Back to Paleo I Go!

I just threw away the remainder of my M&Ms and chocolate chips. After a HORRENDOUS day of eating (nutrition wise), I felt I just had to purge my house of sweet things that have been tempting me.

I have decided to try a couple weeks of Paleo again. I need to give up sweets, period, and this is the only way I can think of to go cold turkey with a legitimate reason. The last time I did Paleo, I lost 3 pounds in the first week of following it 95%. Then I lost another 1.5 pounds in the second week by following it about 80%. I definitely cheated by eating some sweets and a few carbs in the form of LUNA bars.

This time, I'm going to REALLY try to follow it at least 98% - I might have some milk in my coffee or something, and I may have a LUNA bar on occasion (they are mostly soy anyway and have a very low glycemic index). I just need some fast results and I need to re-incorporate LOTS of veggies into my diet.

Foods:

-Huge bowl of rolled oats with mashed banana

-Ground beef, cooked from a couple nights ago

-SHITLOADS of M&Ms and a bag of Skittles

-A couple handfuls of potato chips

-A few spoonfuls of peanut butter

-A small cup of homemade pasta sauce with a pinch of cheese on it

Workouts:

-Walked 2 miles

-Ripped in 30, Level 2

On the bright side, I made a SUPER healthy homemade pasta sauce tonight:

-1 pound 93% lean ground beef

-1 red bell pepper

-1 large sweet onion

-2 (15oz) cans crushed tomatoes

-1 (15oz) can petite diced tomatoes

-small amount of olive oil to brown meat and veggies

-sage or other herbs to taste

I just cooked the ground beef in my Le Creuset dutch oven and set it aside. Then I diced and sauteed my onion and pepper in the same pot. I then added the ground beef back to the mix, along with the cans of tomatoes. I added some sage and then let simmer for about 20 minutes. I don't know the exact calories per 1 cup serving, but I would estimate that it's around 150-200 per cup. It made a TON, and when I divided the calorie total by 6, I got 220. I think it actually made 8+ cups at least. The ENTIRE pot was only 1500 calories, INCLUDING the beef! I think next time I would actually add a green bell pepper too, maybe another red bell pepper to have 2-3 bell peppers total. They are only 35 calories each and are packed with antioxidants and full of fiber.

Time for bed now! Looking forward to a fresh PALEO start tomorrow morning!!! :-)

Oatmeal, yum!

Today I ate oatmeal for 2 out of 3 meals. It was delicious. I'm really tired so I'm not going to write much tonight, but I will tomorrow, promise!

Foods:

-Rolled Oats with 1/2 banana, cinnamon, allspice and TEENY bit of honey

-Progresso High Fiber Vegetable Minestrone Soup and Veggie Burger

-M&Ms and Skittles, one serving of each (and it was DAMN GOOD, too!)

-Oats again but without banana this time and with one tablespoon brown sugar

-A couple bites turkey pepperoni and a few bites cooked ground beef

-Boiled Egg

Workout:

-Ran 3 miles

Super tired, so I'm off to bed now!!!

Today was a pretty good day I guess. More Turrrrrget, some furniture shopping - we need a new coffee table and end tables BEFORE Mr. Cuteness starts crawling - and grilling out some delicious ka-bobs!

Foods:

-Decaf coffee

-Avocado and WASA

-Muscle Milk

-Boiled Egg and some nibbles of Ground Beef that I cooked the night before

-M&Ms

-Chicken Kabobs - with onions, red peppers and pineapple

-small serving of brown rice

-Snickers Ice Cream cone

DAMN that Snickers Ice Cream cone!!! 250 calories and it wasn't even that good!!!!!! Never again.

Workout:

-3 mile walk with Mr Cuteness in jogging stroller

BLAHHHHH!!! I've been doing a pretty decent job of weaning myself off of candy and sticking to my calorie goals. I must have been eating WAAAYYYY more calories than I thought I was lately! How I've actually lost more weight is beyond me!

I also bought a dry erase board today so I can plan my meals the night before and stick to them like a little schedule, complete with calorie count and everything. This way I can try to avoid impulsive eating. Plus, I just love being organized like a SUPER NERD!!!

Ok, time for bed! Night!

Munchies

Today I had the munchies like a MotherF*$ker!! However, I stayed strong and somehow managed to still hit my NET calorie goal. Writing down everything right after/before I eat it is really helping me stay on track.

