a whole week). I am trying to think of food that I can take with me that will be easy to transport and reheat without a microwave (we're not sure if they'll have one or not). Does anyone have some good suggestions?

day 63: saturday

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: fresh (not fried) spring rolls, a few bites of veggie lo mein and white rice
Dinner: spinach soup
Dessert: *cringe* mounds bar

Exercise: 62 min on treadmill, 15 min arms

When watching Willy Wonka; you can't help but to crave delicious chocolate can you?

day 62: i swear, i have the memory of a goldfish sometimes

Today's Food:
Breakfast: 3 dates w/ natural peanut butter
Lunch: 1/2 a smoothie
Dinner: lentils
(maybe) Dessert: strawberry, cocoa powder, soy milk "ice cream"

Exercise: 65 min on the treadmill

Today was fairly uneventful, woke up, worked out, did some errands, watched a movie, cleaned up the kitchen. Nothing exciting or funny or great to discuss.

Something that is fun is that I'm starting to be able to fit into pants that used to be too small for me. I wore a pair of chinos the other day that I haven't worn in a long time, it was a good feeling! The jeans that I bought 6 months ago that were snug on me when I first got them are starting to get loose in the waist as well... fun stuff!

We live in an old house, and the bedrooms (and consequently the closets) are on the small side. So since we have no rugrats around; I made the smallest bedroom into a dressing room for myself and let hubby have the closet and dresser in our bedroom. In the tiny closet in my dressing room is the clothes that I've either a) bought with the intention of being able to fit in when I lose weight or b) put in there because they had become too small to wear... It's such a treat now that I'm losing weight (for real this time) and am able to look in there and know that I will be able to wear those clothes or pick something out of there and be able to wear it.

There is a pair of khaki green Tommy Hilfiger pants in there and a baby blue cap sleeve silk shirt that are in there that I'm dying to wear with my cute as he** wedding shoes (they're blue too). Hmmm... it'd be cool if I could fit into that outfit on our anneversary in October. Sounds like a goal to me!

day 61: hiding in plain sight

Today's Food:
Breakfast/Lunch: smoothie
Pre-workout snack: dates & peanut butter
Dinner: garlicky spinach soup, 1/2 bowl of lentils

Exercise: 60 min treadmill, 15 min abs

Today was the second day in a row that I've had to drive an hour away to one of the other campuses of the college that I work for for meetings. Sometimes the meetings are worthwhile (like yesterday's) and sometimes they just aren't (like today). At any rate; it makes it hard to eat when you're on the run... in the car for an hour and then some, meeting for 2 hours or so, back in the car for another hour +. Any way it's scheduled; it's going to mean trying to eat in the car. I can't eat a salad while driving 70 miles per hour and putting up with trucks and idiots tailgating me or some nonsense.

My solution? Drink my smoothie in the car. It worked out pretty well (no catastrophies like the salad explosion from a few weeks ago when hubby was driving). Although today I could have used a little something extra because I got pre-t-t-y cranky from being hungry (and bored) when I was on my way home. I think I need to carry an ounce of nuts or something in my purse for such occasions. I know I've mentioned this before but it just reinforces the fact. Maybe this time I'll actually act on the idea.

The garlicky spinach soup doesn't really taste all that garlicky to me. It pretty much just tastes like spinach. I can't really taste the thyme either... the potato and the fact that it is blended does give it a nice thick consistency... but still, all I can really taste is the spinach. And what's the point of garlicky spinach soup if one can't taste the garlickiness? This is not a recipe that's at the top of my list to make again... but when I do I will tweak it some to amp up the flavor.

I took tomorrow as a vacation day, and I think I really need it! It's supposed to be rather cool here (upper 60's to lower 70's -- definitely cool for August) and would be a great day for a hike or a bike ride. I'm looking forward to it!

day 60: Taco Town!

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: wrap from the HFS
Dinner: tofu tacos, black beans & rice

Exercise: 90 min on treadmill, 15 min legs

So today wasn't what you'd call a great ETL day. But I've come to a place where I'm ok with it. I know that I can have a meal or two off plan and it won't send me into a downward spiral of bad eating. I've also been really good about working out and have been increasing the speed of the treadmill and the incline as I become comfortable with each level. I've also worked up to a 60 minute workout (minimum is still 45).

