Ahhhhhh!

SO this morning, I wake up 30 minutes early, do a pilates DVD (haven’t done it in forever, I think I’m going to feel it tomorrow!) and come in to work. I make my coffee, check my e-mail, and my tummy is rumbling—ready for breakfast! I reach over to my bags and realize I FORGOT MY LUNCH BAG! Not only do I not have my lunch, but also my breakfast and my pre-workout snack! D’oh! I am totally pissed because, as I said, I already worked out a bit this morning and had a light dinner last night which has combined to make huuuuungry. And the thought of my poor beautiful salad wilting away on my kitchen counter all day makes me sad. Poor mixed baby greens!

Thankfully, I remember that I have a little bit of liquid egg whites left in the break room fridge, so I microwave myself a mug—blah! And just as I’m moping a bit walking back to my office, thinking about eating plain egg whites for breakfast instead of my sweet and delish oatmeal, my co-worker comes in and tells me that our rep. from the printing company has come to make his yearly visit with coffee and donuts. Double d’oh! It’s like the diet gods saw that I was in a bad spot with my plain eggs and sent temptation to intervene! Thankfully, instead of going over to the donut party, I hopped on buddyslim and started writing this blog. I must beware that the left over donuts (and there always are some!) we most likely be placed right outside my office, easy proximity to give in to temptation. But I must stay strong! Oooo there goes a co-worker with one now!

And, the cherry on the sundae, a just received an e-mail from HR reminding me that today at 3 is our monthly b-day party featuring, you guessed it, cake and ice cream. This day is the devil! But I’ve got a plan so I’m not falling into a trap. Figure out just what I want for lunch before I head out to pick it up, that way I won’t be distracted by all the chips/cookies/crap at the convenience store. Make sure I have a snack for pre-workout, and just enjoy the free coffee/diet soda that they have at the cake party. I have had such a good week, I know the scale will be kind to me, so I don’t need to throw that off for silly little wads of concentraited fat and sugar that will only make me feel bad later.

I CAN DO IT! How about you guys? Ever feel like the chips are stacking against you for the day? How do you stay strong?

Hey everyone!

I was really pleasantly suprised yesterday by the comments on my last blog telling me that my optimistic outlook was helpful. I must say that even someone like me who tends to be pretty upbeat can fall vicitm to things not going their way, and get down in the dumps. However, reading about how people found inspiration through what I was saying really served to help me feel even better! Monday’s are tough for everyone, especially snowy Mondays where lots of people have the day off, but I felt like I really had the ability to rise above, thanks to the kind words. I had an awesome day of healthy eating, avoided the pitfalls of the grocery store, and did over an hour of light cardio, which was a great break from my running schedule. It was really a good day, and a good way to start off the week. I feel like I have my mojo working and I’m going to sail through this week without too much temptation to slack on my diet and exercise.

Speaking of temptation, every once and a while a few boxes of cookies and scones finds its way to our employee breakroom, courtesy of a man in the business department. The “snack suprises” normally follow a pattern—after a holiday, the first monday of the month—so sometimes when I sense one coming I’ll give myself a little pep talk before entering the breakroom. But this morning, out of nowhere, they appeared. But, much to my own credit, I really wasn’t even tempted. I had my oatmeal with me, and thought “Hey I’d rather have this really filling and healthy oatmeal then consume double the calories for a not-so-filling, unhealthy scone.” Excuse me for tooting my own horn, but that’s pretty much a revelation! Me, not wanting a sweet? Who’d have thought?

So now I had my yummy oatmeal and stayed full until lunchtime, which is right around the bend. Making positive decisions for myself just furthers the cycle of good vibes that I get from my blogging, and instead of facing each day as some diet challenge to be fearful of, I embrace each day as an opportunity to further boost my mood and attitude, continuing the cycle.

Sorry to get all hippied-out on you with that last paragraph, but I really am feeling so much contentment, I just wanted to share. I hope everyone is having a happy and productive day, today. Make each day count!