Food

-White Chocolate Macadamia Nut LUNA bar

-Avocado on WASA crackers

-small servings of Skittles and M&Ms

-Nectarine

-High Fiber Oatmeal

-Small nibbles of deli chicken and some hamburger meat that I'd prepared the night before

-Boiled Egg

Workouts

-Ran 3 miles

-Ripped in 30, Level 1

Thoughts/Observations

Previously while losing weight, I've had the "work hard during M-F and relax on the weekends" mentality. Not in terms of exercise, but in terms of keeping track of what I eat. I've rarely logged calories on the weekends. This needs to stop!! Obviously you can do a lot of damage on the weekends...frankly, it takes almost no time at all to start racking up RIDICULOUS calories by munching and making poor choices "just because it's the weekend". If I had just logged my calories on the weekends, I might not even be having to lose this extra 10 lbs!! Six months worth of not logging calories on the weekends and indulging is probably worth at least 5 lbs.

So, I'm going to make a concerted effort to log every single thing that I put into my mouth until I've lost this 10 lbs. REALLY, if I stick to my NET calorie goal each day, it should only take me two months total to lose this weight, but by the end of September at the very latest. That is my goal. I've actually been losing 4-5 lbs per month with about 50-75% effort. Frankly, in June I was eating whatever the heck I wanted to and still lost 4 lbs! And I even exercised much less because the summer heat had started and I was taking a break from my fitness DVDs at the time.

The point of this rant is: NO MORE HALF-ASSING! I don't want to be trying to lose this damn "last 10 pounds" forever!! I just want to get it over with so LET'S GOOOOO!!!!!!!!! :-)

Buying Things is Fun

Today was a pretty good day! I got to go buy some shit at Turrrrget, I bought some shit online (my favorite perfume, shower gel, and lotion was on sale on QVC...Philosophy's Amazing Grace!) and I also purchased a two-year subscription to Women's Health.

I am a longtime Women's Health reader, but last year when it was time for me to renew, I was pregnant and decided "Hey, I'm just going to be a fatass for the next 9 months anyway and won't be able to really do these workouts, so what's the point?" So I didn't renew my subscription. I'm SO glad I did now, though! I miss reading it!

Today's eats

-Chocolate Raspberry LUNA Bar

-Salad with Yogurt Ranch Dressing on Side

-One piece of cheese toast with tiny sliver of monterrey jack cheese and drizzle of olive oil to brown the toast

-Burger Patty with another small sliver of monterrey jack cheese (I wasn't going to have any cheese but husband put it on there before I could tell him not to

-1/4 cup dark chocolate M&Ms

-1/2 cookie

-Medium avocado on Wasa Light crackers

-4 cups of tea with NO HONEY!

Workouts

-Ran 3 miles with Mr Cuteness in the jogging stroller - it was hot as fuck outside and a little old lady stopped me to ask for directions. After I told her exactly where to go (ummm, literally two driveways down the road!), I then saw her pass her destination and go through two more stoplights... REALLY?!

-Came back home from run and did Ripped in 30, Level 1 while also trying to keep Mr Cuteness busy in his exersaucer and tummy time mat. Aaaaahhh the life of a stay at home mom! :-)

Observations

I've decided that I really just need to get my workouts OVER WITH early in the morning - or, by 11am at the latest like today. It's so much better to be able to enjoy my day without having to worry about fitting in my workout. I am really hoping to get an earlier start tomorrow and run a few miles with Mr Cuteness and then walk 2-3 more. I have a BOB stroller and LURRRRVE it, but am still getting the hang of steering it when it is in "jog mode"...it's a little tricky, but I am improving.

Avocado with Baked Lays is by far one of my most favorite combinations - I frequently make meals out of it. Today I had run out of Baked Lays and found some WASA Light crackers in my pantry that need to be eaten. I remember my SISSY saying that this was a good combo, so I gave it a try. I used a medium avocado and 5 WASA crackers and then added a little bit of salt on top. It was A-MAAAAAAZZZZIINNNNNG!!!!!!! Why haven't I listened to her and tried this before? Makes me mad at myself that I wasted a shitload of calories on stupid ass Baked Lays when I could have probably saved myself a few POUNDS by using this combo instead. Oh well, live and learn.

I drank 4 cups of tea today with NO HONEY, yaaayyy!!! It tasted almost the same, and I probably saved myself 200-300 calories! Once again, makes me mad at myself that I've wasted so many calories on shit I can't taste! Dammit!

