Fitter Happier?

As I enter into the last few pounds of my diet, I am having a really hard time staying focused and find myself cheating a lot more on the weekends. I’m having a few more drinks, ice cream sundaes, cupcakes, cookies and not feeling one bit guilty about it. I realized today that it’s because I’m closing in on the end of my diet and I feel fitter and happier. I’m happy where I am with my weight, which is a first in about a year. I’m still being fairly strict about my diet on weekdays and working out almost 6 days a week. I am going to allow myself to enjoy weekends a bit more than I did when I first started the diet. I hope I’ve found a happy medium.

And I’ll be honest, 3 pints of beer is better than one and bundtinis, ice cream and cookies are all really good. In moderation, of course.


Lemon Bundtini



Chicken Saute with okra & brown rice - 4 points

Happy Hump Day!

If I’m happy you all know that must mean I lost more weight! I dropped another 1.3 pounds and only 3.6 pounds away from my goal. Woooooo hoooooooo!!!!

Knowing that I slacked off and still lost weight makes me really happy because now I am confident I will be able to maintain my weight when I reach my goal weight.

Angel Hair Pasta with Tomato-Eggplant Sauce and Chicken
(and a little feta!) = 6.5 points

Optimistic

I’m several weeks into my diet and had a bit of a difficult week last week. It was harder to stay on track, I ate a lot of cookies, I had at least one adult beverage several times throughout the week and then totally blew it over the weekend. I drank a little more excessively than I have since I started the diet and I ate a lot. I actually had to take Saturday off from exercising because I was a tad hung over. It was just like old times! But, I got back in the saddle on Monday and buckled down for one hour of Pilates and another hour at the gym in the evening. I even had a staring contest with a plate of cookies and brownies and won. Today was another good day - walked for an hour during lunch and stayed well within my points.

Even with my over indulgence through the week and into the weekend I’m still optimistic that I will have at least maintained or lost a little bit of weight. And if I haven’t, I’ll be ok with that too.

If you try the best you can, If you try the best you can, The best you can is good enough.




Oven “Fried” Chicken - 4 points
(the coating is made with Bran flakes!)



Smashed Cauliflower - 0 points



Green Beans - 0 points

No More 'Case of the Mondays'

I’ve been told by a colleague that I must not be a real dieter because I’ve been weighing myself on Monday evenings. She tells me “Don’t you know you have to weigh yourself in the morning??! And why would you pick Monday after cheating on the weekends?” I admit, I have been a bit stressed out due to my weigh-in being Monday. I have a tendency to eat a little less healthy and work out a little less. So after some deliberation I decided to change my weigh in day to Wednesday morning. This seems more realistic for me and quite honestly I need the two extra days this week to work off the gorge fest I had last week. Please stay tuned to see how I’m doing on Wednesday.

In the meantime, pictures of dinner from tonight.

Chinese Corn Soup - 1 point



Hunan Pork with brown rice - 6 points

Simple Changes

Now that I've been on a diet for 7 weeks, I've had to make some recent food changes in order to continue to lose weight and reach my goal. My first change was switching from flour tortillas to white corn tortillas. This is definitely one I'm not used to and miss the warm, soft, flour tortillas of my past. I haven't been out to eat at a Mexican restaurant since I started the diet and so the temptation only resides when I cook at home. And I'm sure the minute I walk into a Mexican restaurant, I will falter and order the flour instead of corn. And not regret it one bit.

My next change was using spray olive oil instead of the real thing. I've also switched margarine/butter for "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter" butter spray. So far both changes have been easy to maintain and I haven't noticed a difference with how the food tastes. I'm sure others would argue this point but they are both zero points so I am happy.

My most recent change was with breakfast. I eat breakfast every single day and my breakfast of choice has always been cereal. For the past few weeks I either would eat Special K or Special K Low Fat Granola. Both are 2 points for 1 cup and ¾ cup, respectively. But I noticed that I would feel hungry within an hour. A friend recommended I try Kashi Go Lean. I started eating the cereal this week and I already notice that I stay full longer and can wait until lunch without a snack. 3/4 c is one point and it goes a long way because of the high amount of fiber. The box didn't lie!

In addition to the vodka (2 points) and half a cookie (2 points) I had last night here are pictures of dinner:


Pan Roasted Sirloin Steak - 6 points


Creamy Corn - 2 points


Sauteed Mushrooms with garlic and butter spray-
zero points

Manic Monday!

After the last week’s weigh in, I was really dreading this week’s. In order to overcome the weight gain I pushed myself harder than I have in the last 6 weeks. I worked out every day since Tuesday. Interval training on the elliptical followed by weight lifting, 30 Day Shred on non-gym days, Pilates, cardio boxing, as well as a 3.5 hour bike ride around Coronado on Saturday and 4 hours of walking at Disneyland Sunday.  I paid close attention to portion control and ended up with 10 ‘extra points’ remaining at the end of the week. It was definitely not an easy week but all of my hard work paid off because I lost another two pounds!! I’m just a mere 4.9 pounds away from my goal! I feel much better being back on track and am 4.9 pounds away from my goal. Yay!

Here’s the breakdown: 47 days; -10.1 pounds.

Keep Breathing

I normally have a positive attitude about my dieting experience so I apologize for being a bit down. 95% of the time I'm enthusiastic about it. I get excited when people ask if I've lost weight. I tell them about my diet and share my blog. But, the other 5% I don't like is stressing out about not losing any weight (or gaining it) and and passing up happy hour or drinks because I'm stressed out about having gained weight. Which lead to my breakdown yesterday. These weren't alligator tears, I'm really disappointed in myself for gaining weight. I'm scared that I'll gain more weight or that I'll gain all of the weight back. I felt that the 9 pounds I'd lost in 31 days was wasted on 0.9 pounds gained in one week. This fear comes from knowing that I'm pushing myself now, but how will I maintain my weight and reintroduce my social life? I'm passing up social activities in order to work out. I'm restraining myself from enjoying an adult beverage most nights. I'm denying myself things I enjoy and I really want it to pay off in the end.

Once my melter stopped, I got on the ellipitcal for 30 minutes. About halfway through my workout, Exit Music (For a Film) came on. This song is from Romeo and Juliet, but the lyrics resonated with me. "Breathe, keep breathing. Don't lose your nerve. Breathe, keep breathing..." All I need to do is take a deep breath, move forward and realize that losing 8.1 pounds in 37 days is no small feat. Sometimes I just need to be reminded of that.


Last night's dinner:

Honey-Balsamic Chicken - 4 points
WW recipe


Roasted Brocolli with Smashed Garlic - 0 points
skinnytaste.com recipe


Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes - 3 points
WW recipe