Don't eat cookies for breakfast

because you'll be sorry later! I have no idea why I did it, but I know that I never will again. I had 2 chocolate chip cookies this morning before going to work and I knew it was a mistake pretty much immediately. I made my smoothie and got a muffin and took salad stuff for lunch to work with me but I just felt horrible. I finished only about half my smoothie and wasn't even hungry for lunch. The good part is that I have no desire to have any more of those cookies. ever. again.

Running stuff: I ran outside yesterday morning! I ran about 1/3 of my usual walk with Cammie which is I'm guessing around 1/2 mile or maybe a little more. I'll have to check it with the car or something to see. I think our route is about 1.5 miles total. I'm glad I did it because I'm not nervous about running outside anymore.

Also - I picked out 2 more races: a 4 miler in October and a 5k trail run in November. A fellow member on Dr.F's member center is helping me train for the first 5k, I'm very excited.

And my third unrelated (sort of) thing that I wanted to tell you all. I feel like I had a breakthrough today. Friday I'm supposed to be to work by 8:30ish, which is earlier than the rest of the week for me. So this morning I was tired from being out running around (practicing driving my car etc) last night and didn't get up to walk Cammie and then the whole cookie thing... So that all manifested in me being a complete zombie all day. I felt like I was going to fall asleep in my office chair and wanted to come home to take a nap (which I never do anymore). But when I was on my way home I realized that I didn't want to take a nap and I'd actually feel a lot better if I took Cammie for a walk, so I did, and by the time we got home I felt awesome. I think that for me this is a key to being a thinner healthier person - realizing how great being active makes me feel physically AND preferring to do it over just loafing around. :-)

more on running

Wednesday:
Exercise: AM walk with Cammie, 30 min Yourself!Fitness Cardio workout
Breakfast: Smoothie, Blueberry Almond Muffin
Lunch: Cabbage Tofu Veggie wraps
Exercise: 10 minutes on the Treadmill
Dinner: Spinach Artichoke Twist
Fuhrmometer: 8 - Eggplant

Well we picked a 5k to run in this morning - the Purple Foot 5k. It's on September 8th and is part of the grape stomping festival at the vineyard in my hometown where hubby and I got married. It seems like it's meant to be! It also means that I have 10 weeks from Saturday in which to train.

And I am going to need those 10 weeks! I got on the treadmill when I got home from work today to see what I could do. I had been telling myself that I could run the entire 3.1 miles right now and that was all there was to it. WOAH was I in for a rude awakening! I got off the TM telling myself that maybe the Couch to 5k plan was the better way to go.

BUT I want more time than just one or two weeks running the 5k distance before the actual 5k. I could start at week 3 on the Couch to 5k and go from there, and I might do that but I still have to work out how I'll measure time or distance when I'm running outside.

Which brings me to my other hangup - RUNNING OUTSIDE. I know I just have to get over worrying about what other people think of me and just do it but I'm still feeling apprehensive about it. I know the only way to get over it is just to get out there and do it and not worry about other people so much, because after all; I'm doing this for myself and not other people.

I'm still feeling excited about this, just realizing that I am not Super Athlete (just yet).

r-u-n-n-o-f-t

Tuesday:
Exercise: AM walk with Cammie, Yourself!Fitness - flexibility workout
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Smoothie
Exercise:
Dinner:
Fuhrmometer:

In Dr. Fuhrman's forums one of the members has been reporting about his training for his first marathon. He made a comment about how he had been into running a few years ago when he weighed more than he does now. I've been wanting to start running but have been hesitant because I don't want to hurt my knees and hips by starting to run while I am still so substantially overweight, and also because I thought it would be easier to run when I am lighter. I asked this other member if he thought that it is easier to run now that he has lost weight from where he was before and let him know my concerns about starting to run now.

To paraphrase his response, he feels that he's putting as much effort into his runs as he did before but has realized that he runs quite a bit faster now. He also related something out of a running book about how Oprah started out to run her first marathon when she weighed 222 pounds (or something close to that).

"Hey! I weigh less than 222 pounds! AND I'll bet I'm a lot younger than Oprah was too! AND I eat better!" I said to myself. "It's true. PLUS there are other non-Oprah people out there who run marathons and compete in triathlons who have pounds to lose, so why not me?"

So I am going to start running. I thought that I would try the Couch to 5k running program on CoolRunning.com, which gradually builds you up over 9 weeks from very little running to running the 5k. When I looked at the program I got a little scared, it wants you to aim to run the 3 miles in 30 minutes. That's a 10 minute mile, or an average of 6 miles per hour. I know to some that doesn't sound like very fast but I run S L O W - 5mph is fast for me. Sure I could do the C25K at my own speed but I wouldn't want to, I would want to complete the program as written.

My boss is an avid runner and has been very supportive of me as I lose weight, eat better and become more active. I told her I was going to start the C25K program and she thought it would be better to work on running the 3 miles now (I know I've done at least 2 without stopping so I could probably do 3) and then as I practice I'll get faster. It makes sense, but then again C25K does too.

She also said that she'd run a 5k with me around my birthday (Labor Day weekend) - so that's my goal. Run a 5k by/on Labor Day weekend. I know I can do it, but I want to feel confident and do it well.

I'm not sure what my specific plan is going to turn out to be, but I do know that I am going to start running 3x per week (in addition to walking Cammie, bike rides, and Yourself!Fitness). I think I'll need to do some outside running as well as on the treadmill. I want to get on the TM and just run 3 miles first to show myself that I can do it, no matter what the time and then go from there. Any advice from the runners out there?

things i've been thinking

Monday:
AM 30 min walk with Cammie
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, blueberries, strawberries, 1/2 banana, flax, water)
Lunch: Pita Sandwich (whole wheat pita, falafel, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, onions, little bit of tzatziki)
PM walk and bike ride with Cammie (I have a doggie bike basket with a harness, it's hilarious and I think that she secretly likes bike rides even though she may tell you different)
Dinner: Salad (romaine, scallions, mandarin oranges, almonds, balsamic), raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 8.5 - eggplant/broccoli

I've been thinking lately that I should stop counting my walks with Cammie as exercise, but I've also been thinking that I shouldn't. I'm still not sure what I officially think.

Reasoning for not counting it:
- Our route is pretty flat and while we walk at a decent pace; it's not like we're jogging or even speedwalking
- I should just use the time for waking up in the morning and de-stressing in the evening
- I can work out harder on the treadmill and therefore build more muscle etc.

