Free Food & Fights

Today my office had a catered lunch from Teatro Goldoni, and my roommate got in a fight with her boy so we went out to dinner and drinks. And therefore, today was NOT a good day.

Breakfast:
100 calorie snack pack - ritz snack mix
(in lieu of the donuts in the office and the usual weight control oatmeal I have)

Lunch:
chicken parmesan w/ eggplant
baked ziti (no cheese)
polenta (a couple bites)
small serving of tiramisu (I don't even really like it)
2 small slices baguette
water

Dinner:
chips and spinach con queso
1/2 grilled chicken sandwich with BBQ sauce, bacon, cheese, and scallions
french fries
1/2 of s'mores sundae
low calorie lemonade and water

Estimated calories: 2,000
Calories burned: None

Lesson: Free food from a fabulous gourmet restaurant is hard to pass up!

Back to Tracking

My horoscope today:
Stresses continue to ease, but still you are aware that this is a crossroad. You are choosing what is next in your life and circumstances continue to pressure you to take a stand. However, it's not time to pick your path by trying one alternative or another. It's your current thought patterns that will create your new reality over the next few months.

Well, I've been on a brief hiatus from tracking my food intake. Two weekends ago I moved, and though I didn't eat a lot, I didn't eat much that was healthy. But, I think I burned plenty of calories moving! I've been up and down with what I've been eating and my portion control. I don't think I've been doing too terribly.

Today I went back to the gym. Hooray! I forced myself to go and pushed myself while there. I did 25 minutes on the elliptical, which ended up being 1.7 miles (back to a 12 minute mile, then slowed down at the end).

I had one meal today (I know, BAD - eat breakfast!)...

Lunch:
On the Border
chips w/ salsa and queso (not a lot of queso)
1 1/2 crispy chicken tacos
2 chicken flautas
black beans
lemonade
water

Estimated calories: 2,200
Calories burned: 258
25 minutes on elliptical
a little stretching before

Lesson: Keep going to the gym, and TRY to eat breakfast!

Too Little Tuesday

OK well, I only ate once today because I figured it was enough calories for the whole day... :(

Lunch:
Chipotle
3 crispy tacos with steak, lettuce, sour cream, tomato salsa, and cheese (725 calories)
Chips with guacamole (660 calories) - someone helped me eat, but I ate most...
Pibb Xtra (I NEVER drink soda anymore, what's wrong with me?)

Estimated calories: 1,500
Calories burned: None

Lesson: I'm still hungry but I didn't want the calories. :( I know, eat more, not less...BLAH!

Eating on the Run

Breakfast: None (too busy at work)

Lunch:
Cosi
2 bites of romaine and all the fruit out of a salad I had made with pears, grapes and dried cranberries (I didn't like it because I'm a moron and picked a bad salad dressing that didn't go with the fruit, but I wanted the fruit so I picked it out)
1 bite of chicken corn chowder (which turned out to be spoiled, I think the cream was bad...we let them know, but I was sad I like that soup!)
1 fruit cup
Lemonade
1/2 slice Cosi bread

Dinner:
1 small breadstick
1/3 c. baked ziti (more sauce than cheese)
3 bites of ceasar salad
1 mini eclair & 3 mini canolis (about the size of my thumb)
Water

Estimated calories: 700 calories
Calories burned: None, but I did do a lot of running around the office and stressing, enough to make me sweat!

Lesson: Eating less is more, right?

Sunday Starving (but not really)

Well, today was a long day...I only got to eat one meal. I was up until 5 am cleaning my room and throwing things away, and then I had to go into work from 2:30-6:30, so I really didn't get anything to eat because I was either sleeping or working.

Lunch/Snack:
Coke Zero

Dinner:
Lettuce wedge salad w/ bleu cheese dressing and slivers of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggs and bacon
1 flatbread cracker
2 bites wheat roll
1 cup pasta - tri color spiral noodles with broccoli, chicken, bacon and cheese. 1/2 white and red sauce (ate about 3/4 plate which I estimate 1 cup or less)
Water

Estimated calories: 800
Calories burned: None, but maybe a few because I was sweating last night organizing my room in preparation for the move!

Lesson: I guess I should have eaten more today, but it felt good to eat so little, and I wasn't even hungry all day...

And I'm a failure and didn't make it to the gym this weekend...but I figure I did slightly more than sit on my ass, so it's OK...

Play Day

Breakfast/Lunch:
2 Eggo waffles (plain)

Snack:
Lemonade (while watching Sister Hazel perform live for practically free!)

