day 51: broken zippers and hot glue meltdowns

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with ETL "ranch"
Dinner: chili

Exercise: 45 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes weights

Nothing much happened today except that the zipper broke on my pants, my favorite pair of pants, while I was at work. This sucks particularly because they still fit (although baggier than before) and I'm not ready to buy a new pair. It also sucks because my fly was basically open from the time it happened until I was able to slip out the door home relatively unnoticed. Oh well, hopefully we can fix them and the crisis will be averted.

These are the same pants that I accidentally got hot glue on last year a few weeks before my wedding... and you can imagine what that was like. When it's so close to your wedding the last thing you need is to ruin your favorite pair of pants... or favorite anything for that matter.

So when said drop of hot glue dropped (I can't remember how but I was the one holding the hot glue gun) onto my leg, all I could think about was saving my favorite pair of pants. I had absolutely no regard for the molten glue or my finger as I tried to wipe the glue off of my pants... proceeding to burn my finger. Not a smart moment. But hubby (then fiance) came to my rescue as he so often does and got the glue off with some sort of magical combination of detergents and I don't know what but they were back to normal in no time.

So here I am crossing my fingers that all is not lost and my favorite pants can be salvaged. Honey, enjoy this experience now because as I lose this weight all I'm going to want to do is shop shop shop!

days 49 & 50: i needed this

Saturday's Food:
Breakfast / Lunch: chili
Dinner: chili quesadillas
Exercise: 45 min on the treadmill, 15 min weight training

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Dinner: salad with ETL ranch

Exercise: 60 minutes on the treadmill

Yes! Back on track this week! -4.6 pounds for the week and hit the -30 pounds overall. I was so scared to weigh myself this morning and see no change (or a gain) again. But it seems that the changes I made were positive because I got back into losing mode; which is great for so many reasons!

Since I made a ton of chili last week all I had to make today was some salad dressing and put together the fruit for my smoothies. I put the strawberries, blueberries, and banana in a container together and then in the morning all I have to do is measure out 2 cups of water and put the flax and fruit in the VitaMix. It makes my morning routine a lot quicker and simpler. The same goes for the chili- having it all done now lets me just put it in the microwave when I'm hungry and not have to worry about cooking anything. When I get everything for the week together ahead of time it makes things so much easier and makes it easier to stick to my workout schedule etc. Planning is so key for me!

day 48: eating is for a reason...

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: sample piece of pretzel, raw cashews
Dinner: 1/2 bowl of chili

Exercise: 45 minutes on the treadmill, 15 min abs

Today we somehow ended up shopping for cars. We didn't buy anything but we sure looked. Our favorite of everything we looked at was the Pontiac G6 GTP Convertible. Isn't it pretty in black?

I had heinous cravings for bad bad bad food today. After running around all afternoon and not having a proper lunch I was mighty hungry when we got to the grocery store. Everything looked good and smelled better. I got a bit whiny and pitiful and woe is me, I can't have all this food I am so miserable... but I was really just hungry. I came home and had some cashews and felt much better.

I'm working on reminding myself when I am hungry that I'm really not craving all this bad food... I'm just hungry. Invariably when I get home and eat something good for me I forget about all of my cravings for junk. Perhaps I should take something with me when we go out for the day so that I can quash the cravings before they get really out of control and "woe is me" Nicole comes out.

It just goes to show that even after almost 2 months of this I'm still learning about myself and food.

day 47: Canada, here we come! or maybe not...

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: was supposed to be salad
Dinner: salad with chickpeas; red onion; cucumber; and mushrooms, some roasted acorn squash, a small dollop of mashed potatoes, orange glazed carrots, cole slaw, and 3 vegetable egg rolls.

Exercise: well, we did some walking

So as I mentioned yesterday; hubby went to Buffalo (about an hour and 15 minutes from Rochester depending) with me because I had a meeting for work and then we were planning a trip to Niagara Falls or maybe even IKEA in Hamilton, Ontario. Well we decided on not going to IKEA and didn't go to the falls (we live so close we've been there a bazillion times anyway) but we still had a decent time.

