the pithy yet amusing title - of a sandwich

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with Pomegranate Balsamic
Dinner: nuked potato, blended greens soup

Exercise: 30 min bike, 30 min treadmill

My local health food store (HFS) is really cool. I don't have a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's but what I do have is a local natural foods store that has commercials with people dressed up like the fruit of the loom people and a cute little doggy. The prepared food that they sell in their deli section comes with funny little titles on them that are always changing. One week my favorite wrap will be called "Mr. Bigglesworth Sets Off for Nova Scotia" and the next week it will be called "Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines"... you just never know and it adds some entertainment to your meal. A very cool HFS.

The bad thing? I have become obsessed with these wraps. They are so good and the HFS is so close to work that I actually found myself wishing the other day that I could get lunch there every day. I think about the wraps every day when I start getting hungry for lunch and don't want to eat my salad. Luckily, I've managed to restrict myself to only going once a week but I know it's not good for me. The excess sodium in the wraps has been known to give me headaches... Yet I still go back for more! Why do I do this? As I said the other day, I've become very accustomed to NOT having headaches anymore. I've got to break this addiction...

So what did I do? I made a pledge to myself (backed up by hubby) that I will only go to the HFS to buy food that I need to make recipes that I can't buy at the regular grocery store or at BJ's and when I do I will give hubby the receipt to show exactly what I bought. What are the consequences if I break my promise? I will eat a piece of hubby's steak. This is a very strong motivating factor for me because I'd rather get hit by a train rather than eat a piece of steak. YUCK.

Maybe every once in a while I can indulge in this as a treat... but definitely not for a long time until I've done something to earn it.

Has anyone else out there developed any new or different food obsessions since starting a trek to health, fitness and weight loss? How do you deal with these obsessions?

The Numbers Game

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: wrap from the HFS
Dinner: blended green soup

Exercise: 30 min bike, 30 min treadmill

So lets talk numbers:

298.6 - That's what I weighed when I started ETL. Before I made the decision to start ETL I don't think I had ever stepped on our scale. I just didn't want to know. I knew I felt like crap and I looked like crap... I didn't need the scale to confirm that for me.

At first I was so ashamed of how much I weighed that I didn't want to post it here. I didn't even tell hubby how much I weighed. I just didn't want anyone to know; which is silly because it's not like anyone would look at me and NOT know that I could stand to lose some major poundage. Now, after reading the weight loss blogs of many others I realize that it's part of the deal. It helps you to identify with someone; maybe feel better about yourself... especially if you've got less to lose!

158.6 - That's how much I'd like to lose. It's a lot... as of today I still have 108.6 left to go. But as I said yesterday, I know I am going to make it there. I believe it at such a fundamental level that there is no "if's" or "i hope's" about it.

240(ish) - About my lowest adult weight... I don't really know how much I weighed when I was a senior in high school or when I was a freshman or sophomore in college... I went on a big health kick in my senior year of undergraduate study which I kept up through grad school. When I met my hubby as near as I can guess I was in the 240 to 250 range. (Which is where I am now... kinda cool!)

136 to 140 - That's my goal weight. It's in the middle of the reccommended range for someone of my height (5'6"). So I feel that it is a reasonable target for someone who has been 200lbs plus since middle school. When I get there I will re-evaluate my goals... we shall see.

120 - That's Dr. Fuhrman's ideal weight for someone of my height. I think that this is too thin for me; and many people out there that are also ETLing feel that these goals are a little bit ambitous as well...

3.5 - The number of pounds I'd like to lose per week in the next few weeks to reach my Boston goal. ;-)

Milestone!

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: baked potato
Dinner: blended greens soup

Exercise: 30 min bike, 30 min treadmill

Woo hoo! I'm down 50 pounds! I can't express how happy I am to have found Eat to Live, and that it is working so well for me. I only wish that I had heard about it earlier so that I could have made this change in my life a long time ago. But really there are no worries, the past is the past and all we can do is make positive changes for a better future right?