Morning everyone! It’s a snowy MLK day here, and unfortunatly, although those are two good reasons to have the day off, I’m here at work. I really thought they were going to call a snow day for us, but no luck! Oh well, at least the day seems to be passing quickly.

My weekend went well-ish, hm… I’d give it a B. Friday night I went out with friends and did have drinks and dinner—stuck to the steamed mussels, but also had a bag of popcorn when I got home a little tipsy! Ha! Saturday wasn’t that great—I did fine eating until the afternoon, when I broke my “clean living” streak for some white chocolate bark. Drats! Oh well, I’m not going to let it get me down, I’m continuing on with my 30 days. One little 250 calorie slip up isn’t the end of the world. Anyway, Saturday night I cooked a light version of chicken enchiladas. I did eat quite a bit, but it’s allowed since I had my long run the next day and needed to fuel up.

Sunday was great! I did my 16 miles and afterwards felt great! I kept my eating normal even though I was super hungry, and all and all things were really in-check. It was a good note to start of the week, and I’m determined to get back down in the 130’s by next weigh in. I’m going to really kick up my exercise this week, and watch my calories like a hawk. No cheating for me, I’m livin clean.

I hope everyone had a good weekend! Enjoy the day off if you have it. Lets make this week AWESOME.

Happy Friday to all! I don’t know about you, but I am ready for the weekend. I’m going out tonight to cut loose! Can’t wait!

So, last night and today I’ve been sticking to my “clean living” motto, and doing well. Normally, Friday lunchtime can be a rocky time for me. I often try to eat less during the day on Friday to compensate for having cocktails that evening. I’ve noticed that a light breakfast and lunch can often lead me to run to the convenience store after lunch and grab some junkfood. And then, once I’ve broken off from eating well, it’s all downhill. Skip the gym, eat more junk, go out and have no limits. Bad policy! But today, there wasn’t even a debate in my mind. I packed a filling vegetable soup for lunch, which I just finished, and I’m happily satisfied and looking forward to my nice dinner of steamed mussels. BooYAH!

Last night I did eat a little more than I originally planned, but I still kept it at 1200 calories, so that’s fine by me. I also made all healthy choices. I had an 8 mile run last night that went great, finished it up in 76 minutes no problem. I only have to do 6 miles tonight, piece of cake these days

I weigh-in tomorrow for my Valentine’s day challenge, but my ups and downs earlier in the week lead me to believe I won’t be seeing any loss. That’s okay, the big day I’m looking forward to is next Saturday. 11 days of eating cleanly will definately show up on the scale!

So cheers everyone! I’ll report in this weekend as I’m gearing up for my big 16 mile run on Sunday. Wish me luck!

Good morning everyone!

After posting yesterday about my decision to dedicate 30 days to a “diet” that involved cutting out junk food and sweets, I got some great responses, which made me start thinking. This isn’t really a “diet,” per say, more like a decision to eat cleanly for 30 days. So, that’s what I’ve decided to call it—30 days of clean living!

Yesterday was a great day, and just what I needed. Following the very smart Leida’s advice, I ate every four hours, and I found that, at least so far, that pattern worked for me. I wasn’t overly starving at any time during the day, even during my run, which usually happens.

So yesterday I ate my healthy meals, and even better, I had a kick ass workout, doing 6 miles of speed drills on the treadmill, alternating minutes of 6.0 and 7.5 for an hour! It was a great feeling, I hadn’t done speed drills in forever and I’ve never been able to keep 6.0 as my jog speed. I guess it just goes to show how my cardiovascular health, although always good, is now top notch. I wasn’t even that winded!

So today I’m excited to experience day 2. So far, I’m still sticking with no artificial sweetners, although the thought of no gum is sad (I recently quit smoking, so a nice piece of gum always helps when I’m stressed!). We’ll just have to see if that one works out for me.