Lunch was supposed to be my standard: romaine with ETL salad dressing on it. We thought that I would be able to eat it in the car on the way to the meeting but when I was shaking up the salad in the GladWare container it... kind of... exploded... all over the car. Yeah. Well, really, the top just came off of it in a catastrophic kind of way. So no lunch for me today...

After the meeting we decided to head up to the Niagara Falls area. Hubby wanted to go to the casino for a little while so we did. I personally get bored on slot machines and don't have the guts to play a table game so I usually play about $20 worth in the slots and then just chill. I would have played video blackjack but couldn't find any machines that have it. No big deal though.

We decided to have dinner at the buffet at the casino. It was probably one of the nicest buffets that I've been to. Not that I've been to a lot of buffets; but this one was better than the ones in Las Vegas that we went to. ANYWAY... I started off with a big plate piled high with salad and drizzled with just enough italian salad dressing to give it some flavor. I ate the salad and it did a really good job of filling me up so it was easier to go back and just get little bits of other stuff that is less good for me. The worst thing was the veggie egg rolls since they're fried; and I should have stopped at one... but they were good and I'm willing to accept the consequences.

Tomorrow is a vacation day for me. I'm looking forward to having more time to exercise and all and also to be able to sleep in!

day 46: making time for "me"

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine, red onion, ceasar dressing, fresh strawberries (not on the salad)
Dinner: chili

Exercise: 45 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes weights

Dear blog,

I am sorry for neglecting you yesterday. Hubby says that my post "sucked" or something along those lines. Please understand that although I can't always dote upon you like I so love to do, that you are always on my mind and I look forward to the quality time we spend together.

Since I know you're dying to hear the latest of my ETL journey; I will detain you no longer. As we all remember on Sunday I declared that I would make time to eat 3 meals a day, be very very very good about not consuming excess sodium, step up my workouts to 45 minutes of cardio and 15 of weights, and and... i forgot for a second what the last thing was but I remember now... No nibbling! So how am I doing you ask?

WELL.... I have found that I do have to work to make time for myself to eat 3 meals a day. I find that I get so wrapped up in something... whether it be working around the house or some project at the office that I don't hear what my body is saying and end up skipping lunch. Yes, I know this is silly because with all of that lettuce and just enough salad dressing to coat the pieces it's probably my lowest calorie meal of the day. So this week I have been taking time for "me" in the middle of the afternoon to make sure that I eat my salad. And yes, most of the time I have been hungry for it as well.

I have been doing well on the sodium and exercise resolutions. These two are probably the easiest ones for me to keep. The chili I made has no sodium other than what naturally occurs in the ingredients and the same goes for the salad dressing. It feels really good to know that the food you're eating is as pure and unprocessed as possible. Working out is also been going very well. I worked my arms out very well on Monday and am feeeeeeeeling it today. :-)

The toughest resolution by far is no nibbling. I'd fallen into a pattern of thinking that it was ok for me to take one bite of something off plan as long as I didn't binge on it. Well when you find yourself taking one bite several times a day it can build up. Especially when it is bad bad fat or refined flour type food. So this week every time I've initially said to myself "one bite isn't going to hurt" I tell myself no, I promised that I wouldn't do that anymore and I must keep this promise to myself or how can I ever achieve my goals? It's going ok so far.

Hubby and I are going to Niagara Falls tomorrow after I have a meeting in Buffalo for work. We're not sure if we're going to come home tomorrow night or not. So I may see you again tomorrow or I may see you on Friday. I'm sure that I'll have some sort of news to report.

So I'll tuck you in now sweet little blog. Have sweet dreams of groves of oranges, orchards of apples, and fields upon fields of romaine lettuce!

With love,
nicole

day 45: yawn...