Reasoning for counting it:
- I am being active when I walk her
- It's summertime and I am really enjoying being outside so much
- (When I eat well) I am losing weight at this level of activity
- It's not like I don't do anything else, I've been riding my bike and I do Yourself!Fitness too (although I should do it more than I have recently)
- The treadmill can be a bit boring.

Ok, so I think I've decided to keep things as they are for the time being. BUT - I will be more faithful with doing Yourself!Fitness 6x per week and I will do at least 1 workout on the treadmill per week while it's summer and the weather is awesome.

MINI & muffins

Hi. Sorry it's been so long. We picked up the new car on Thursday... I love it! I can't wait until I am practiced and confident enough in driving manual to drive it all the time :) Until then I am content to be a passenger most of the time.

Not too much news. I've was ok this past week but not super. This week things are much more stable and normal so I know I'll be able to do a lot better. I haven't felt much like cooking lately but I did make some muffins today:

They're based on these muffins (scroll down for recipe), but I adapted it somewhat to make it a bit healthier. They're definitely not perfect ETL but they work for me because I can eat one without feeling guilty and it also doesn't hurt my tummy like a full-fat/refined sugar & flour muffin would.

I think that the recipe needs a little tweaking (more applesauce, use ww pastry flour, add some orange zest...) but here it is:

Blueberry Almond Muffins
Yeilds 12 muffins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and combine in large bowl:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup all purpose flour
½ tsp salt (optional)
2 tsp baking powder

Stir 1½ cups frozen blueberries into the dry mix

In food processor combine:
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 bananas
½ cup dates (chop and soak dates for better blending)
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
2 Tbsp water

Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, spoon into lined muffin tins.

Crumb topping (combine with fork)(optional, but definitely include the almonds):
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp slivered almonds
2 Tbsp flour
¼ cup Earth Balance

Sprinkle crumb topping over muffins and bake for 25 minutes.

Tuesday:
Exercise: short walk with Cammie
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: tiny bag of croutons (?)
Dinner: roasted veggies with basil and pine nuts with reduced balsamic and tortillas
Fuhrmometer: 7.5 - lentil/eggplant

Well today was much better than yesterday detox - wise; so that's good. I didn't realize it but sometime in the last few days I changed my alarm clock from the beep to the radio - and it's not actually radio but static. With the fans/ac on, I can't hear the static and have slept later than planned the past few days which has made it impossible for me to get my workout in before work.

But still, I'm trying and I'm not letting little things like not getting my usual workouts in throw me off course. I have been making an effort to eat better and will continue to eat better and better and I will also get my workouts in when I can.

I don't have to be perfect every day, but I do have to do my best every day.

back to business

Monday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with cammie
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, mixed berries, 1/2 banana, flax, water)
Lunch: Thai Coconut Soup with Tofu and veggies
Exercise: bike ride, 30 min walk with cammie
Dinner: sort of fajitas kind of
Fuhrmometer: 8 - eggplant

After FINALLY having a decent food day following a week and a half of not eating very well I am feeling like crap right now! Detox is not fun!

I did get a bit angry at myself this weekend over being tired of feeling frumpy all the time. It seems like most of my clothes are too big or just a little bit too small and here I am, Goldilocks with nothing to wear. Boo hoo for me! (kidding)

However, I do want to stick with the losing trend so that I can fit into the clothes I have that are on the snug side and buy more clothes that are on the snug side so that I have something to work for until I reach my goal.

Also, as hubby so rightly pointed out to me; it can take me a while to get back on track after vacation and we don't want to fall into that deep crevasse of a rut that I was stuck in over the winter.

Because summer is my time to shine. And I plan on doing just that.

small car for a smaller me

I'm getting a new car!

A 2007 Mini Cooper S to be exact.

I've wanted a Mini for a while, but before starting to lose weight I never would have even taken one for a test drive - I thought that I would be such a joke - a BIG person in a small car.

But now that I feel like I am approaching a normal size and feel much better about myself in general, I had no problems with looking at the car and not feeling self conscious about it at all.

It does have a 6 speed manual transmission - which is really really fun, but I am not so good at driving standard (YET!). So I'll have a lot of fun learning.

We're picking it up on Thursday after work (!!!) and I'll post more pictures of my actual car when I get it. This is just another way that life has become so much more enjoyable and fun since I started to take care of myself and my body.

Year One Review

Monday marked a year since starting Eat To Live, and I’ve been reflecting on all the things that have changed in that year. One of the most significant changes for me has been the food that I eat:

Breakfast:
Then: Luna Bar (or two) on work days, egg sandwiches on the weekends
Now: Smoothies with 8oz of spinach with berries and banana on work days, Smoothies with 8oz of spinach with cherries and banana and cocoa powder on the weekends

Lunch:
Then: frozen veggies with sauce, or fast food
Now: healthy veggie soup; usually skip lunch on the weekends because I’m busy doing stuff and don’t want it!

Dinner:
Then: veggie burgers, other frozen junk-vegetarian food, take out
Now: salads with beans and veggies

Dessert:
Then: You name it! Usually ice cream…
Now: raw brownies

I’m not perfect in my eating now, but I have vastly improved. I used to buy fruits and veggies and lettuce and so much of it would go bad in my refrigerator. These days I go through a bag of salad in a day and have to make extra trips to the grocery store during the week because I’m out of lettuce! I used to hardly ever eat fruit – now I eat it every day. Beans – I didn’t have a problem with them before but I didn’t seek them out; and when I did use them I used canned beans. These days I try at all costs NOT to use canned beans.

Getting take out has gone from once or twice a week to once or twice a month - if that.

I used to be addicted to starchy foods – breads, rice, etc and ate way too much cheese and oil/butter/margarine – I still have starchy foods from time to time but I’ve also learned that I don’t really like cheese too much anymore and have realized that I don’t need oil or butter to cook or flavor my food.

Before I thought I knew a decent amount about nutrition, I was so wrong! I think I have learned a lot about what is good for me and what is bad for me and why. But I also have learned that I have a lot more to learn.

Hunger – I used to suffer from toxic hunger so badly; but there were also many times that I would eat or overeat so constantly that I would never feel hunger. These days I don’t feel discomfort when I’m hungry – I just feel hungry – it’s controllable, and it’s nice to actually feel hungry for a meal and also to not be constantly thinking about food when I’m not hungry.

Physically – Well, I’ve lost a good amount of weight. I know if I had been more disciplined over the holidays and during the winter that I could have lost a lot more than I have but it’s ok. I think that I have lost more than I thought that I could when I started this thing. In the beginning I used positive self-talk to create a positive self-fulfilling prophecy. Now – I’ve seen that I am successful in losing weight and I know that I will continue to be and will reach my goal, there’s no doubt in my mind.