50 pounds makes a lot of difference on a body! The two areas in which I am noticing the most difference are in my clothes and in my workouts. When I started ETL I had clothes that just barely fit me because I was too stubborn to buy a larger size. I had pants that I had to stuff myself into and could barely close. Now? Those same pants that I could barely fit into are getting baggy and I have other pants which are just plain too big now. I am now wearing pants that I've kept out of sight in a closet full of clothes that I couldn't wear before (I can fit into pretty much everything in that closet now!). My workouts have vastly improved too... when I started working out after not regularly working out for almost 2 years (ick!) I was happy to make it 30 minutes on the treadmill at a measly 2.5 miles per hour and a 0.5% incline. These days my workouts are an hour long and the treadmill is set to at least 3.0 miles per hour and a 3% incline with some jogging, which I tackle after a very rigorous workout on the bike. To me, that is a HUGE change.















I used to read those fitness magazines with the success stories where people would say things like "the weight just melted off" and felt so envious/wanted to kick those people. Good for you! I'd think... what was their secret and why wasn't I clued in? Maybe I just wasn't one of those people who was supposed to have success in losing weight. Well, I know now that everyone can have sucess in losing weight if they really want to and put in the effort. It's not easy; the pounds don't just melt away, but the most important thing is that everyone CAN do it if they really want to!

Now don't think that I've gotten all ahead of myself or anything, I know I still have a long way to go. But I feel with such certainty that I can make it to my goal that I'm not upset by the fact that I'm still just under 30% of the way there. It doesn't matter at all... I've built the foundation for success and I know I can make it. I'm not just hoping that I will get there or thinking in the back of my mind that for some reason it won't work for me, because I know that it will. It's all a matter of eating on plan and exercising... two things that get easier and easier to stick with all the time.

Dr. Fuhrman should do an infomercial or something...

M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: wrap from HFS
Dinner: broccoli & cauliflower, no salt potato chips

Exercise: rest day

Hi, sorry it's been so long. If you blog with blogger and have upgraded to the new blogger beta; you know what a headache it can be. I haven't been able to sign in since Monday. I wasn't itentionally neglecting my blogging duties (and I wasn't cheating on the diet... well until today). If you blog and haven't upgraded to beta yet... wait... it's just not worth it right now. There are still too many bugs in the system.

So I found out today that I'll be going to a conference (I work in Higher Ed... it's what we do) in November. It's the first time that I've ever gotten to travel anywhere to go to a conference and it's in Boston, a city that I've never been to! I have some good friends that live there that I haven't seen since my wedding so that makes it for triple excitement. It also kicks in my motivation... I hope to be down another 25 - 30 pounds before I go so that I can feel really good about myself.

So this Sunday we'll see what I need to shoot for as a weekly loss to make my newest goal. I'm thinking it will be about 3.5 pounds a week; which I think I can do.

One last parting thought... an exchange between me and hubby earlier today:
"I'm kinda getting tired of this diet."
"But are you getting tired of the results?"
"Nope!"
"Well there you go!"
"I know."

Holy Cow!

Wednesday's Food:

Breakfast: smoothie

Lunch: romaine with Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar

Dinner: Blended Green Soup

Exercise: 31 minutes treadmill, 30 minutes bike

I have never been a fan of vinegar. The smell and the taste have never been something that I could stomach. When I was first researching and reading about Eat to Live, I was a bit concerned/discouraged that Dr. F had such an emphasis on vinegars as flavoring agents. Luckily Green Velvet salad dressing was one of the salad dressings that I first tried and really liked and adapted into the Green Velour.

Well this week I had run out of Green Velour and forgot to make more before going to work on Wednesday. On my way out the door I grabbed the Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar that I've had in the cupboard for over 3 months and figured I'd give it a try on my salad at lunch.

At first, it looks and smells like regulat balsamic vinegar... but after a few bites of salad the sweet fruity pomegranate flavor came out. IT WAS REALLY GOOD! I couldn't believe that I liked it so much and devoured my romaine dressed in only the vinegar.

The moral of the story? If you have a past history with vinegar that is less than favorable, give the Cuisine Perel's (the company that manufactures Dr. F's vinegars) vinegars a try. If the rest of the vinegars are as non-vinegary as the Pomegranate Balsamic; you'll be very pleasantly surprised.

The same goes for kale and collards! I'd never tried them before I made this week's soup and they are very good as well :-) Just goes to show that we should all try something new and not be hedged in by preconcieved notions or fear of leaving our comfort zone.