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine, red onion, ceasar dressing
Dinner: handful of raw cashews, green soup

Exercise: rest day

Taught tonight. Am tired. Still on track. Feel good about it.

day 44: everybody's got a chili recipe, here's mine

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie (frozen strawberries, blueberries and banana with flax)
Lunch: romaine, red onion, ceasar salad dressing
Dinner: chili

Exercise: 45 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes weight training upper body

So here's how I do it (ETL style)

5-6 cloves of garlic minced
2 onions grated (I used the food processor)
2 green bell peppers grated (also used the food processor)
4 14.5 oz cans of no salt added whole tomatoes, 2 cans drained and all tomatoes chopped (in the food processor)
1 14.5 oz can no salt added corn
8 oz dry black beans, soaked and cooked
8 oz dry cannelini beans, soaked and cooked
2 14.5 oz cans no salt added red kidney beans
1 lb dry lentils
3 small-medium zucchini, cut into big chunks
2 cups green beans
water
barley or cooked brown rice (optional)
chili powder
cumin
cayenne
garlic powder
onion powder

In a BIG soup/stew pot, saute the garlic, onion and peppers for a few minutes. Add in the spices and saute for another minute. Add in tomato, corn, beans, zucchini, and barley/rice and add water to just cover. Simmer for 1 hour until lentils and barley are cooked.

I don't have amounts for the spices because it ends up being different every time I make chili. This is the first time I've made chili with no salt added beans and tomatoes so the overall flavor is a little more bland than I used to make (although still good). Next time I will add more spice to liven things up a bit.

This recipe makes A LOT of chili. I got 10 very generous servings out of this batch. It seems like a lot of ingredients but comes together very quickly (after cooking the beans) and it feels really good to eat something that I know is free of unnecessary salt and fat.

day 43: unexpected...

Today's Food:
Breakfast: Boca Italian Sausage
Lunch: 1/2 bowl of chili
Dinner: 1/2 bowl of chili

Exercise: 45 minutes on the treadmill

So I haven't been sleeping so well the past few nights and when I woke up this morning at 8am I figured why bother trying to go back to sleep. After I don't know how long I had to go to the bathroom so I did so and figured it would be a good time to weigh in for the week.

I stepped onto the scale with optimistic interest to see how much I'd lost in the past week only to be greeted with the same number that I saw last Sunday. At first I was honestly in complete disbelief. I really could not believe that there was absolutely no change at all. I weighed myself again and again. The same thing.

So I went back to bed and laid there trying to figure out what I did wrong last week. And feeling completely crappy in what I interpreted as a major setback in my progress. I still didn't want to believe it and after a while went back in the bathroom to weigh myself again. It really is too bad that wishful thinking isn't enough to get the scale to move. The number was the same stupid number that it said last week. For a moment I even thought that the scale might be broken or something... but that was just denial.

I spent the rest of the morning with a little bit of an "I blew it" attitude (thanks PortlandBound/BadYoga for the term), hence the Boca Sausage for breakfast. I just didn't care at that moment and figured well last week was a bust; but at least I have a whole week to work this off. I made the mistake of not losing anything turn into feeling like I'd lost the battle overall. I really felt like junk all morning.

But at noon I got off the couch and began cooking for the day and I worked out. By the time I was done with my workout I already felt better. I think that my non-loss was due 4 things:
1. not getting enough calories last week
2. skipping meals (sort of goes with #1)
3. not putting in enough time working out
4. too much nibbling on non-ETL food/ too much sodium

So I went about the rest of the day; made chili (more on this tomorrow I promise) cleaned up the house and did laundry and did some reading for class on Tuesday night. The class is reading Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and I've gotta say; a lot of it hit home for me. The one thing that I am going to apply in particular to this situation is when you make a mistake, acknowledge it and correct it so it doesn't happen again.

I already acknowledged my mistakes above and here is what I am going to do to correct it:
1. Make time to eat 3 meals a day
2. Minimum treadmill time is now 45 minutes; and adding 15 minutes of weight training
3. Straying from the plan once a week for only part of a meal. No nibbles here and there.
4. Being as vigilant as I can about cutting sodium completely out of my diet.

I know that I am capable of living by these guidelines and that it is for the best. I feel much better now that I am approaching this week's results from a proactive rather than a reactive standpoint. I know that next weeks results will be a product of these positive changes.

day 42: Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday...