I don’t have to shop exclusively in the Women’s or Plus Size section anymore.

I am SO much more physically active now than I was a year ago. There was a period of time when I was in college and grad school that I was very diligent about working out and being in shape, but when life changed and I started working full-time those things changed (and so did my eating habits). When I first started ETLing I can remember being worried about using my treadmill because I thought I was too heavy for it (I still don’t know if I was or not).

When I first started working out I walked 2.5 or 2.7 mph at 0.5% incline on the treadmill for 30 or 35 minutes. Today I sometimes jog (not very fast but nevertheless) at 3-4% incline or walk at least 3.0mph at 12% incline when I use the treadmill, but lately Cammie and I have been taking two walks a day in addition to my workouts with Yourself!Fitness and bike rides with hubby. In general I do about 90 minutes of exercise in a day and really feel like I’m missing out when I don’t.

I can do pushups now, the girly kind – but it’s better than before.

There are so many things that I can say about how things have changed over the last year and why they are so much better now that I could go on and on. Bit I’m going to leave it with this – last year I didn’t know if I could do this and I think I’ve proven that I can. This next year I’m officially challenging myself to do even better than I have in this past year – to be more dedicated to eating ETL foods and to develop myself even more into an athlete, and finally to reach my weight loss goals.

Excuses...

Wednesday:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: Thai Soup from fatfreevegan
Exercise:
Dinner:
Fuhrmometer:

Hi, I'm back.

Well, actually I was back on Sunday evening but I just haven't felt like writing too much; and I didn't take any pictures when we were in Maine so I don't really have any good new pictures to post eiter. PLUS we've had network issues at work the past few days (where i do most of my blogging) and I don't like spending my evenings with my laptop instead of my doggie or hubby so it's been tough to find time these past few days.

While we were gone I didn't stay on plan too much. I had some decent food but mostly bad junk-vegetarian type food. I've been getting myself back into the groove this week as much as I can; it's been tough because I didn't have any time to make smoothie kits to last me all week or salad dressing or the raw brownies. Plus my work schedule this week was a little strange so that's also made things challenging. Tonight I have time to do the prep that I need to do so I should be back in my groove soon.

I think that one of the best things about going away was coming back and getting to catch up on everyone's blogs and the forums that I missed out on; it's been very inspirational and a good kick to get back on track. You guys are awesome.

Road Trip!

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: Thai Coconut Soup with Tofu and Mushrooms (and more veggies!)
Exercise:
Dinner:
Fuhrmometer:

Tomorrow morning we are driving to Massachusetts to visit the area where hubby lived as a little kid and then we are going to Maine for the rest of the weekend where we will meet up with Hubby's Mom and stepdad and nephew. Hopefully we will have a good time, not miss the doggie too much, and have nice weather :-) I am going to take my camera (it'll actually get to take pictures of things that aren't food or the dog for once!) so hopefully I will have some fun pictures to post here.

This morning I was at 210.0 - which I know isn't such a drastic change from what I posted on Monday but it still makes me excited, partly because I like these even, round numbers and partly because what comes next will be 209 or 208, the most important part of that being the 0. It just makes me happy.

Tuesday:
Exercise: none, I slept in
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, mixed berries, 1/2 banana, flax, water)
Lunch: fresh garden rolls (from Thai restaurant, steamed not fried)
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie and 30 min Y!F (flexibility I think)
Dinner: salad (romaine, mandarin oranges, scallions, almonds, sesame ginger lime dressing)
Fuhrmometer: 8.5 - eggplant/broccoli

My poor doggie! She missed out on our morning walk yesterday because it was raining and this morning because I slept in. I feel pretty guilty. But I'll make it up to her this evening.

Since I've been eating healthy and have gotten myself used to getting up in the morning to work out it hasn't been so bad. I used to be the anti-morning person but for the last few months I've been doing ok.

I used to pretty much always feel horrible when I would first wake up - have a headache and feel nautious, but that's pretty much gone away now. Most mornings I wake up and even though I would rather stay in bed it's not a chore to get up. It's just another benefit of eating well and feeling all around better in general.

But this morning I just didn't want to get up, so I didn't and slept in an extra two hours. I must have needed it because last night I was feeling pretty sore and tired and went to sleep earlier than normal but today my body does feel rested and I am looking forward to a good workout when I get home.

Monday:
Exercise: 30 min core workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: none
Lunch: plain gardenburger with tomato, lettuce, red onion (no roll or ketchup or anything), tiny bit of pasta salad, one cookie
Exercise: 70 min walk with Cammie
Dinner: salad (romaine, mandarin oranges, scallions, almonds, sesame ginger lime dressing); raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 8 - eggplant

Weight this morning was 211.4, down 2.2 pounds from last week. Not too bad.

Today we had a town meeting and faculty & staff picnic at work. I rememembered from last year that there wasn't too much in the way of vegetarian options from last year but I thought at least I'd be able to get a green salad and some fruit, I was so wrong! I did my best and don't feel too bad about the choices that I made (maybe except for the cookie) considering the choices. Next year I'll bring my own lunch or something.

Only two more days of work and then we have a 4 day weekend in Massachusetts and Maine!

Sunday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min upper body workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, cherries, banana, flax, cocoa powder, water)
Lunch: veggie dog
Exercise: Salad (romaine, scallions, mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, ginger lime sesame dressing); raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 8 - eggplant

Saturday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min cardio workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, cherries, banana, flax, cocoa powder, water)
Dinner: Salad (romaine, scallions, mandarin oranges, almonds, ginger lime sesame dressing)
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, bike ride with Hubby
Dessert: raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9 - broccoli

Hubby got a new bike this week and we went for an innaugural ride this evening; it was very nice. I'm looking forward to more :-)

Helllooooo June!

Friday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, no Y!F today - it's rest day
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: Orange, 3 crackers
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie
Dinner: Weekly OP dinner
Fuhrmometer: 6.75

Big things are going to happen in June for me! My one year ETL anniversary and I think I have a good shot at also hitting the -100 mark. Lots of awesome things and great weather to go with it! Oh June, if only you could stay all year!