Today’s agenda is:

8:30: bf: 1/2 egg whites with 1 slice canadian bacon; 2 cups coffee

12:30: lunch: mixed greens with light italian dressing, can of tuna, whole wheat sandwich thin, light string cheese

4:30: snack: 50 calorie natural popcorn and apple

8:30: dinner: baked chicken breast with baked veggies

Workout: 8 mile run, plus 20 minutes of exercise machine of my choice.

All and all, sounds like a good day to me! Happy Thursday everyone. The weekend’s right around the corner!

Buddyslimmers, I have been on a bit of a rollercoaster the past two days. For some reason, after work, I have just been falling off the bandwagon. I say, “For some reason,” but that reason is really that I’ve allowed myself to go home and eat, instead of going straight to the gym, eating my regular dinner, etc.

So, I don’t want to go into to much detail, but after tooting my own horn yesterday in my post I ran face first into a dead end. It wasn’t horrible, or near some of the binges that I used to experience, but it was bad. A step backward.

But today has been a great day! I spent the day banishing all the little stresses I could find. I worked on my upcoming travel plans. I spoke with HR about a work problem that’s been bothering me. I finished up and sent in the last of my graduate school applications. Took care of the little things that linger in your mind when you’re trying to fall asleep. It feels good!

So, last night, feeling low and searching for an answer, I decided to do something I haven’t before. I know we (myself included) are usually all about “don’t diet make a lifestyle change.” And that’s great. That’s what you should do. But I’ve found my lifestyle is just one that lets me maintain my weight. When I lost weight last year, it was because I committed myself to a (admittely rather strict and silly) diet. So, I decided, I’m going to go on a diet.

I know. Weird. Most of you would probably say you’re already on a diet. But I haven’t been. For 30 days, I am going to turn my nose up at junk food and sweets. If I know I can’t have it, then I don’t think it will be a problem. Well, that’s a lie, I’m sure I’ll run into problems! But I’m going to keep blogging, and tell you guys about them. I am really excited. I’ve already had a fabulous first day. And 30 days from now I’ll be leaving for a weekend in New Orlease. Hopefully, 7 pounds slimmer (seemed like a reasonable number to me).

My goals are simple: 1000-1200 calories a day from healthy sources. Cut out processed foods, including sugar. Watch alcohol consumption. Make a schedule prior to each day of what I will eat and when. Do not eat between meals/snacks.

As of right now I’m up in the air about cutting out artificial sweetner, since normally a good cold diet coke is the glue that holds my life together, but I haven’t had any today and am feeling good.

I CAN DO IT!

SO, today, Day 1, has been great, pretty easy. It’s really not a big change, just a real emphasis on saying “no” to work treats, and not picking up that little lindt truffle ball when I stop in Walgreens, etc.

Today’s food:

bf: low sugar oatmeal (normally I add a sweet’n low—the new taste will take some getting used to (and maybe some cinnamon!)) and coffee

lunch: mixed greens with light italian dressing and canned tuna; whole wheat sandwich thin; string cheese

snack: 50 calorie natural popcorn; apple

dinner: baked chicken, baked broccoli, cauliflower and squash

 Workout: run 6 miles (probably throw in some speed work and hills for a great workout) then 30 minutes or so of the exercise equipment of my choice.

I’ll be happy to be done with work, my workout, and then get home and tell my bf about my great day. Then day 1 will be in the books, and Day 2 can begin!

MUCH LOVE!

Okay, I know I’m being silly, but here it is, 4:30, and I’ve been so good all day that I wanted to give myself a little pat on the back. I know one day isn’t any major accomplishment, but I tend to fall in the “all or nothing” category of people. After eating too much last night, in the past it has been easy for me to say “well, I’ll fix it tomorrow” and then continue to eat bad things. But I didn’t put it off today, I ate extremely healthy, even avoided work treats that were right under my nose, and so, for that, I’m tooting my own horn. TOOT!