Today's Food:
Breakfast/Lunch: veggie burger with lettuce & tomato on a dry roll (white), 6.5 french fries
Pre-Workout Pick-Me Up: ~1 cup of pineapple
Dinner: handful of cashews, green soup
Dessert: a bite of hubby's PB&J

Exercise: 51 minutes on the treadmill

So today started off with the death of a hair dryer... it must have passed quietly in its sleep because it worked the last time I used it but this morning it just wouldn't turn on. It was a rainy and gray day here in western NY so we decided to go to the mall.

I got my new hairdryer and we got hubby a new wallet. I had negotiated the veggie burger and few fries for a promise of exercising for an hour (hubby reminds me: and a 5 minute back rub for him) before we went to the mall, so we went to get lunch. I was hoping they'd have wheat rolls but they didn't so I settled for the white roll. I refrained from mayo on the sandwich and did get lettuce and tomato; although it was just a teeny tiny bit of lettuce and 1 slice of tomato, i was hoping for more... oh well. The few fries I had were enough to satisfy me but not so many that it ravaged my tummy later. For an off plan meal I think I did a decent job.

We did a lot of walking around the mall, including hubby's guilty pleasure... Bed, Bath & Beyond. We didn't get anything there but he likes to look. It reminded me of the Old School quote from Will Ferrell. Too funny! We just ended up getting a few odds and ends; nothing especially special...

We went to our new favorite place for groceries (well at least veggies), the farmer's market. It's sad to admit we never really went to them before I began ETLing but now it's a lot of fun to go and fill up a basket with veggies and then pay what seems to be a ridiculously low amount of money for them! We just need to find one closer to our house instead of the one we've gone to which is 20 or so minutes away.

So all in all a pretty nice little Saturday ;-)

day 41: just another day

Today's Food:
Breakfast: Green Soup
Lunch: romaine, red onion, ETL Caesar dressing
Dinner: hummus on a wrap, smoothie

Exercise: 36 min on the treadmill

I guess it's a good sign that you're settling into something when it's "just another day" nothing especially dramatic or noticeable happens. Things are just business as usual.

Smoothies used to be my ETL crutch. They were the one thing in the beginning that I really liked and looked forward to. I've since grown accustomed to huge salads for lunch and have found some great recipes for beans and cooked veggies. I've established a routine and things are becoming normal. It's too bad that normal is boring in terms of blogging.

I suppose that is part of the reason that Dr. F challenges ETL neophytes to the 6 week challenge. It not only gives your body time to adjust to a different way of eating, it also gives you a sample of the results of Eating to Live so you can see that it really does work as a weight loss tool (if that is your goal). But another implicit reason for the six weeks is that it really does give you time to establish new habits and routines; so that at the end of six weeks you see just how manageable it is as a lifestyle. The key is making it through those first six weeks.

ANYway, this weekend I plan to make chili to satisfy my beans and my cooked veggies for the upcoming week. I'm going to slightly modify the "recipe" I made before starting ETL. I'm looking forward to it. I'll be sure to post pics and recipes and all.

day 40: thank goodness for cashews

Today's Food:
Breakfast:
Lunch: smoothie
Dinner: 1 oz raw cashews, green soup, hummus on whole grain wrap

Exercise: 36 min on the treadmill

I was dangerously close to having a Boca Italian Sausage for dinner instead of my ETL food. I was all thrown off today because I had a meeting with a student first thing when I got into work this morning which lasted a good hour and a half and then I was in a co-worker's office for another hour plus so I didn't get to sit down to drink my smoothie until well after 1 pm... So I decided not to eat anything else (mostly because I wasn't hungry) at work.

WELL... by the time I got home and worked out and all I was SO HUNGRY! I really did want that Boca Italian Sausage and I am trying to be as perfect as possible this week since it IS week 6 (have I mentioned that already?) and not have any salt or other major departures from the plan. Then I remembered that I have some raw cashews, and I hadn't had my nuts/seeds portion for the day. So I measured out my 1 oz of nuts and they really hit the spot and took the edge off. Thank you cashews!

day 39: some days you just can't be super woman

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine, red onion, ETL ceasar salad dressing
Dinner: green soup, some nibbles of other stuff

Exercise: didn't make it today :-(

There are just some days that you do the best you can; some days that you just can't be wonder woman. Today was one of those days for me. I got home from teaching last night at 10:45 and was just absolutely exhausted. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning so I didn't get up early to work out, which in retrospect I should have done... but hey, being perfect every day would be boring... or something...