I know I can go back to being 100% ETL for the rest of the week with no problem. I've also noticed that I don't really enjoy some of the food that I thought I'd miss the most when I started ETL. Things like cheese and sour cream and really really sweet stuff just don't taste good anymore, plus they tend to make the tummy hurt. The reality is now that my morning smoothie is sweet enough; no salad dressing tastes better (to me) than my Green Velvet; and I don't need to add salt to my food. It's a great thing.

I'm still not going to let myself eat the really bad stuff regularly at all; because it does make me feel so much better when I am primarily on plan. But I'm not going to sweat it either. There are just some days (like today) when I just can't swing having a salad for lunch or the hubby and I want to go out to dinner together on a beautiful evening.

The important thing for me is to remember how far I've come... from not working out hardly at all and eating primarily frozen food and takeout to eating nearly no processed food at all and eating tons and tons more fruits and veggies and beans and not subsisting on vegetarian meat analogs. It's progress!

day 59: mantra

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with green velvet
Dinner: broccoli, lentils

Exercise: 60 minutes treadmill, 15 minutes arms

Sorry that I don't have a good post today... and that yesterday's kind of sucked as well. It's been a stressful week at work and I did go through a mild detox from eating the junk that I did this weekend. However, I had a little bit of an epiphany yesterday as I was watching last week's Project Runway of all things...

There was a shot of one of the thin little nymphets of a designer on the show (Allison? I still don't know all of their names) with her stick thin legs up on the couch or something. Now I know I'll never be ridiculously thin like the waifs on the television; but seeing that image sparked a response... I thought to myself "I want to be skinny."

It was one of those most basic reactions; something you know is internalized deep within you. It's something that I know I need to make into a mantra. Every time I think about wanting to eat something that I really shouldn't I want to think that same thing to myself. I want to have that conditioned response of thinking about food and then visualizing the results that I want to see in my body.

I know that to many this will sound extremely vain. Well to me, I feel like being thin is something that I've never been able to experience. I haven't shopped in "regular people" stores since I was probably in middle school. It's not fun. It doesn't make you feel so good about yourself. I know that as I lose weight my self-confidence will increase and I'll feel better about everything in general. I know that I already feel tremendously better physically than I did before starting ETL. It's just a matter of hanging in there.

So I have a new mantra in my ETL/weight loss adventure. I'm going to try to incorporate spending some time visualizing my desired results every day; and go beyond just a number on the scale or a pants size... really visualize meeting my goals. I think it's going to do me a world of good to be able to stay motivated and be able to resist off-plan food.

In an unrelated story... there were still Doritos in the kitchen yesterday from the evil vending machine guy last week. I almost ate them, BUT then I came to my senses and instead I opened up the bag and dumped them in the trash! Ha! Take that Doritos!

day 58: monday monday monday

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with green velour
Dinner: spinach soup, lentil stew

Exercise: 60 min treadmill, 15 weights

Being healthy really requires being well rounded. It's a total package, eating right, exercise, planning, the whole mental thing, and last but most definitely not least: sleep. If one of these things falls out of place it can throw a girl right off.

Last night I couldn't fall asleep and this morning I had to be at work earlier than normal so I didn't get much sleep. It threw me all off. I was hungry when I shouldn't be, tired, sore (not really a product of not enough sleep), and just generally "off" all day. Not fun.

It's tough being on your game all the time. Sometimes it takes work to keep everything in balance, which requires even more mental fortitude. Sometimes everything goes smoothly and things are easy. It's too bad that there aren't more easy times than tough ones. I suppose as time goes on things will get easier.

Here's to hoping that the easier times are coming soon.

day 57: shoulda, coulda, woulda

Today's Food:
Breakfast: chili
Dinner: I don't know yet... smoothie maybe?

Exercise: 60 min treadmill, 15 min abs

So I lost a pound. It's alright. I deserve it the way I ate last week. The lesson learned? Funnel cake isn't all it's cracked up to be and always ask how something is cooked at a restaraunt you've never been to before.

Today I made Sinbad's Lentil Soup/Stew and Garlicky Spinach Soup. The lentil soup is my best approximation of a lentil soup that is made at my favorite mediterranean restaurant here. It is basically lentils, potato, escarole, lemon, garlic and onion. It came out very well but I didn't pay enough attention to what I put in to be able to post the recipe, but next time I make it I will pay attention!