Thursday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min flexibility workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, mixed berries, 1/2 banana, flax, water)
Lunch: 1/2 bowl Thai Coconut Soup with tofu and veggies
Dinner: mozzarella sticks, salad (romaine, green onion, mandarin oranges, almonds, ginger lime sesame dressing), raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 7.5 lentil/eggplant

Wednesday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min core workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, mixed berries, 1/2 banana, flax, water)
Lunch: 1/2 bowl Thai Coconut Soup with veggies
Exercise: walk around the neighborhood with Cammie and Hubby
Dinner: Salad (romaine, scallions, mandarin orange sections, almonds, ginger-lime-sesame dressing); raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9.5 Broccoli/Kale

Writing is a funny thing - either you love it or you hate it. I think that most of the time my feelings regarding writing revolve around if I have anything to say or not, it's so much easier to write when you actually have something you want to say. One of my favorite thoughts about writing is from the book Sophie's Choice where the narrator is a young writer, he states that (paraphrase) "the most insulting thing to a writer is the blank page." Isn't that the truth when you have to sit down to write something and have no idea what on earth to say.

Lately I haven't had too much that I really felt was worth writing about, that and I feel like I've been really busy lately with stuff around the house and whatnot... at least that's what I was telling myself. I thought about it some more and the real reason is that for the last week and a half I've been feeling like I don't want to try so hard with the eating - I've felt like my workouts have been good and consistent and I don't want to be so strict with myself when it comes to food.

I know that this really is crap. It's not doing anything good for my weight loss (although luckily it hasn't done anything negative either). I don't want to maintain the weight that I am at but I am kind of behaving like it.

BUT I still feel like I want to be more relaxed with my food - I don't know... I think maybe if I allow myself one planned "off plan" meal a week, like dinner on Fridays with Hubby, then that will be something I can live with without starting to feel deprived or stressed out about things. Yeah, I can do that.

In Review:

Monday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min cardio workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, cherries, banana, flax, cocoa powder, water)
Lunch: 2 veggie dogs, no salt chips, coleslaw
Exercise: ~60 min walk in the park with Hubby and Cammie
Dinner: 2 veggie dogs, no salt chips, corn; raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 4.5 brown rice/ potato

Tuesday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min upper body workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, mixed berries, 1/2 banana, flax, water)
Lunch: Springtime Soup (how I love thee!)
Dinner: 1 veggie dog, some cheese & crackers, salad, broccoli with a little pasta, strawberries, raw brownies (WOW! I totally blew it there!)
Fuhrmometer: 6 - blueberry

Susan V's Thai Coconut Soup with Tofu and Mushrooms (and some extra veggies, cause hey; I gotta live up to this blog's name ;-)

Sunday:
Exercise: (throughout the day) 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min treadmill, 30 min flexibility workout (Y!F), 30 min walk with Cammie
Food: not awesome, but not horrible

Saturday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min core workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, cherries, banana, flax, cocoa powder, water)
Activity: Yard Work
Lunch: a couple salt potatoes with ketchup
Dinner: Salad (romaine, quorn naked cutlet, sliced almonds, raspberry balsamic dressing); mushrooms; raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 8 - Eggplant

slight improvement

Friday:
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: pizza crusts...
Dinner: Salad (romaine, raspberry balsamic, quorn naked cutlet, almonds); 3 small salt potatoes with ketchup, raw brownies
Exercise: rest day
Fuhrmometer: 6 - blueberry

can i have a do-over?

Thursday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min upper body workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: mock chicken salad wrap from HFS
Dinner: eggplant parmesan sub, ice cream sandwich
Fuhrmometer: 3 - Cashew

Thank you Mary for keeping me accountable and making me post - I was attempting to slide under the radar but you are too good!

I don't know what happened yesterday, I have no good reasons or excuses for eating the way I did and I do feel bad about it and wish I could take it back. I can say that I noticed two things - 1. the food isn't worth it and I get much more enjoyment and "feel good" out of eating healthily and 2. I don't really like cheese anymore - I peeled most of it off of my sub - so that is some progress.

Today I am back on track and I will post again tonight to prove it.

Wednesday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min cardio workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (36ish oz) Spinach, blueberries, strawberries, 1/2 banana, flax, water
Lunch: 1/2 Bowl Springtime Soup
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie
Dinner: Salad (romaine, raspberry balsamic dressing, quorn naked cutlet); Raw Brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9 - broccoli

Today I am craving Thai Food, I'm not going to have it but I do want it... really badly. I know that there are many things that are more important than Thai Food, including the fact that I can realistically meet the -100 lbs mark within the next few weeks if I am extremely dedicated and diligent and that is something that will be really exciting. I don't want to eat anything that will lead to me feeling guilty or defeated or set me back in any way to meet this milestone.

Tuesday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min flexibility workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: 1/2 bowl Springtime Soup
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie
Dinner: Salad - lettuce, hummus, wasabi wonton strips; Raw Brownies
Fuhrmometer: 8.5 - eggplant/broccoli

Today I realized that I can be satisfied on less than what I planned to eat, and that I don't have to force myself to realize that. For someone who has been an over eater for pretty much all of her life this is pretty cool. I was eating my lunch and just came to a point where I was satiated and realized that I could save the other half of my soup for lunch tomorrow.

It's not that I would or should feel bad if I had eaten the entire thing - but the fact that I don't have to force myself to stop if I want to or need to and can listen to what my body really wants/needs. I've never been one of those people who could stop eating a restaurant meal in the middle just because. It always was a conscious effort to not look like a pig in front of others. I never understood how people could do that or leave food on their plate but now I am starting to get it. And that's really cool to me.

Weigh In

Monday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min core (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, blueberries, strawberries, banana, flax, water)
Lunch: some portobello - onion - broccoli rabe soup
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie
Dinner: Salad (field greens, shredded carrot, hummus), quorn naked cutlet on 1/2 whole wheat pita with tomato and onion, ice cream sandwich
Exercise: 15:20 running on tm
Fuhrmometer: 8 - eggplant

Weight today is 215.0 which is down 2.8 from 2 weeks ago and down about 5 from last Monday (after 4 or 5 days of junk and no workouts). I'm pleased with it and since a lot of the craziness at work is over for now I know that I'll have no excuses for not sticking with the program. :-)

Edit: I wish I had remembered what I wrote this morning when I decided to have an ice cream sandwich after dinner! I did remember about half way through eating it and decided to go run it off on the treadmill. I'm glad I did [decide to do that], it felt good to really work hard. However, in the future I want to eat without feeling guilty about it (because it's good food and not crap) and work out hard because I can and am fit enough to do it.

weekend flog

Weekend:
Saturday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Cardio workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, cherries, banana, chia seeds, cocoa powder, water)
Exercise Strenuous Activity: 5 hours of gardening/yard work
Dinner: sesame tofu and rice
Fuhrmometer: 6.5 blueberry/lentil

Sunday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min upper body (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, cherries, banana, flax, cocoa powder, water)
Lunch: fresh spring rolls (not the fried kind), curry rice with veggies
Dinner: Salad (Quorn Naked Cutlet with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and balsamic)
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie
Fuhrmometer: ?