Tuesday

Today's Food:

Breakfast: smoothie

Lunch: Romaine with Green Velour

Dinner: Blended Green Soup

Exercise: 40 min bike, 32 min treadmill

So I have been trying to get in as many of those super healthy cruciferous veggies into my diet. I've started (finally) putting spinach in my smoothies. Right now I'm only at 2 ounces of frozen spinach per smoothie, which is about 10% by volume of the "stuff" that I put in my smoothies - not counting the water. I plan on working up to 5 ounces per smoothie, which will be 25%.

The Blended Green Soup is EXCELLENT! I highly reccommend it. One thing though, you really do need a very very big pot to cook it in, all of those whole raw leafies take up a lot of space until they're wilted. I've been sprinkling some Braggs Liquid Aminos on the top of it to give it a little bit of saltiness; I really like the flavor that it adds.

Recipe Time

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with green velour
Dinner: blended green soup

Exercise: 30 min bike, 30 min treadmill

Blended Green Soup
by Shelly E on Dr. Fuhrman's Member Center

6 cups water
1 to 1 1/2 cups of dried beans or green lentils (3 cups when cooked)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping TBS of dried parsley
1 heaping tsp of dried basil
1 heaping tsp of dried sage
1 heaping tsp of dried chervil
1 cup carrots, chopped
2 cups celery, chopped
3-4 zucchinis (chop ends but leave whole)
1 head of cabbage (left mostly whole but cored)
1 bunch of collards (remove thick stem but leave whole)
1 bunch of kale (remove thick stem, leave whole)
1 bunch of broccoli (cut off thick stem again, but leave whole)
1 cup frozen green peas (thawed)
1 cup frozen chopped green beans (thawed)
1 cup frozen corn
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes (no salt added) I pulse it in my blender first to "spread out" the tomato taste.
1 package of broccoli sprouts (optional, lends a different flavor)

Cook beans (soaked overnight if necessary) in water till tender. Drain and reserve water. Put beans aside. In a VERY large pot add: water from the cooked beans, onion, garlic, seasonings, carrots, celery. Then add the bigger uncut whole vegetables: Cabbage, broccoli, zucchinis, and collards/ kale (broccoli sprouts if using) on top. Simmer until vegetables are tender, about45-60 minutes. Then ladle some of the water from the bottom and blend all the greens up in small batches in a blender. Use some of the liquid from the canned diced tomatoes if need be. Place all back in the pot and then add diced tomatoes, green peas, green beans, and corn and cook till they are tender, about another 15-20 minutes. Add cooked beans.

Nicole's changes: I cooked a whole 1 pound bag of green lentils for this and portioned them out into 1 cup servings and ladled the cooked soup over the top. I added a little bit of black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and omitted the green peas ('cause I don't like them) and added a whole bag of frozen green beans. I didn't bother to heat the soup after blending the greens and adding in the tomatoes, corn, and green beans.

The blended greens came out very thick and hearty. The taste is very fresh and healthy and tasty! The recipe made 7+ servings for me. Very good!

"thank god you're not a cowboy, 'cause the cowboy way is even harder"

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Dinner: chili

Exercise: 30 min bike, 30 min treadmill

Ok so yesterday was the official start of my re-commitment to Dr. Fuhrman's 6 week plan/challenge. I'm going to do my best to stick with it until our first anniversary in just under six weeks (cough cough... hubby: get me jewelry! cough cough). I feel like this was just what I needed; a new challenge to keep myself accountable... along with all of the good feelings of sticking with my plan and knowing the guilt and shame I will feel if I let myself down.

Like today, I misjudged my day and my meals and didn't really have any lunch. I had plans to go out shopping for plants to re-landscape on the front of our house with my mom; and I knew that I had to get laundry done and work out and take a shower before I left the house. So... I sucked down my smoothie as quickly as I could in between doing loads of laundry and then I did my workout, jumped in the shower, got dressed and left. By the time I got home I was so hungry I just wanted to make a bag of popcorn and call that dinner... but I knew that I'd be failing myself and that that bag of popcorn wasn't going to do anything positive for me and my weight loss goals. I'm so happy that I had the chili and stayed on plan.

Speaking of cheating... despite eating crap pretty much all week last week (some days were better than others) I ended up losing 3.6 pounds. Not too shabby. I think that these 3 months that I have been on ETL have really changed not only the way that my body responds to food but also the way that I think of it. I think that the mental process and my commitment to exercise has helped me not gain anything these past 2 weeks and actually lose 4+ pounds. Don't get me wrong, I know that if I have a good week with Eat to Live and exercise that I can lose even more than that and I don't plan on making eating off plan foods every day a habit; even when I reach my goal weight.