The Garlicky Spinach soup is out of this month's issue of Vegetarian Times, I checked on their website to be able to link to the recipe but it doesn't look like it's posted yet. It did come out pretty well and was very easy to make. I left out the oil and the salt, and didn't have any lemon juice to put in. My advice would be to double the recipe as I think the serving size is too small if you're having it for a meal.

day 56: saturday

Saturday's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: 2 Ezekiel wraps with romaine, red onion, and dijon mustard
Dinner: salad, portobello mushroom & artichokes

Exercise: 60 minutes treadmill, 15 minutes legs

Dinner looks good in theory, but we met my mom & dad out to dinner at this nice place where we sat right on the lake, at sunset, and then got to see fireworks in the distance. It was very nice.

The food? Well the salad was ok. I got some ranch dressing on the side and just dipped my fork into the dressing and then speared some veggies. It was a huge salad and I think I only ate about 1 tablespoon of the dressing. I did have a little bit of bread too. The mushrooms and artichokes looked healthy on the menu (all it said was "portobello saute with artichokes and red peppers") but when it got to me it was pretty much swimming in oil. I ate it anyway, doing my best to let as much of the oil drip off as possible. I'm not sure exactly how they cooked it but it was pretty good. It's something I think I'll try to ETL-ize at home.

I knew I had two days of not so good eating... I was prepared to be happy if I only broke even for the past week.

day 55: friday

Friday's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with ETL ranch
Dinner: hors d'ouvres, curly fries, funnel cake

Exercise: umm... walking?

Ok, let me explain dinner. First we "had" to make an appearance at a little work-related get together where I had some bruschetta on white bread, and some sort of other little bites of something that had cream cheese in it... very very bad.

AND THEN, we went to the Fireman's Carnival/Phelps Sauerkraut Festival (which is in hubby's hometown) and had curly fries and a funnel cake. I knew I was going to eat off plan all day so I didn't feel too bad about it. In retrospect, it wasn't worth it... and I'm going to do my best to remember that.

day 54: the new fall lineup

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie (made by my darling hubby!)
Lunch: romaine and ETL ranch
Dinner: fresh (not fried) spring rolls, chili

Exercise: 45 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes weights

Hubby started a new shift at work last week, he was working 2pm to 11pm before and now he goes to work at 10 am Sunday through Wednesday. Since I go to work at the same time during the week (and he is a morning person and I am SOOOOO not) he's started making me my smoothies in the morning. I am so lucky! I get to spend more time with him AND I get my breakfast made for me as well. I like this new schedule.

The vending guy at work thinks he's being really nice by leaving goodies in our kitchen when he comes to fill the machine in the student lounge. Really, he sucks. It's just not fair to see cheez-its and chips and cookies there in the kitchen every time I go in there to fill up my water bottle or get my salad. I almost caved today and had the doritos but I talked myself out of it because I knew that I had fresh rolls at home waiting for me (again thanks to hubby).

Ok well I'm gonna go watch the guys on Pimp My Ride make someone's broke down vehicle into something ridiculous. Later!

days 52 & 53: downs and ups

Tuesday's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: chili
Dinner / After school snack: popcorn (plain with some garlic powder)
Exercise: rest day/taught class

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with ETL "ranch"
Dinner: chili
Exercise: 45 min on the treadmill, 15 min abs

This week all I have wanted to eat is junk. I don't know why... it's not a toxic hunger type of craving or anything, it's more of a psychological/emotional type of thing. I'm not sure where it's stemming from except that I've been busy with class these past few weeks (last night was the last night!) and at work my desk and every other surface in my office seems to be covered in things I needed to do... like... yesterday... Or it could be just the strain of trying to be perfectly ETL. I don't know... at least I haven't given in to the feeling. Hopefully they will go away with time and seeing results when I step on the sale :-)

A positive note is that I had a student come into my office today who I haven't seen in a few months; probably since I have started ETL. She looked at me and said "you look like you're losing weight?!" What a great feeling! Especially because it's not really something that I can see when I look in the mirror, or that hubby can see either. Hearing such things really ramps up the motivation.