Dinner:
1/2 of one of those ginormous turkey legs at Fairfax Fair - Celebrate Fairfax (where I won a $20 certificate to Mike's American Grill!)
1 ear corn on the cob w/ butter and salt
1/2 small diet coke (maybe 6 oz.)
Limeade

Snack:
1/2 sugar cookie
handful of M&M's
Fla-vor-ice pop (blue!)

Estimated calories: 1,200
Calories burned: None (maybe a tiny bit walking around the fair)

Lesson: Good protein and not a lot of carbs, good day! And I forced myself not to get the yummy french fries and such at the fair!

30 minutes at the gym didn't happen...maybe tomorrow. So busy with work and stressed with moving...I'm probably burning calories anyway! I hope... :(

Finally Friday

Well today is supposed to be a gym day, but I have somewhere else to be...so tomorrow it will be!

Breakfast:
1 piece dry 100% whole wheat toast

Lunch:
Chic-Fil-A
1/2 Southwest grilled chicken salad with 1/2 packet ranch dressing (50 cal) and tortilla strips (80 cal)
Small fry
Medium diet lemonade

Snack:
Hazel Eye martini at Eyebar (haha)

Dinner:
Wendy's
Jr. cheeseburger
Sour cream & chive baked potato
Medium lite lemonade

Estimated Calories: 2,200
Calories burned: None

Lesson: God, get some good groceries and stop going out! :(

I'm gonna do at least 30 minutes tomorrow at the gym...

Back to Work

Breakfast:
Small piece chocolate cake w/ vanilla icing (yeah, bad)

Snack:
Turkey sandwich w/ healthy choice meat (220 calories) and mustard

Lunch:
Bean burrito - flour tortilla, refried beans, little bit of cheese

Dinner:
Applebees
10 onion peels w/ sauce
5 oz. sirloin
6 fried shrimp
french fries
broccoli

4 bites of raspberry cheesecake
2 bites of chocolate meltdown cake

Estimated calories: 2,300
Calories burned: None

Lesson: STOP EATING SO MUCH WHEN I GO OUT!

Just the Basics

People always tell me that I'm not fat. That I'm OK. That I am petite and small.

It's a lie. And the truth.

True, I am short, and I do have a small frame. And I know I'm not in the very upper ranges of weight. And, I'm actually fairly healthy - in a cardiovascular sense. My asthma gets me down sometimes and prevents me from doing things, but when that's good, I'm in OK shape considering my generally sedentary lifestyle (compared to most).

But, I am definitely overweight for my height. And my petite frame. And I just don't feel comfortable anymore.

So then I started to think about it.

I've thought for years "what I will do when I'm skinny" and how it will be...and through those years I've just seen myself gain more and more weight, not lose it.

Someone told me that to effectively lose weight, you must come up with 15 reasons why you want to...

REASONS:

Short Term Goals - to feel better about myself
1. To fit into the clothes I have so I don't have to wear the same things over and over
2. To be able to buy new clothes and feel good about it when I try something on
3. To not have to crop parts of my body out of pictures
4. To not feel like the "fat" girl around my friends
5. To be able to wear the clothes I want to wear and look good

Mid Term Goals - to know that I am more than my weight
6. To not always assume that a guy doesn't like me "because I am fat"
7. To train myself to have better eating and exercise habits
8. To stop looking at pictures of me in the past and think about how much skinnier I was
9. To make my body stronger
10. To increase my lung capacity and turn my asthma into a healthier handicap than it is now

Long Term - to live a better life
11. To be able to be physically healthy in the future
12. To be able to play with my kids, run around with them outside
13. To be a hot mom (and hopefully knock off pregnancy weight!)
14. To know that I FINALLY did it
15. To know I did what I could to live a longer, healthier, and happier life

STEPS:

Current
1. Cutting soda out of my diet (I have no more than 3 a month usually, including diet sodas)
2. Cutting juice out of my diet (I have maybe one or two lemonades or something a week)
3. Increase water intake
4. Stock up on healthier snacks - low fat yogurt, string cheese, 100 calorie snack packs (to make portion control easy)
5. Try to exercise at least 15-30 minutes 3 times a week (getting back into that routine)

Future
6. Realizing that it won't happen overnight, and to try to keep going even if I get frustrated
7. Trying to eat breakfast more, even though I'm too busy
8. Trying not to just starve myself, and in fact learn to eat more (healthy things, things that fill me up)
9. Realize that if I mess up one day, it's not the end of the world and that I can start over the next day
10. Know that I can still go out to eat and be with my friends, but just need to cut portions or make healthier food choices

Hump Day

Breakfast:
3 saltine crackers

Lunch:
1/2 of a Mexican salad
6 strips steak, 2 cups lettuce, 1 tablespoon sour cream, cheese, 1/8 cup black beans
Lemonade

Snack:
1 bag cheddar beer chips (300 calories)

Dinner:
Leftover Olive Garden
Steak gorgonzola alfredo - approx. 1/2 cup pasta w/ alfredo sauce and 2 4 oz. beef medallions
2 1/2 breadsticks
1 piece raspberry peach pie
Water

Estimated calories: 2,300
Calories burned: 120
15 minutes on elliptical

Lesson: Eat better food!