138, I’ve set my sights on you! You’re mine this Saturday!

Morning everyone!

Well, after my little “this blog helps me just say no” speech yesterday, I basically went off and ignored my own words! I didn’t do anything terrible, and actually, I did avoid the cupcake/peanut butter malted milk ball cravings that were attacking me all afternoon. But I did have some wheat bread with honey and a few cocktails while I watched a movie with my bf. As I said, nothing too drastic, but I didn’t meet my diet goals for the day, so I scored a bit zero overall for the Valentine’s day challenge. Blah! Well, at least it helped to put me in focus, and I am determined to stay on track for the rest of the week. I want to see that 138 on the scale come Saturday morning. C’mon 138!

I decided that my problem yesterday was eating too much in the morning, then not having anything to tide me over. When I got home, I gobbled up leftover pasta and a bowl of cereal without even thinking about it. So today I set times when I could eat, and stuck to them. I hope this helps; the only thinkg I’m reluctant about is that it seems counter-intuitive to make times to eat, instead of listening to your body. What do you guys think? Maybe I should stick to a schedule for a few weeks, until I feel a bit more relaxed about eveything, and then can begin to listen to when I’m hungry. I’m not sure…

I didn’t have breakfast today, since I wasn’t hungry (bad, I know!) but did have a snack, now I’m biding my time until my lunch of tuna, salad, light dressing, and a whole wheat sandwich thin. Afternoon snack is an apple, then tonight I’m having baked chicken and vegetables with brown rice. I’m trying to incorporate more carbs into my diet, and from good sources (hence the whole wheat bread and the brown rice) but it’s hard since they take up so many calories. I’d much rather have a half cup of cottage cheese than a half cup of brown rice. Oh well!

For all you big time exercisers out there, what do you guys think about carbs? I know the old saying is to cut them out to lose weight, but all my running websites say they are essential, and that I should be getting about 65% of my calories from them, so I have proper energy. I’m not sure which side should win—carbs or no carbs.

Happy Monday everyone! I haven’t written in a few days because, in all honesty, I’ve been pretty boring! Friday, blah, was a bad eating day. I didn’t fight the craving and succumbed to a bag of choclate turtle chex mix. I did, however, have the steamed mussels for dinner as I had planned, and I kept the drinking in moderation (for the most part!). So Friday was my off day, consider it a bit of a learning curve (even though I already know better).

But Saturday and Sunday were great. Saturday I followed my plan and ate very moderately, and had a delish dinner at home with the bf. I told him I’d go out for a little bit if he wanted, but that I had to get to bed and not drink because of my long run the next day, but we ended up just staying in. I think I was asleep by 11, that’s something that never happens on a Saturday night! But it was a great change of pace. I woke up Sunday morning feeling refreshed and energetic and I’m proud to say I tackled my 14 mile run just fine! Yea! Last night I had my bf’s dad b-day dinner a really fancy steakhouse, so I did indulge in some filet mignon, but not too much, and after running for over 2 hours, I think it takes more than steak to bust your diet.

Today was a little rocky to start, but now I’m back on track (happily!). Work this morning was stressfull, and I ate my breakfast late, my snack early, just not good overall. After lunch I was really feeling that old sugar craving that hits me, and thinking of going to Starbucks for an evil yet delish scone. I was justifying it in my head, “Oh, well, you’re getting your period, you’re craving sugar, you can indulge and then no more until next cycle.” Yea, right! Isn’t that the same thing I told myself on Friday, when I ate the chex mix? And how long did that last? Not a month! So I ate an apple for a natural sugar high, and made myself some chai tea with a packet of sweet’n low, and it was just as good as dessert.

Sometimes I wonder why I came back to the blog, since I actually lost most of my weight when I wasn’t blogging about it. But then, thinking of the situation I just had, and how I chose the tea instead of sugar, and as a way of cementing my decision, I blogged about it, I know this is a helpful tool. PMS didn’t win today, I did!

