Month 4 Check In

Hello and welcome to the Month 4 review! Despite my near total silence on this blog I have not been doing all that badly. I've just been tired at night and not had the energy to post. I promise to make it up to all of you my faithful readers. So how did it go?

Food:
I cooked a bit more than I have been up til now. This has been good for the diet I think.


Exercise:
I was averaging 2 times a week but I'm still going and trying for better. I did not get in to the gym everyday like I wanted at the end of last month.

Self-Denial:
Still going strong on the no Ramen no Booze.

Weigh In:
194! I've lost all the weight I gained in March and one pound more.

Total weight loss in 4 months….13lbs! Only 7 pounds until I can drink again! I'm going to shoot for the rest of this 7 pounds by Cinco de Mayo. I really want a Margarita.

Plan:

Cooking every Monday and Thursdays if I can afford to.

Go to the Farmer's Market every Saturday now that it is open. This works towards 2 goals: I get more exercise and I get more fresh veggies for food.

Drag my ass to the gym even if i don't feel like I have the time. 5 times a week should be reasonable.

Get a job (Last month I lost my job at the University so I am going to have even less money this month to work with for food but hey I will find a way. I always do.

Today's food log:

Breakfast: 2 Pieces of Breakfast Pizza (Glass Nickel) and a Red Bull

Lunch: A left-over Orange Chicken from Asian Kitchen (normally a really good cheap Eat but the Orange Chicken is not good, don't order it. Get the Tso's Chicken if you want a spicy breaded chicken dish)

Dinner: More left over Orange Chicken (there is at least 1 more meal in the dinner I got possible 2 more) and a Red Bull and half of a Baby Cake from Sentry. (I love those cakes they are so cute and small. ~I was feeling stressed out and I bought it to feel better. I'm not going to claim that I don't stress eat like so many women out there. but I try to limit my stress eating to only a handful of items and only a couple times a month.)

Gym: Supreme 60 minutes of Cardio on the elliptical and arm weights

Belated post on Florida

When I was in Florida I tried a little experiment...I attempted to take pictures of everything that I ate. It was kind of like a conscious eating thing. I figured that if I had to take a picture of everything that I put into my body and show it to all of you I would be less inclined to eat poorly. I'm not sure how well it worked but I did get most of the food I ate on digital memory and here is just a silly little slew of pictures and comments about the food I ate while on Vacay.

So first off...This is my sister. Isn't she great! She hosted me down in FL and drove my ass around so she deserves kudos (and no I'm not talking the candy bar)

Here is my first meal (I am using the term loosely). Red Bull at the O'Hare Airport.

Here is my lunch at JFK. (JFK, by the way is a terrible airport. The plase smells like the kind of public toilet no one ever cleans) The sandwich I brought with me from Madison (Rathskeller) but the soda and Chinese I bought at the airport. I only ate half of the sandwich but I ate most of the Chinese. The most disappointing thing about the Chinese...

They used jarred mushrooms! How difficult would it have been to get real mushrooms? The flavor and most importantly the texture would have been vastly improved! But I guess that was just too difficult for them after all, they are operating out of the JFK Airport, not Times Square or Madison Ave.

This is what I had for breakfast every day I was at Mary's. Red Bull, Banana, and Yogurt. This Publix brand fat free key lime yogurt was divine just so's y'all know.

First Lunch, Fantastic Japanese place (I don't remember the name) Mary and I shared a Pork Tonkatsu Platter and Tempura Appetizer. We each had a Miso soup. That night we had Chinese take out.

Then we went to Universal Studio's for a day. We brought our own lunches to save money and eat slightly healthier (Sandwiches from Publix). The following day I cooked for the pot luck we went to. I made:

Vegetarian Moroccan Couscous Salad. It is easy and yummy. I've been making this dish since High School when I was a vegetarian. The spread at the Pot Luck was amazing and i did not hold back:

After the pot luck we ran off to Spam-a-lot. and then I ate dinner at Mary's place (Left over Chinese Take-away). The next day we stayed in and I have no idea what I ate. The last day I was there I cooked dinner for Mary Phil and my Dad who had arrived. I make Chicken Casserole and for some reason I have no pictures of it. Oh well. Then I left Florida and had the naughty breakfast I always get in Florida:

Dunkin Doughnuts French Kruller YUM! Then I headed home.

I'd like to think that I didn't do too badly on the eating front. But then again I always want to think that.

Month 3 Check In - Revised

I'm back from Florida. Actually, I've been back for a week but as so often happens when I travel when I returned from my trip I was sick. I also suffered my monthly mayhem (PMDD) just after I got back. So...Hopefully I won't have to take anymore down time for the rest of the month.

What, you might ask, does any of this rambling have to do with the check in? Well...I didn't have an official weight when I checked in from Florida. So...The official weight from the scale in the Supreme Fitness Gym Ladies Changing Room is....198. A weight gain of 3 pounds.

Obviously there must be something wrong with what I'm doing.

Food:

Again I hardly had any time set aside to cook last month and...Surprise I didn't cook anything! I really have to work on my time management if I'm going to get this taken care of. The day just seems to melt away and I'm left with it being 10:00 with no dinner in sight and not even ingredients in the apartment often. This is just silly. I am not going to lose weight when I'm eating most of my meals from Pinkus McBride.

Exercise:

I got into the gym so seldom last month it really isn't a surprise I gained weight. I think I averaged 2 times a week but that takes into account the week I went every day-You do the math.

Self-Denial:

I still haven’t had any alcohol or Ramen. I miss them both.

Reflection:

I hosed it last month! I am not going to impress anyone with my amazing weight loss if it never occurs!

I have a couple of new incentives to lose the weight, too.My favorite Waitress has offered to take me out for drinks on the house if I meet my 20 pound weight loss goal. I really shouldn't keep her waiting. And...One of my dearest girlfriends from High School is getting Married on July 5th. I want to be smaller than I was in Hight School when I go to the wedding. I was a 14 and about 150 when I graduated. I want to be in size 12 or smaller when I arrive in the 'Burgh.

Plan:

Starting tomorrow I hit the gym every day. I get up in the morning, even on weekends, before 9:00 am. When I go to Eric's I work for no less than 4 hours. I will go the the grocery store and buy ingredients next Monday Night and I will use them to cook a meal at that time and another meal which I will cook next week Thursday. I will repeat this scenario every week until the end of the month.

Food Log:

Brunch: Red Bull and Italian Sandwich on multi-grain bread (Pinkus McBride)

Snack: Hand full of very sour Strawberries

Dinner: Doctored can of Condensed Chicken Soup with crackers and more sour strawberries.

Exercise: None to speak of