Edit: For some reason comments aren't appearing for this post... strange!

the superiority that is the salad

The college I work for had graduation yesterday, this was me!

I felt awesome all day despite runs in my stockings :-) At lunch/dinner in between the Graduate and Undergraduate ceremonies we went to an Italian restaraunt where their most popular dish is spaghetti parmesan - yup, pasta with sauce covered in tons of mozzerella cheese and broiled. I am happy to say that I had a salad and it was wonderful - mixed greens with big chunks of apple, dried cherries, walnuts, red onion and a little bit of crumbly blue cheese (I picked off a bunch of the blue cheese) and balsamic vinegar for dressing! When the server brought me my salad everyone at the table (there were 14 of us) oohed and aahed over my salad. It was awesome. The best part was after dinner when we were heading back for the evening ceremony and everyone was complaining about how stuffed they felt and I felt awesome :-)

How to Smoothie

Thursday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min flexibility workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: The Smoothie
Lunch: none
Dinner: Salad (lettuce, hummus, cucumber, red onion), 1/2 whole wheat pita with Quorn Naked Cutlet, tomato and red onion; raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 8 - eggplant

---

Yesterday Tara asked for more details about my smoothies. So here goes:

On the weekend I put together my smoothie kits for the week, so in the mornings all I have to do is quickly defrost the kit in the microwave for 1 minute and then throw everything in the VitaMix and viola!

I use a digital kitchen scale to make sure things are roughly the same and that the finished product fills up my Nalgene wide-mouth bottles:

8 oz frozen spinach (Dr. Fuhrman says to count the same as fresh)
5 oz frozen blueberries
1/2 banana
enough strawberries to make 1lb 4oz or 20oz total weight
flax (1Tb ground or 2Tb whole)

2 cups of water or 1 16.9 oz bottle

Sometimes I do change things up but this is what I stick with most of the time due to the ease of getting the ingredients goodness from the berries and spinach.

desserts and dresses

Wednesday:
Exercise: short walk with Cammie (it started raining), 25 min on treadmill, 40ish min Core workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, blueberries, strawberries, 1/2 banana, flax, water)
Lunch: 1/2 bowl of mushroom - onion - broccoli rabe soup
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie
Dinner: Salad (baby greens, cucumber, red onion, greek inspired dressing), Raw Brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9 - Broccoli

The other day I had a Lara Bar with lunch. It was a chocolate coconut Lara Bar to be specific. I can remember the first time I had a Lara Bar and how it was the most awesome thing that I had ever tasted and I couldn't believe that it was all natural and (kind of) allowed on ETL. It really did taste like a brownie to me.

Then a while back I read about Raw Brownies made with dates, walnuts and cocoa powder. I made them and again could not believe how good and decadent they were. The other day was the first time since discovering the Raw Brownies that I had a Lara Bar, and as much as I love Lara Bars and the fact that they are out there creating all natural food - I have to say it just didn't compare.

I think that I prefer the Raw Brownies to pretty much every other sweet that exists, which is cool because it's a really sensible way to not feel deprived of "normal" food (junk) which I still struggle with from time to time.

Like recently with all of the stress of work I would go home and want to share a meal with hubby - which last week meant things like pizza, or burgers (veggie burgers for me) on the grill, and ice cream. It is something that I need to figure out how to get over.

To completely change topics but not really, this morning when I was on the treadmill I tried to visualize how I want to be/look/feel when I reach my goal to help get me refocused and motivated. I couldn't think of anything in particular but did think about how I don't want to be stuck where I am for long - clothing wise I'm on the very edge of being able to shop in the "normal" stores and I'd really like to get firmly into that territory sooner than later. I can see a huge milestone (100 lbs lost) in the distance and would really like to get there and to "Onederland" soon as well. I'll be seeing family this summer that I haven't seen for a year or two and it would be really nice to say "yeah, I've lost 100 pounds since June 06..."

But then when I got to work this morning and checked one of my favorite non-food or weight loss blogs A Dress A Day, and I saw it, a beautiful dress that I could just picture my goal self in and I knew that I have to have that dress and that I have to get to my goal so that I can feel good in a dress like that. It's the entire motivational package.

Now I just have to remember that dress before giving in to eating the kind of junk that I have been eating, because a cookie may provide a few minutes of pleasure - but dresses definitely last much longer.

Sorry!

Tuesday:
Exercise: 20 min treadmill, 30 min upper body workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (Spinach, blueberries, strawberries, 1/2 banana, flax, water)
Lunch: small package of croutons (no clue why), 1/2 bowl of mushroom - onion - broccoli rabe soup
Exercise: nice long walk with the doggie
Dinner: falafel sandwich, ice cream sandwich
Fuhrmometer: 7ish

Ok, so mid last week I gave up. I was just too stressed out to deal with anything and gave in to eating for comfort. Since Sunday I've been trying to get back on track and today I'm doing pretty well; I feel confident that I'm back from this stumble - I need some new clothes and have decided that I'm going to go shopping when I hit the 90 pounds lost mark. ;-)

Recipe coming soon!

Sunday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 16 min jogging on TM, 30 min Flexibility (Y!F)
Breakfast/Lunch: Smoothie (Spinach, Cherries, Banana, Cocoa Powder, Flax, Water)
Dinner: potato chips, Salad (mixed greens, greek inspired dressing, falafel), small bit of ice cream
Fuhrmometer: too tired to decide right now

I have stuff to say, I'm just too tired to say it right now. I haven't given up, things have just been a little out of control lately. I promise I'll be back tomorrow with a better post.

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, blueberries, strawberries, 1/2 banana, flax, water)
Lunch:
Exercise:
Dinner:
Fuhrmometer:

It’s just disgusting. It’s got to stop. Eating processed, prepared, dairy/salt/oil/sugar laden foods that is. I’ve had enough of being involuntarily drawn to their evil effects and I’m done.

Yesterday I would classify as a binge. I had one tiny bite of that sweet either pumpkin or orange bread with chocolate chips in it and it was like a switch was flipped and I had to have more. It was the same thing with the chips and salsa – which in theory aren’t too bad but contained way way way too much salt and oil I’m sure and made me feel really ill after eating them. I scolded myself for not eating my soup which I had brought for lunch and I know would have made me feel good instead of feeling like I wanted to vomit. I did not like myself much yesterday.