I allowed myself some dark chocolate M&Ms and half a cookie when my sweet tooth started nagging me today, hehehe! I pre-portioned some dark chocolate M&Ms into little tupperwares, 1/4 cup each, for later snacking. My goal is to gradually wean myself down to 1/8 cup or less of sweets each day...baby steps. I'm willing to forgo 100-200 calories of "real food" in exchange for my sweet tooth - otherwise, I will just crave sweets and then binge on them to the EXTREME!!!

Hotness Tools

So today I decided that I needed some "Hotness Tools" to help me achieve my goals. I went on a quick trip to Turrrrrget (Target) and picked up some things that I am hoping will be effective for keeping track of my food, workouts and overall progress.

I channeled my inner nerd and went to the school supplies aisle. YAY!!! I love fresh school supplies in July!!!. The little girl down the aisle from me put it best when she exclaimed "I want new EVERYTHING!!!" The first thing I picked up for only $9.99 is this handy calendar/journal:

The colors aren't really that flourescent, I'm just using my shitty iPhone camera. Anyway, it's basically a super deluxe calendar from August 2011 - July 2012 with:

-Monthly view - to keep track of events/appointments, etc; I think I'm also going to log my weight, net calories and workouts on this each day so I can look at the whole month and see a snapshot of how I did.

-Week by week view - plenty of space to log my food and workouts daily, plus room for some notes

-Handy Notes page for each month - I'm going to use this to take my measurements at the beginning of each month and include losses

-Graph page for each month - I'm going to use this to create a weight-loss graph for each month. As I lose each pound, I can keep track of it and hopefully make a nice little line graph going down and down and DOWN each month until I hit my goal!

The other thing I bought is this cute binder with some blank sleeves. My plan is to cut out the exercise pages/excerpts from the fitness magazines I subscribe to and store them in this binder. That way, if I'm getting bored with my workout (which is SURE to happen!) I can flip through the binder and find something fun to do!

I've also decided that I'm going to subscribe to Oxygen magazine. I bought a copy today and I really like it a lot, so I think it's worth the $20/year to stay motivated! I might even subscribe to SELF and Cooking Light, can't decide...

So those are my fitness tools that I bought today. The only crappy thing is that the calendar doesn't start until August, so I'll have to keep using my other journal for the next 3 weeks! I'll be sure to do a post on my "system" for logging everything once I get started in August!

It's ON!!!

*in my best Cartman voice*

"Well well weeeelllll, loooook who it iiiissss...what a pleeeaaasant surpriiiiiiiisse"

Finally, damn! I mean, I've only been texting you for the past two days with "Hey sissy, I posted on the blog, go read it!" and "Hey sissy, have you read my blogs yet?????!!"

* CRICKETS ... CHIRP! CHIRP! *

Anyways, it's ON LIKE DONKEY KONG now, hooker!! In terms of a "contest", I guess we could have one although I think I'm motivated enough not to have one. Still, the thought of WINNING something is enticing....perhaps winner gets a magazine subscription of their choosing? Must be health/fitness related, though - it would make no sense whatsoever to win this bitch and celebrate with my new issues of Paula Deen (Paula Dang) magazine, now would it?? I will think about the "terms" and get back to you.

Sissy, would it help you if I sent you some non-weightbearing exercise videos like Pilates and Abs? You should also try biking if it doesn't hurt your ankle. I think we should both log our food intakes each day - it will keep us honest!!

Foods for today:

-Avocado with Baked Lays

-HUGE Salad with 2 Morningstar Black Bean Burgers and Bolthouse Yogurt Ranch dressing on side

-Nectarine and Apple

-Cheese Toast with 2% reduced fat cheddar cheese and lightly brushed with olive oil rather than butter

-FIVE cups of hot tea with just a smidge of honey in the first few cups

Workout:

-Ran 30 minutes (about 3 miles) on treadmill

After guzzling several cups of hot tea and not even being able to taste the honey that I put in it, I've decided to avoid using honey in my beverages (ie, decaf coffee and tea) for awhile. If I can't even taste the extra sweetness, then what is the point of wasting 60+ calories per serving on it? That shit adds up FAST.

Also, I think I'm going to suck it up and just start jogging with the jogging stroller in the mornings. Mr Cuteness (I don't want to use his name on the blog for privacy reasons) hasn't really been taking naps in the mornings consistently, so I'd rather spend 30-60 minutes jogging in the early morning and get it OVER WITH! Then I can do my DVD workout for 20-30 minutes afterwards when he plays in his exersaucer - he likes to watch me anyway!

I took a nice bubble bath tonight and it was just what my sore muscles needed - I should do that more often, but it's hard to find time sometimes! I'm super tired so I'm outtie! Night night!!