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!!

Stop making me look bad, Biatch!

TANTAN! GAH! I see you are hard at work already, trying to best us! Well, here's what I have to say about THAT: you are succeeding. :(

But only for the time being! Just until my sprained ankle, which as you know, I sustained while running with YOU, is better. However, I am s-l-o-w-l-y lobbing my fat self back on track. Today, I cleaned the house for 4 hours (the Hubs was really batching it up while I was on "vacation" - you would not believe some of the places I found his dirty socks)! Surprisingly, I gained NOTHING in the month that I was away (this was in part because I cooked most of the meals, but also because I wouldn't let Grammy bake any cakes or goodies, which resulted in a rash of cake-baking and pie-fixing the day before I left, supposedly because Uncle Walter was coming to visit, but really so she could send half a pound cake home with me!).

It wasn't until we got back to VT, and had company for a week who wanted to sample all of VT's culinary offerings (read: beer, Ben&Jerry's, cheese, and more beer), that I started "puffing" up. Yes, I said "puffing" - imagine a startled blowfish, without the spikes. It's more than just general bloating...it's like my arms, legs (especially my ankles), and middle all just swell up - and it usually happens when I drink a lot of beer, sadly. Is it water retention? Is it air? It remains to be seen whether real pounds were gained, but I definitely puffed up a pants size.

Luckily, our farm share has started and is providing us with bountiful produce - the perfect excuse to increase the proportion of veggies to meat and starch on our plates, which should reduce the puff effect. We've been having fantastic salads with butter lettuce and micro-greens, and last night I cooked up a pot of turnip and beet greens with a new recipe I found that uses no salty meat for flavoring, but instead uses garlic and onions. I even threw the peeled turnips in there and the Hubs loved them. I also roasted our first farm chicken and it was the leanest, most chicken-y chicken I've ever tasted. I am surreptitiously pushing us toward a lower-carb diet...shhhh, don't tell Hubsy!

So, how are we running this new challenge? Are we counting days? Percentage lost? Should we have rewards or incentives?

Snickers Ice Cream cone, you don't own me!!

Today was a pretty good day. I'm getting back on track with my workouts and healthy eating - I just need to keep this up for 1-2 weeks minimum so I can re-establish my habits.

Workouts:

-3 mile run; up North and back 2 times

-JM Ripped in 30 Level 1; my legs and butt were KILLING me today!!! I can tell it's going to take a few more days to get all of the soreness out.

Eats:

-ZONE Mint Chocolate bar and coffee

-HUGE salad with two black bean veggie burgers, feta, and yogurt Ranch dressing

-one meatball for a snack

-two gummy worms

-4 (YES, FOUR!!) ears of corn with a little butter and salt/pepper

-pineapple fruit popsicle

I would just like to point out that I had the pineapple popsicle INSTEAD of a Snickers Ice Cream cone!! Dear Husband brought home a box of Snickers Ice Cream Cones from the store today, thinking he would be treating both of us. Normally I would have jumped all over that shiz, BUT I am really making an effort to reduce my sugar intake, SOOOOO I made a HEALTHY decision and decided to pass (THIS TIME!). I'm secretly hoping he will eat them all himself this week and take these decisions out of my hands, muahahahhaha!!! (my evil laugh)

TanTan in the Hizz-ouse!!

What up, loyal followers!! And by "loyal followers", I mean Hempa and Funny Nurse (although I think Funny Nurse quit this bitch a long time ago, hehehe) My name is Tanner and I am Hempa's big sis. Like the aforementioned crazy trinas, I am also in the quest to lose some weight - those last 10 annoying-as-f*$k pounds that are preventing me from being as hot as possible.

I recently had a baby - if "recently" means last November - and have lost all my baby weight plus an additional 15 pounds. I want to lose 10 more because I was kinda chunky for my body type before getting preggo, soooooo I'm hoping blogging every day will hold me accountable for what I eat and how much I exercise...which will in turn help the pounds melt off faster than that dude's face in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

My food for today:

-Baked Lays and avocado

-Gummi Worms

-4 small meatballs

-the remainder of a bag of Hershey's Nuggets (about 8?)

-a few bites of a WhichWich sandwich

-a few spoon fulls of White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter

Yeah, so I ate a lot of shit today - don't judge! I have almost run out of candy in my house (just a few gummi worms left and some Lifesavers, but clearly the Lifesavers are for bigtime emergencies because REALLY, who is satisfied by those? How dare they call themselves "candy"!) and I'm going to TRY not to buy any more. Candy/refined sugars is what makes me hold onto weight, so if I can just avoid that stuff for a month or so I can lose some pounds fast.

My workout today was Jillian Michaels' Ripped in 30 DVD, Level 1 - that shit was HARD. A couple months ago I did the 30 Day Shred with Hempa and I saw good results, so I'm hoping this gets me even more toned. I can tell already that it will be much harder than Shred. It has 4 Levels, which you do for a week at the time. I'm going to do it Monday-Friday and save my weekends for long runs and possibly going back to ballet class? I want to lose 5 pounds before I DARE go into the ballet studio in a leotard with mirrors all around!!

Ok, so that was my first day. I should probably take some before and after photos but I don't have time right now...maybe later?!!

Tan