I have been enjoying clothes out of "the skinny closet" lately... all of the clothes I had put away because I didn't like the way that they fit anymore. It is so much fun to think, "I don't know what I'm going to wear today... let's see what is in the skinny closet" and then go in there and actually be able to wear the clothes that are in there! It's awesome that I can look at those clothes and think that these are clothes that aren't off limits to me anymore. If they don't fit me right now, the will soon! I know it's kind of materialistic; but it makes me so happy! Yesterday I pulled out a pair of jeans that I had to put in there a while ago because they were too tight and very uncomfortable to wear. Well now they are mighty comfortable! When I've lost enough weight that these clothes are too big for me we're going to have to buy some new ones, which is exciting but also annoying because I know I won't wear them long enough to get a decent amount of money's worth out of them. I think I'll have to get by with clothes from Old Navy and the clearance racks for a while. That's a little way off though; but not such a bad thing!

Resolution

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie (with spinach!)
Lunch: romaine, Green Velour, sunflower seeds
Dinner: veggie burger with lettuce and tomato on a whole grain role, a few french fries w/ ketchup

Exercise: rest day

Getting back on track is much harder than I thought it would be! Except for the other night when I had a headache and couldn't sleep I don't think I'm really having serious detox symptoms or anything... but at the same time I haven't had a perfect ETL day all week. I think that beginning this Saturday I am going to start a new six week challenge and not allow myself any cheating until my anniversary, which is actually five weeks away, but if I had said five week challenge it just wouldn't have been the same...

What is the six week challenge/plan? Here's the breakdown (as posted on FatFreeVegan):

Eat to Live 6-Week Plan

UNLIMITED (eat as much as you want):
all raw vegetables, including raw carrots (goal: 1 lb. daily)
cooked green vegetables (goal 1 lb. daily)
beans, legumes, bean sprouts, or *tofu (minimum 1 cup daily in total of these)
fresh fruit (at least 4 daily).
eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, onions, tomato and other non-starchy vegetables, cooked and raw (unlimited)
*Beans should be eaten daily; tofu should be eaten less frequently.

LIMITED (not more than one serving):
cooked starchy vegetables OR whole grains--Maximum 1 cup per day (butternut or acorn squash, corn, sweet potato, brown rice, cooked carrots, whole grain breads*, whole grain cereals*)
raw nuts and seeds (1 oz. or 28.5 grams a day) or 2 ounces avocado
ground flaxseed (1 tablespoon a day)
soymilk, low-sugar preferred--Maximum 1 cup a day*avoid breads and cereals as much as possible

OFF-LIMITS:
dairy products
animal products
between meal snacks
fruit juice, dried fruits
salt, sugar

There you have it; the last time (well it was the first time too) I tried to stick to the plan I lost about 25 pounds in 5 weeks and my workouts weren't as strenuous or lengthy as they are now; so I think that I can do it. Also, last time I made it about 2 weeks before giving in and going off plan; this time my goal is to stay completely on plan the whole time. Hopefully it will stick :-)

being fat and trying not to be

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine, Green Velour, sunflower seeds and some strawberries and grapes (fruit not in the salad)
Dinner: cheese bread and butter

Exercise: 30 min bike, 20 min treadmill

Today my co-workers surprised me with birthday fruit salad (instead of cake) it was very thoughtful of them and very tasty as well. While we were all in the kitchen the subject of my diet inevitably came up and someone asked how much weight I've lost since starting the diet nearly 3 months ago.

"As of the last time I weighed myself, 41 pounds." I said.

And they broke out into a round of applause. Applause!? I felt so self conscious. I'm not really sure why, I guess I should feel proud of what I've accomplished... but I just felt uncomfortable. Maybe it's just because I never really like to be the center of attention; maybe it's because my weight is still a very sensitive and personal thing for me... I don't know.

I've noticed that since beginning to lose weight my attitude toward myself has changed quite a bit. I regard myself not so much as an overweight person but as someone who is into being healthy and active. Maybe I've jumped the gun a little bit...