Tuesday Trials

Breakfast:
None

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine steak tips dijon - 320 calories
Water

Dinner:
Olive Garden
3 small plates salad
3 breadsticks
Steak gorgonzola alfredo - approx. 1 cup pasta w/ alfredo sauce and 2 4 oz. beef medallions

Limoncello Lemonade (A frozen blend of lemonade, Smirnoff Citrus Vodka and Caravella Limoncello - an Italian lemon liqueur.)
Water

Estimated calories: 2,100
Calories burned: None

Lesson: Eat less when eating out.

Manic Monday

Breakfast:
Dannon Lite raspberry yogurt

Lunch:
1/2 plate cheese fries
2 mini cheeseburgers (Ruby Tuesday's Mini's) - Four mini beef burgers topped with American cheese and onion straws on toasted buns and garnished with mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup and pickle.
Blackberry Lemonade
Water

Snack:
1/2 sugar cookie

Dinner:
2 mini cheeseburgers (leftover Ruby Tuesday's)
6 french fries
1/2 piece boston creme pie

Estimated calories: 2,250
Calories burned: 100
15 minutes on elliptical
Stretching before

Lesson: Keep working out! Eat less greasy food.

Last Day of Vacation

Breakfast/Early Lunch:
1/3 c. scrambled eggs
1 hard boiled egg (white only)
2 pancakes (plain)
5 pieces turkey bacon
1/2 chocolate chip cookie
Water

Lunch/Early Dinner:
Chicken sandwich (fried) with bacon, lettuce, and blue cheese dressing
French fries
Water

Snack:
1 pack airplane snack mix
Ginger ale (8 oz.)

Dinner:
None

Estimated calories: 2,500
Calories burned: None

Lesson: Don't overdo it on vacation!!! Even though it's hard... :(

Vacation Day 2

Breakfast:
1/2 c. scrambled eggs
2 small reduced fat sausage patties
Strawberries

Lunch:
3 fried pepper jack cheese triangles
2 dinner rolls
O'Charley's Black & Bleu salad - lettuce, steak strips, bacon, bleu cheese crumbles, tossed in ceaser dressing (about 2 cups total)

Dinner:
1/2 c. chicken cacciatore (1 chicken breast and a few bites of pasta)
2 dinner rolls
2 chocolate chip cookies
1/2 can (6 oz.) Diet Dr. Pepper

Snack:
1/2 bag sour patch kids

Estimated calories: 2,100
Calories burned: None

Lesson: Eat more smaller meals through the day if possible.

Vacation Day 1

Breakfast:
None

Lunch:
1 slice of spinach pizza in the airport
Water (24 oz)

Snack:
1 pack of snack mix on plane

1 White Castle bacon cheese burger
1 small White Castle french fry
Medium coke

Dinner:
1/2 basket tortilla chips (about 15) with salsa and queso (about 1 tablespoon each)
Bean burrito
1/2 chalupa (beans, lettuce, guacamole)
1/2 cheese quesadilla
Water (24 oz)

Estimated calories: 3,500
Calories burned: None - no exercise

Lesson: Eat breakfast, don't pig out on high calorie, high carb dinner.

And So It Begins

Well, I've talked about it forever, and over and over again...but an unfortunate experience with a scale has led me to suck it up and just do it...

Losing weight is never easy, and it has its ups and downs (and not just in pounds), but I'm hoping that blogging about my struggle will leave me accountable to myself and anyone who cares to read. Some of my friends do the same thing, so I thought I'd give it a shot too!

Every day I will post my food journal and any physical activity I have done. I'll estimate (or log if I know the exact amount) calories taken in and calories burned.

Each week I will also keep track of how much I exercise, and I will try to increase that each week as well. In November 2005 I was doing 2-4 miles at a time (even not very consistently), so I'm hoping to at least work back up to that.

For the first month, I'll try to stick to an exercise routine and just cut back on my eating habits. If that doesn't seem to work I'll start changing my diet as well and go from there.

The truth hurts, but maybe having to read it will help.