But I did want to work out today, I just did a poor job of finding the time. Well tomorrow is another day and I will work out tomorrow!

Tonight after work I went to a Tastefully Simple party that my boss threw; she was very thoughtful and had raw veggies for me there but it was tough! Everything that they had on the list to buy had oil, salt, or sugar in it (if not other un-ETL things) except for a Spinach Herb seasoning blend. A lot of the spices and seasoning blends that they had to taste were mixed with sour cream or mayonnaise... I did have a few small tastes but tried my best to limit myself. It was tough to be respectful of my boss and of the TS rep and not veer totally off plan. I think I did ok, I wasn't the picture of restraint, but I kept things reasonable IMO.

Well it's super late and I need to get to bed as tomorrow is another long day, at least I'll be getting home much earlier tomorrow night!

day 38: purple + green = not pretty

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine, red onion, caesar dressing
Dinner: green soup, raw baby carrots

Exercise: rest day (unless standing up & teaching counts... i bet it doesn't)

Randomness that I'd like to share...

I like to post after I've had dinner and am done eating for the day because then I can post exactly what I ate. It always seems like when I post ahead of time that I end up having to edit my post to reflect reality... oh well, life can't always accommodate blogging!

Today I went to lunch with a co-worker, my boss, and my boss' boss. My boss' boss works at a different campus that is about an hour from us; so when she comes we usually go out to lunch with her. So today we went to lunch at 11:45... am... I was just finishing my breakfast before we left. I thought maybe I'd get a little side salad but when we got there I was too full from breakfast to even think about eating; which is a great thing because nothing on the menu really looked appetizing to me. Hopefully nobody else felt bad about me not eating because I didn't have a problem just sitting there talking with them and enjoying not being in my office!

Today I'm wearing a suit. I usually dress nice for work but I only wear suits when I am teaching or giving an orientation to a new group of students. This is partially because suits are expensive and I only have 3 of them and also partially because before; my suits were uncomfortable to wear. Well this morning I knew it was a whole new story as I pulled on my pants and they were a cinch to zip up and button. The jacket is actually baggy on me! What a great feeling!

I have 2 Nalgene bottles that I bring to work with me each day, one with my smoothie in it and one for water. Smoothie Nalgene is purple and water Nalgene is red. This is great because my smoothies are also a purpleish hue, so purple + purple = all good. BUT when you wash out said purple nalgene and put bright green soup in it... it's just not all that pretty looking. I wonder how it would have looked in the red one... or maybe I need to get a green Nalgene... lol.

Progress pics... we took them for the -25 lbs mark but they just aren't all that attractive. For various reasons. I should have initially picked a nicer outfit to wear for the "before" pic rather than what I did but you can't go back in time! Needless to say, I'm going to pass on posting the -25 lbs pic (maybe we will try again this weekend for the completion of the first 6 weeks). The differences we did see are in my face, which is a good place to see a difference! I am definitely feeling the differences in the fit of my pants and my ability to exercise harder and longer and feel better about it.

Ok, gotta go teach in a few. Have a great night all!

day 37: did i mention that this is week 6?

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with Casinera's Caesar Salad Dressing
Dinner: Bree's Green Soup, raw baby carrots, hummus

Exercise: 40 minutes on the treadmill

So I kind of got the images in there for yesterday. I think that there is some sort of bugginess with blogger because I tried uploading pics the "normal" way on another computer and it still didn't work... but when I uploaded this pic it did. Hmmm.

My proudest accomplishment of the day was sticking with my workout even though I have a blister on one heel. I suppose it goes with the territory of breaking in the new sneakers (and am I ever glad I kept the old ones around too)!

I had Bree's Green Soup for dinner tonight; it was excellent! I had a few small tastes yesterday as I made it but nothing really to allow me to form an opinion. I did add some garlic and fresh basil and some other spices to it, and I think it was great. I blended everything (as you can see in the pics) and it has the consistency of a thick and hearty tomato soup. Very good and satisfying even on this sweltering day.