Today those same foods are available. Today I am just as busy (if not busier) than I was yesterday. Today I’m not going to eat that crap. I’m not going to tomorrow either. It’s just not worth it. I’ve got perfectly tasty food of my own to eat which I know will make me feel good and feel good about myself too.

I know that there will be times when I will choose and plan to eat “off plan” foods; but it’s more of an issue of control than anything else. Yesterday I felt like the choices I was making were out of my own conscious control and that totally sucks. I know that if I plan something ahead and am in full control of it I will make better decisions about what to eat and won’t feel as psychologically bad about it and won’t adopt the “screw it” mentality.

But for now and for 98% of the time I’m sticking to ETL friendly food only. There’s no other way to do it when considering that if I don’t I’m hurting myself in more ways than one.

chaos!

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Smoothie, Some Orange or Pumpkin bread thing
Lunch: tortilla chips and salsa, more of that bread stuff
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Core (Y!F), 5 minutes running on TM
Dinner: Smoothie (Spinach, raspberry, mango); falafel
Fuhrmometer: 6.5

This week my professional life is completely out of control. My hours are all messed up and I have more things that need to be done than I can count. I am determined to do my best and stay as normal as I can with my eating and working out. I probably won't have too much of a chance to get to comment for anyone this week - but I am thinking of all of you!

Monday:
Breakfast/Lunch: Smoothie, Falafel
Lunch/Dinner: Springtime Soup, Falafel

Weight today is 217.8 which is 2.2 pounds less than last week - decent.

I am inhumanly busy today so I'll be back with more tomorrow. :-)

Sunday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Upper Body (Y!F), 30 min treadmill
Breakfast/Lunch: (at 12) Smoothie (spinach, cherries, banana, flax, cocoa powder)
Snack: (at 5ish) orange
Exercise: 45 min walk with Cammie
Dinner: (at 8:30) Salad (romaine, falafel, cucumber, red onion, dressing), 1/2 whole wheat pita, raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9.5 Brocco-Kale

Just a sweet spring day :-)
Nicole’s ETL-friendly Falafel
Makes 24 Falafel

Time consuming? Maybe a little. Worth it? You bet.

6 cups cooked, drained & cooled chickpeas/ garbonzo Beans (about 1 lb dry)
1 bunch green onions
3-4 cloves garlic
¼ cup fresh parsley
6 Tbsp ground flax
½ cup wheat germ
¼ cup whole wheat breadcrumbs (grind up some toasted low sodium bread or pita in the food processor)
1 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 – 4 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos (to taste)
¼ Cup tahini (raw and unsalted)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Water as needed (can use reserved bean cooking water)

The food processor is your best friend with these, although not 100% necessary.

1. In the food processor pulse cooled chickpeas until ground up but not pulverized (see the texture in the picture?) or if not using a food processor just mash them up. Set aside.
2. In food processor or blender make a paste with the green onions, garlic, and parsley. Set aside.
3. Add wheat germ, flax, breadcrumbs, cumin, coriander, and turmeric to chickpeas and stir to combine.
4. Add green onion, garlic, and parsley and stir to combine.
5. Stir in Braggs, tahini, and lemon juice – at this point the mixture should start to come together and be able to hold together into balls. If not, add water 1 Tbsp at a time until it does.
6. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight for flavors to come together.
7. Preheat oven to 300. Make ¼ cup patties and place on wax paper or parchment lined baking sheet (will need two sheets or two batches). Cook for 15 minutes, turn and cook for additional 15 minutes until firm.

Greek Inspired Dressing
Yeilds ~2 Cups

1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup tahini
1/3 cup water
1 clove garlic
1 tsp dried dill
Any other Greek-style herbs that strike your fancy
1 Cup Chia Gel(Grind the Chia Seeds first!)

Combine all ingredients and blend well in a blender. Is even better when it’s spent the night in the fridge!

Saturday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Cardio (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, cherries, banana, cocoa powder, flax, water)
Lunch: eggo
Dinner: Corona, a couple tortilla chips, salad with falafel, raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 8 Eggplant

Yesterday was bad; today is better already :-)

girl stuff

Friday:
Exercise: Rest Day, 30 min walk with Cammie
Breakfast: that damn snack mix from yesterday, smoothie
Lunch: a couple crackers with dip
Dinner: chinese food
Fuhrmometer: 3 - Cashew

So I've never outwardly blamed my lack of weight loss in a particular week on my cycle... until now. I did mess up on Monday by eating cereal and snacking before breakfast (or did my smoothie become the snack, hmm). But until today the rest of the week has been decent. And yet this week's weight loss doesn't compare to last weeks in the least... so I'm blaming it on... it.

I guess I should have seen it coming with the urge to snack and my complete meltdown on Tuesday and been prepared for all of the fun side effects but I just wasn't. At any rate it's still been a good week with hitting the halfway point and most likely hitting the -80 mark (and a little more by Monday hopefully!), so I can't really complain.

Another not so bad thing - ever since starting ETL my cycle has become much more predictable (which I take as a sign of returning health) and I've noticed my symptoms (the moodiness and cravings and all of that stuff you see in the midol commercials) much more than I ever used to. The good thing about this that I realized this morning is that they were probably there all along but I used to feel so crappy all the time that I never really noticed a particular difference. Now that I feel good almost all the time I really notice when I'm not in a good mood or don't feel good.

It's amazing to me that I'm almost a year into Eating to Live and I'm still having these epiphanys about how bad I used to feel and how much things have improved. It's great incentive not to go back to where I was before!

dress dreaming

Thursday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Flexibility workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, blueberries, strawberries, 1/2 banana, flax, water)
Lunch: Springtime Soup
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie
Dinner: Salad (romaine, cucumber, falafel, greek inspired dressing), raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9.5 broccoli/kale

Sometimes I think that I'm going to bring my camera into the office so that I can take pictures of the things that hang around here and sometimes tempt me. For an office where everyone is actively either trying to maintain or lose weight and/or be healthier (utilizing various methods) there seem to be a lot of sweets and other junk foods around here.

Today there was a bag of snack mix stuff in the kitchen that the vending machine guy left for us which was trying to tempt me (it didn't do a very good job). I usually alternate between being tempted by the junk to being angry that it's there to wanting to throw it all away (because it's not healthy for ANYONE is it). But today I feel like I have a grip on things and can let them (the food that is) live in their own unhealthy world while I exist happily in my healthy, getting thinner, feeling good world.