The other day when Hubby and I were at the Home Depot there was a guy who was waiting for some help in the same aisle as we were trying to pick out some new things for our bathroom. He was an older man who for some reason felt that it was necessary to make friends with Hubby and I, trying to give us advice about what we should and shouldn't get and so on.

Hubby went down the aisle to grab one of those rolling stairs thingies to get something off a shelf that was a little too high for us to reach. I know, he's such a rebel climbing on those Employee Only stairs (hehe). And our new friend looked at me and said something along the lines of; "The world isn't just friendly for big people like us." I just looked at him and smiled and walked away so that he wouldn't feel the need to talk to me anymore but in my head I was thinking "US? I don't think so buddy... not me I'm not going to be 'big like you' for long, I'm well on my way to skinnydom."

But homeboy's comment stuck with me... I'm definitely not thin (I know this). Many people probably look at me and think that I am rather large. I guess the important thing to remember despite these kind of embarrassing/discouraging experiences is that I have come a long way and that losing 41 pounds is nothing to sneeze at! I just need to work on maintaining the state of mind that I am in the middle of a process which still has a long way to go and am not yet able to reap the benefits of reaching my overall goals. I can think I'm thin when I actually am.

monday? tuesday...

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine, Green Velour, sunflower seeds
Dinner: chili, french bread

Exercise: 30 min bike, 30 min treadmill

Last night I learned that ice cream is not my friend... in fact it is my enemy. Well no; it's probably no worse to me than a casual acquaintance but since it was the last thing that I ate yesterday it's what I attributed my lack of being able to go to sleep and my annoyingly persistent headache to. I ended up not falling asleep until 2:30 or later. Not fun.

It's detox... and it sucks. I'd gotten so used to not having cravings or headaches nearly as much as I used to before starting ETL. Something else that I had really gotten used to was being able to go to sleep with relative ease. Before starting ETL I frequently had a really hard time falling asleep and since I started to eat better and work out falling asleep has been much much easier. Maybe it is due to cutting out the refined sugar... bringing me back to the ice cream... hmm.

Today was a better day. No ice cream tonight! Tomorrow's goal is no bread and I should be back on track 100%. I've learned that I can occasionally go off plan for one meal; but much more than that is more than I want to handle.

getting back to normal

Today's Food:

Lunch: romaine, Green Velour, sunflower seeds

Dinner: chili, piece of french bread

Dessert: chocolate ice cream (small portion)

Exercise: 30 min bike, 30 min treadmill, 15 min arms

Today was a busy day around the house; hubby and I did a couple little do-it-yourself projects and I also did some chores etc. I stayed pretty active throughout the day and had a great workout. I know the bread and ice cream aren't exactly nutritional powerhouses but I did much better today than I have in the past week so I can live with it.

Tomorrow is back to work and the real regular routine. I'm stressed out about going back to work already; I've got to figure out an effective way to deal with work-related stress... Something I'll have to look into.

one year older

Hi everybody! How was your week? Mine was good; I'm certainly happy to be home. Despite all of my planning and preparation, I didn't really stick to ETL while on vacation. I did have some smoothies and salads and ate the dinners I took with me a few nights, but I also allowed myself to have some non-ETL foods as well. I realized that my willpower isn't very strong; I definitely do much better when the food isn't there to tempt me in the first place. Oh well, it was a nice little break. I did get a few workouts in during the week and also managed actually lose .6 pounds this past week, which brings me to a total of -41 pounds!

I am thrilled with this because I was very worried that I would end up gaining this past week and really didn't want to have to deal with losing the same pounds over again. I know that at some point I'll probably have to deal with gaining and re-losing some pounds, but I'd like to deal with that when I'm closer to my goal weight.

I missed my goal of being at -50 pounds by my birthday but it's ok. I am feeling good and wearing clothes that I hadn't been able to wear before. I'm still going to work on hitting my goal to fit into my Tommy Hilfiger pants (never worn, still have tags on them) and baby blue silk shirt for our 1st anniversary in about 6 weeks.

So starting tomorrow morning it's back to normal; eating ETL as close to 100% as I can and exercising at least 6 days a week. I'm actually excited to be getting back to what's become my normal routine. I'm also happy that I gave myself a little bit of a break; it's renewed my motivation and also has shown me how easy eating on plan and exercising has become. Without even realizing it eating for nutritional excellence and being more active have become my lifestyle; how great!

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.