Tomorrow night I start teaching a 3 week intro course for a group of (mostly) first-time adult college students. I'll work my normal day and then teach from 6 to 10. Long day! I've already budgeted tomorrow as a rest day as far as working out and will have the green soup on our break I think... I'll post when I get home tomorrow night and we'll see how things turn out!

day 36: week 5 results & HELLO week 6!

Today's Food:
Breakfast: eggplant lasagna
Dinner: enchilada casserole
Dessert: "nice" cream (frozen banana, frozen blueberries, a splash of soy milk and flax)

Exercise: 30 minutes on the treadmill, 30 minutes weight training

So it turns out that I'm down 4 lbs this week, and 25.6 lbs overall! I'm extremely happy with the week's results. I am now in week six of Dr. Fuhrman's Six Week Plan/Challenge! I'm so happy that I made it and am seeing the results that I am. Each week is a reaffirmation that ETL is the weight loss tool AND lifestyle for me. It is such a great feeling to know those things.

Today was chore day (and how!). After hubby left for work I worked on cooking food for the week, worked out, did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, took out the trash, picked up the house, and folded and put away laundry. All of this in an extremely hot house with ridiculously high humidity... good times! I am so tired and I still have another load of laundry to put away... ayyy!

All of the housework is worth it though because it will be less that I will have to do during the work week (this one is going to be a busy one) and that means I have less excuses not to get my workouts in. Here's the food that I prepped:

I made Bree's Green Soup to satisfy my cooked veggies quota for the week; and I also made hummus for my beans, I made some new salad dressing from a recipe on Dr. F's website; first impressions are that it's really tasty (i immediately made a second batch). More to come after I actually have it on lettuce!

Well laundry calls; have an excellent week everyone!

day 35: better late than never!

Saturday's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
"Lunch": eggplant lasagna
"Dinner": small frozen pizza (the really cheap kind...)

Exercise: 60 minute walk/jog on the treadmill, walked to/from and around the county fair

Yesterday was kind of a busy day; but then again it wasn't. The evening just didn't work out with enough time/ a good time for me to post. But here I am, making up for it!

On Friday night we went to the drive-in with some friends. It was a beautiful night and we got to see Pirates of the Caribbean (it was good). In the past the drive-in has been a time of snacking and drinking lots of soda. This time we brought sandwiches and I took fruit for something sweet. Alas, the drive-in concession stand is a cruel mistress; first hooking hubby into getting popcorn and me into having some. I'm not going to lie; it was very tasty. BUT after a while it made my tummy feel absolutely horrible! I know it's the "butter" because oily foods used to do this to me before I started ETL and I must admit that I am enjoying not having an upset tummy nearly as much as I used to. Needless to say, I learned my lesson about drive-in popcorn.

And then last night; we went to the county fair and you know how that is... a celebration of all foods that are fried, salted, or riddled with sugar. The funnel cakes/fried dough are my favorite of that kind of stuff; but the memory of the popcorn from the night before stopped me from giving in (and also knowing that I had to weigh in the next morning). I did get one of those very small frozen cheese pizzas from the store. I thought to myself after all of that salt that I'd be happy if I broke even for this week.

All in all I'm not beating myself up over the popcorn and the pizza. I've been pretty good for the rest of the week and was good about working out also. The way I see it; a little something off plan every once in a while keeps a girl sane. :-)

day 34: planning is the best defense

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: enchilada casserole
Dinner: hummus/tomato/romaine/onion wraps

Exercise: rest day, super workout planned for tomorrow

This is my wrap before I wrapped it up, it's kind of tough to see how high it is piled with lettuce and everything. I think it's going to make a good dinner tonight at the drive-in. The wrap is multi grain but it does have more sodium in it than I'd like. I should look into making stuff like this for myself at home so I can control what goes into it.

Gotta run and pack up the car now. Have a great night!

day 33: jeff gordon was flirting with you...