I'm going to go shopping for a dress to wear to Graduation soon and am looking forward to it much more than I probably should! I really like the Dress of the Week dress and want to go try it on, hopefully it will fit and if it doesn't I won't feel too bad about it! But anyway, the thought of that dress definitely is helping me stay on the straight and narrow - every little bit helps!

half way!

Wednesday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min lower body workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: Springtime Soup, apple with cinnamon
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie
Dinner: Salad (romaine, falafel, greek inspired dressing)
Fuhrmometer: 9.5 broccoli/kale

Woo Hoo! I now officially have less to lose than I've already lost! Yeah!

This morning my boss called me into her office to see if I was ok (because of yesterday's meltdown). I said that I was much better, and she asked me if I've been running (she's a runner) I told her about how I've been going easy on my knees since I hurt my right knee in January and that I want to get down a little more before I start running so that I don't permanently damage my knees and hips, but my workouts have been good. I also told her that I hit my halfway point today. We talked about a couple of other work things and I came back to my office, do a couple of things, and check my email and this is what I see:

(To the office:)

Congratulations Nicole on reaching your Half-way to your goal milestone!!! I am so impressed with your dedication and diligence! You are an inspiration.

Great Job!!!

Luckily, only 6 other people work in my office so I was only slightly mortified! No really, it was very sweet and my co-workers are all great. Did I ever mention that my admin assistant gave me a bag of lentils for an Easter gift instead of chocolate? Yeah, that's how great these people are. It's really nice.

Thanks to all of my internet-based buddies and co-ETLers too! And of course Hubby! Without such a supportive environment who know's where I'd be? It doesn't matter because I'm here and it's awesome!

i think i'm solar powered

Tuesday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Core workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: none
Dinner: pita with hummus, salad (romaine, cucumber, falafel, greek inspired dressing), raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9 Broccoli

Today was a bad day, there is so much stress at work right now and I ended up leaving early because I couldn't stay there any longer. I really wanted to give in to my urge to eat horribly bad food (pop tarts!?!) but didn't and am happy that I stuck with ETL foods.

It's funny that even though I didn't eat bad stuff today just thinking about it before makes me feel now like I cheated. I don't know why that is; but I guess it's another step in transitioning to making this "diet" into an actual lifestyle. Sooner or later (hopefully sooner) I'll feel about junk food the way I feel about eating meat - that is, have no desire to!

Weigh Day

Monday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie
Breakfast: Before Work: 1 bite of falafel, small bowl of honey nut cheerios, 1 small raw brownie. At Work: Smoothie
Lunch: Springtime Soup, fuji apple with cinnamon
Exercise: 70 min walk with Cammie
Dinner: Salad (romaine, falafel, cucumber, tomatoes, Greek-inspired dressing)
Fuhrmometer: 8.5 eggplant/broccoli (for snacking this morning!)

My weight this morning was 220.0 which is down 5.4 pounds from last Monday. Pretty good! (Have you noticed I'm almost halfway there?)

I had a slight misstep this morning with eating before work - I wasn't even hungry. I was tired and sore from a very active weekend and the cheerios sounded really good, well they're almost stale and should be tossed. It's ok, I'm just moving on and am staying on track.

I think that last week I had too much grain. The barley in the soup at lunch and pita at dinner is just not necessary. This week I'm not going to have the pita with dinner. I'll freeze it and save it for a week where I don't have grains in my soup.

booty

Sunday:
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, cherries, banana, cocoa powder, flax, water)
Exercise: Mowed the lawn,30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Cardio workout (Y!F); 15 min Yoga (Y!F)
Lunch: Salad (romaine, falafel, cucumber, tomatoes, homemade Greek Inspired Dressing); fuji apple sliced and sprinkled with cinnamon
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie
Dinner: romaine, "refried" beans, whole wheat pita; raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9 - Broccoli

Hubby and I went to the public market this weekend and scored some awesome deals:

$1 for this entire box of bananas! We weighed it when we got home and there were 17 pounds of bananas before we peeled and bagged them to be frozen. I think that these bananas will last for 2½ to 3 months worth of smoothies.

All this ginger – about 2 pounds - also for $1. It’s a good thing that this stuff can be frozen!

We also picked up a bushel of Fuji apples for $2, 3 bunches of green onions for $1, a big seedless cucumber for $1.25, a big container of cumin for $6.50, some garlic for $1 and other stuff that I’m forgetting. I can’t believe we didn’t go there until now, we went to a farmers market closer to our house last summer but didn’t think that there were any started up yet this year; well the public market is there all year round!

I also cooked yesterday and made some more Springtime Soup and took a stab at some ETL friendly Falafel. The falafel are ok, I think I need to tinker with the recipe some more and I’ll post it when I figure it out. I did make some dressing with chia gel which I will post soon.

Tomorrow’s another official weigh in, and I am so glad that I moved it from Sunday mornings to Monday mornings. This morning I was craving bad bad food and I have to say the only thing that kept me from having them was the knowledge that I have to post my weight tomorrow morning and I want to be happy with the number that I post.

flog!

Saturday:
Exercise: 60 min walk with Cammie, 30 min flexibility workout (Y!F)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, cherries, banana, flax, cocoa)
Lunch: Romaine, "refried" beans, whole wheat pita; a couple doritos
Dinner: Springtime Soup, falafel
Fuhrmometer: Broccoli-ish (~9)

chia chia chia

Friday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie (it's rest day)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, blueberries, strawberries, 1/2 banana, cocoa powder, flax, water)
Lunch: Springtime Soup with Chia Seeds
Dinner: romaine, "refried" beans, whole wheat pita; raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9.5 - broccoli/kale

I've been reading a lot about Chia Seeds over at the Dr.Fuhrman.com forums lately and I have to say that I'm sold. Apparently, chias are amazing. They are a good source of Omega 3 fatty acids like flax seed or hemp seed, they have the ability to absorb a ton of water and can be used in cooking as an oil analog or a flavor extender/ calorie displacer. Also, chias help keep one feeling satiated longer - do some Internet searches on them and read how Native Americans in the Southwest and Mexico used them when hunting and running and fighting etc. Nutritious, filling and fun/useful in the ETL kitchen. I had to get myself some!

Luckily my local HFS carried them so I got myself some today to play with. Since right now chias aren't as popular as flax and hemp, they are much more expensive than their counterparts, so I think that I'll be using them primairily to cook with rather than for my daily EFA's. I'm really interested in trying to make some salad dressings with Chia Gel, which I think I'll take a stab at this weekend.