Hey everyone!

While sipping my coffee this morning and cruising the internet, I came across this article on AOLhealth.com:

Weekend May Derail Your Diet, Study Finds

Posted on Jan 7th 2010 3:00PM by Ashley Neglia

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss

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Whether it’s working out during the week or ticking off calories and fat grams, many of us try to do our due diligence. However, for some of us — once the clock strikes 5 p.m. on Friday — all bets are off.

According to a study published in the Fall 2009 issue of the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, some of us consume up to 400 more calories during the weekend. Keep up that streak weekend after weekend, and you’re looking at almost 21,000 extra calories per year, which equates to nearly six extra pounds. Yikes!

Researchers attribute weekend over-eating to simply having more time to eat, especially during breakfast, as well as for overcompensating after a light meal by indulging with the next.

J. Jeffrey Inman, professor of marketing at the University of Pittsburgh, and Adwait Khare of Quinnipiac University, analyzed data from 600 individuals, who tracked their eating habits as part of a survey used for American food companies. Twelve percent of the participants consumed nearly 400 extra calories.

The good news is that 35 percent of people only consumed an extra 37 calories during the weekend, and some even decreased calorie consumption. Twelve percent of participants who ate more during breakfast, lunch and dinner racked in an extra 400 calories.

“It’s possible that people [who consumed 400 more calories on the weekend] have a very busy weekly schedule,” said Khare. “It’s a chance to unwind, relax and really enjoy their food. There is also a social aspect to eating [on the weekend,] and socialization increases consumption.”

Although an extra 37 calories seems to pale in comparison to 400, keep in mind that we’re working with 52 weeks in a year, and even those calories can result in almost 2,000 extra calories per year, which equates just over half a pound.

“These small things add up,” said Khare. “The impact is much more than what the weekend can seem like. For many people, it can be a significant increase.”

However, other research has found that having an off day from a diet can help you stay on track and feel emotionally satiated. If you do have a cheat day in your diet, make sure it’s not an all-out binge.

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Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I do sometimes seem to fall into the weekend overeater category. Mine is realated to several issues, which I would like to address. I don’t have one MAJOR resolution this year, just a lot of little things I’m trying to do to make my life better, and I’d really like taking steps to conquer this issue to be one of them.

I think the main problem with weekend eating is the social aspect of it. My boyfriend and I moved to Boston 2 years ago, and we still mainly socialize with each other on your average Friday night. That usually means dinner and drinks, and we all know drinks can add up to a lot of unwanted calories. In addition to that, I have a hard time shaking off my “party girl” mentality from college, and tend to drink a bit too much, which leads to a hang ver which most always leads me to overeat greasy foods I wouldn’t normally have. I don’t know what it is about being hungover, but it always derails me, big time!

The final kicker for me is just the lack of structure to the weekend, not knowing when I’m going to have my next meal or what it will be.

So, the solution to all this? First, I’m going to plan ahead. For example, tonight, I know I’m going to my neighborhood restaurant for dinner. This will mean a pre-meal cocktail, and then a glass of wine with dinner. But I don’t need to have more than that! I’ll sip my drinks slowly, make them last. Also, since I know the menu like the back of my hand, I’ve been investigating and I think, instead of the grilled shrimp I usually get, I’m going to get steamed muscles today. While both are naturally low in calories, I’m pretty sure the shrimp are coated in an unidentified, fatty substance, while the muscles are simply steamed and come in a spicy tomato broth. I’ll just have to limit eating the bread that comes with it to a slice or less!

I’ll stick to my plan, and still have a lovely evening, probably even more so, because I won’t be stressed. And tomorrow is the big 1st week weigh in! I’m excited.

I’m going to be brainstorming about my Saturday/Sunday plan, and I’ll post it later. Sorry to give you guys such a long post, but I thought the article was interesting!

Peace!