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch:
Pre-Workout Pick-Me-Up: leftover smoothie
Dinner: enchilada casserole, eggplant lasagna

Exercise: 40 minutes on the treadmill

Conversation between me and hubby this morning:

"Hi/good morning... etc"

"I had a dream about you." (Hubby)

"Oh yeah? What was it about?" (Me)

"You and I were on the way to a race and Jeff Gordon was on the side of the road flagging us over, so we stopped and he was flirting with you but you just ignored him and put your makeup on in the mirror. I said 'Jeff Gordon likes you' and you said 'I know' and that was the end."

Crazy dreams are fun aren't they!

Tomorrow night hubby and I are going to meet some friends and go to the drive-in. I'm excited because we love love love to go to the drive-in! I'm thinking about some portable food that I can take with me so all the not so good for you foods at the concession stand have no power over me!

day 32: more trial and error

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with Lemon/Mustard/Garlic dressing
Dinner: enchilada casserole, eggplant lasagna

Exercise: yoga

Trial: leaving the soy milk out of my smoothies.

Reason: I was out and didn't feel like going to the store.

Result: Great! I can hardly taste the difference! The smoothie has a little less in the way of creaminess but like I said; it's really tough to taste the difference. The banana still gives it smoothness and I've replaced the soy milk with more water. The best benefit is that it's less calories and fat in my daily intake and I don't miss it at all.


Trial: Lemon-Herb-Garlic-Mustard salad dressing

Reason: Why not try something different?

Result: Wouldn't make it again. The dressing was pretty much as I listed, lemon juice, dried parsley and basil, garlic, some onion powder, and ground mustard. I made it according to the recipe I had and it was strange looking and tasting. I ended up adding some more prepared mustard and a squirt of Braggs in it to make it a little more likeable. Still when I had it I found it very tart and a little sour.

It's all about trial and error, some things work out and some things don't. That's what learning is all about huh! This weekend I'm going to try some different dressings... I'll report back on them too :-)

day 31: losing weight is hard!

Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie (without soy milk)
Lunch: romaine & Green Velour
Dinner: Enchilada Pie

Exercise: 36 min on treadmill

I'm blogging early today because I have plans after work and I also want to be able to get in a workout when I get home tonight. SOO... I was sitting here daydreaming and maybe possibly looking at clothing websites planning my future wardrobe and thinking, why can't I just lose all of the weight overnight and then deal with maintaining it? Don't we all wish we could just wake up in the morning and be who we really want to be? And then I had a little bit of a schizophrenic conversation with myself:

The Realistic me: "If you don't work toward what you really want, and if you're not making the changes from the inside-out; you won't appreciate the results and also won't have the commitment to making sure that the results are permanent."

Regular Me: "Yes, realistic me, you're right. But I'm still impatient!"

Pessimistic/ Low-Self Esteem Me: "Who's to say you'll even make it to your goal? You haven't weighed less than 200 lbs since middle school."

Regular Me: "Well I've never even tried. If I can effectively become vegetarian, if I can make it through Grad School, why can't I do this? Other people have lost as much weight as I want to; there's no reason why I can't be one of them! I'm just as smart and dedicated as they are."

Me (all of me's): "I can do this, but I have to be patient! Things take time for a reason; and it will be all that much sweeter when I reach my goal after X amount of time, hard work and dedication."

I suspect these are the normal trials and tribulations of losing weight. It's very clear why people say that it's important to set small or mini goals for yourself along the way so you don't get discouraged by just thinking about the overall goal. It surely is daunting to think about how much weight you want to lose altogether, especially when there are people out there that want/need to lose only a fraction of it to get to their goal weight. I guess in that sense losing weight is kind of like the way that my parents talk about golf, you're not playing against your friends or fellow golfers; you're playing against yourself.

I'm the one that is making the decision every day whether or not to eat on or off plan and I'm the one that's exercising my body and it's my body that is losing the weight. It really comes down to me and my sticking with it and getting over that pesky impatience. In the end my success will be just that, my success. I'm sure that others will feel a part of it, and they should; because it's support of my hubby and all of the other people whose advice and comments really keep me going! I doubt that I would have lasted this long if it weren't for all of your accountability!