Tonight is our *super fun* (read - not super fun at all) networking thing for work. It's at an italian restaraunt and I know I don't want to eat anything while I'm there so I sprinkled some chias on my soup to help keep me feeling full until I can get home and eat my salad. I'll let you know how that turns out.

artichoke happiness

Thursday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Core workout (Yourself!Fitness)
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, blueberries, strawberries, banana, flax, water)
Lunch: Springtime Soup
Dinner: Doritos, romaine with "refried" beans, whole wheat pita, raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 8 - Eggplant

Yesterday was a good day in the sense that I stayed on plan, but I think that skipping breakfast and eating lunch earlier than normal and then a normal timed dinner kind of threw my body off a little bit. I was so tired this morning and had an entire internal dialogue about getting up to workout. First it was I'll just take today as my rest day, then I'll just take Cammie for a walk, then I'll take Cammie for a walk and do my core workout since I like them. I'm glad that I did get up and work out but I was still so tired. When I came downstairs after showering and getting dressed for work hubby said "You look tired" "I am" I said "But you also look thinner" He said. So it's worth it.

Work was grueling today until I had my soup and now I feel much better. Tonight after work we are going shopping for a suit jacket for me to wear to a work function tomorrow night, I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to a few weeks down the line when I'll be able to go shopping for a dress to wear to graduation (not mine, for the students at the college I work at). Fun!

Wednesday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Upper Body Workout (Y!F), 30 min treadmill
First Meal: (12:15ish) Oriental Salad - romaine, scallions, mandarin oranges, walnuts, cucumber with Ginger Sesame Dressing on the side.
Second Meal: (7:30ish) Romaine with "refried" beans, whole wheat pita, raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9 - Broccoli... I think

Since today is Administrative Professionals Day, our small office took our two admins to lunch at a very nice upscale restaraunt. My salad was great; they kindly substituted the crushed walnuts for chinese noodles for me and the waiter sent back my salad because they didn't put the dressing on the side before it even got to me. I dipped my fork into the dressing before stabbing at my veggies so I only had enough for what I needed. The dressing wasn't ideal but the rest of the salad was really great. It's something that I'd make at home - I'll have to work on a similar dressing.

This place that we went is known all over the region for its desserts. I mean; what they offer is really gourmet and generally not the type of food you would see in a smaller city like Rochester. These desserts are amazing. Everyone at the table ordered some dessert but not me! I didn't even feel bad as I sat there while everyone else ate their desserts. I know that if I wanted to I could have one (they have macaroons the size of baseballs), but would rather save it for a special occasion like my birthday or anniversary or something. Right now I feel so good about my eating, exercising, and weight loss that there is absolutely no temptation to go off plan - it's better than any dessert!

full of recipes

Tuesday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie
Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, 1/2 banana, flax, cocoa powder, water)
Lunch: Springtime Soup
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Yourself!Fitness
Dinner: "refried" beans on romaine, 1/2 homemade whole wheat pita; raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9.5 - Broccoli/Kale

Yesterday afternoon I found myself sitting in a classroom proctoring exams for two of my advisees and I'd finished the work I took with me to do. I'm not the type to sit there and stare off into space so I ended up doing (sort of) what I used to do in middle school when waiting for the rest of the class to finish the test; I doodled.

When I was in middle school I used to write lyrics to songs on the back of my test papers. My seventh grade history teacher thought this was very amusing and used to read them (not out loud). He was a cool guy. But this time I didn't feel like writing down lyrics to songs, I also didn't feel like drawing my dream house, which I have also been known to do. I wrote about food. I made up a recipe for soup that I am going to try out this weekend, I jotted down some ideas for salads and also some very fuzzy ideas for ETL-friendly muffins.

I thought about how frequently I like to go back and find a recipe I made and posted months ago and how it'd be so much more convenient if I had an index of links like other bloggers (Bree for example) do to make it easier to find them again. I decided that it's time for me to put together an index of recipes that I've posted too; so I created full of recipes. It only has 10 posts and 8 recipes right now; but it will grow.

Then I thought how cool it would be to make it into a community blog for all of my ETL bloggin' buddies who would like to contribute to post recipes to as well. There are ETL recipes on the member center at Dr. Fuhrman's website, and Susan V at Fat Free Vegan has a lot of great recipes too, how great would it be to have another resource for ETL friendly recipes? If anyone out there would like to contribute; let me know. If not, then it'll be my own little thing - it's cool either way!

Weigh-ins: The Return of the Scale

Monday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Yourself!Fitness
Breakfast: Smoothie (Spinach, Blueberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, 1/2 banana, flax, cocoa powder, water)
Lunch: 2/3 bowl Springtime Soup
Dinner: 1/3 bowl Springtime Soup, hummus and romaine in a pita; raw brownies
Fuhrmometer: 9 - Broccoli

So my weight today is the same as it was the last time I weighed in "officially" 10 days ago - 225.4. I am feeling really good about it because those 10 days were kind of turbulent, and I know I was up at least 3 pounds at one point - so even though I am kind of breaking even I know I've lost in the last few days and that's a success. I am still up a little bit from the -75 point but am confident I'll get back there in a few days and will kiss it goodbye (for bigger and better numbers) as I pass on through.

Yesterday Cammie and I were visiting my Mom & Dad and my Dad offered me some potato chips (he wasn't trying to sabotage me, just trying to be nice), I said "no thank you" without batting an eyelash. It was great! No temptation at all! Yay me!

Sunday:
Exercise: 30 min walk with Cammie, 30 min Yourself!Fitness
Breakfast: Smoothie (Spinach, Cherries, Banana, Cocoa Powder, Flax, water)
Lunch/Dinner: Romaine, Hummus, Homemade Pita
Exercise: 30 min walk with cammie
Fuhrmometer: 9.5 Broccoli/Kale

Today was a beautiful day :-)

Saturday:
Exercise: 30 min wakeup walk with Cammie, 30 min Yourself!Fitness, 30 min Treadmill
Breakfast/Lunch: Smoothie (Spinach, Cherries, 1/2 banana, flax, cocoa powder, water)
Dinner: romaine, "refried" beans, homemade salt free whole wheat pita
Fuhrmometer: 9.5 broccoli/kale

So I weigh myself every day; I know I shouldn't but I do. I think I ate pretty well yesterday with the exception of the pre-packaged salad dressing that I had on my lunch salad and I didn't get in any exercise. BUT STILL, I don't think that these things merited a gain from yesterday to today... weird!