food snapshot- 12.31

Happy New Year!  I know today isn't over yet, but the kitchen is closed, so I might as well post.

Breakfast- Is there anything better than waking up to the smell of pancakes?  I really don't think there is.  Superstar Husband was up early and made breakfast.  In my morning haze, I forgot to take pictures until it was almost gone.  I had three pancakes (yikes!) BUT I ate them plain without syrup.  That's a step.

Lunch- Our friends were in town visiting for the afternoon.  Indian buffet.  WARNING!  DANGER AHEAD!  I didn't get to be 225lbs because I have a ton of self control, so buffets are dangerous.  I picked my healthiest choices and ate just one plate.  And I skipped the lamb and went for the tofu! 

Dinner- Still pretty stuffed from lunch.  I made some brown rice pilaf and sauteed broccoli.

Dessert- Sliced up apple and that gross looking blob is cream cheese with cinnamon.  It's far better than it looks.

It would probably help to include calorie counts on these, right?  Today was 1738.

So there you have it, folks.  My final meals of 2010.  Superstar Husband is working tonight, so I've got a hot date with Bob Harper.  See you next year!

Jerry Garcia= running motivation?

First-- a quick exercise brag.  I walked to and from work (4 miles total) AND went to the gym yesterday!  Who rules?  Jeanenne rules.

I was reading this post over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans about faking it through your exercise routine and it really hit home.  That's me.  I go to the gym, but I give it a solid 60% instead of 110% (unless I'm in a class-- then peer pressure kicks in).  Last year, I signed up for a beginners running workshop through our local running store (like Couch to 5k).  I went to the weekly training runs, but rarely did the assigned runs on my own during the week.  I faked it.  I didn't do the work that I needed to do to rock that 5k.  At the end of the 12 weeks, I completed the 5k but I knew I didn't give it my all.  It's tough to celebrate accomplishemnts when you know that you didn't put in the work to do your best.

Anyway, with my new focus I headed to the treadmill with determination.  I was going to push myself to really get a sense of where I'm starting this time around.  My ipod was on shuffle and Jerry Garcia popped on at the start of my run.  Not the best running music, so started to skip it.  I mean really, could this guy inspire you to run?

Then the lyrics caught me by surprise:

You just want the cup, but you don't want the race

Ooh, you don't want the race
 

Run, run, run for the roses

The quicker it opens, the sooner it closes

Then old man, old friend of mine
All good things in all good time

That's me!  I've been so focused on just getting to the prize that I've never bothered to pay attention to the race along the way.  And you know what?  The race is the hard part.  The race needs my attention more than anything.  It's going to be a long race-- I've got a lot of miles to run and a lot of food to mindfully eat.  But I'll get there.  All good things in all good time.   Thanks, Jerry.

food snapshot- 12.30

I think I like this format!  Let's stick with this for a while.

Breakfast- raspberry yogurt (I like wegman's organic-- not too sweet) with some granola
Lunch- Leftover turkey burger and carrots
Snack- I was so hungry on my walk home.  I knew I had to stop and get something or I was going to eat everything in my path when I came home.  I grabbed a banana and some tea.  Look-- the snow is melting!
Snack, part deux- we were meeting friends for a later dinner at Duff's.  Take a look at that menu-- there are no good options.  I grabbed a handful of nuts, raisins and chocolate chips to hold me over.  I went with two pieces of chicken quesadilla and a salad without cheese at dinner.  Two light beers too.

I know I've only been taking photos of my meals for a few days now, but I can already notice a difference.  When I logged my calories at the end of the day I was forced to remember that bowl of nuts-- that would have normally slipped by me.  Calorie amnesia.

food snapshot- 12.29

Still experimenting with the best way to post this.  This seems a bit better than separate photos.

Breakfast- Bowl of cinnamon puffins with milk
Lunch- Truly awful.  I didn't want to brave the cold to walk for lunch so I foraged.  A bagel thin with a slice of cheese, 100 calorie almonds, apple.
Dinner- Turkey burger with cheese, pickle, onion rings and two spare tots.  And a Sam Adams.  Great dinner.  Man... not a veggie to be found all day.  That can't be good.

Silver Lining

It's a strange thing to keep a blog.  I've never done one faithfully in the past, or kept a journal for that matter.  I do read a lot of blogs if that counts for anything.  See, the thing is that you people out there reading this don't really know me yet.  There's not a lot you can tell by three posts.  So today I'll share a little history as it relates to this little story.

I have two little kiddos-- Samantha is 5 and Daniel is 4.  They are amazing and you'll hear me gush more about them in the future.  At the time they were born, we lived in New York City.  We moved there in 2002 and I fell in love with that city.  I loved the smells, the bustle, the buzz... all of it.  What I came to love also was getting around on my own two feet.  No car-- just walk.  Take the subway.  Walk some more.  After a while we decided it was time to leave NYC.  Everything I had come to love, I started to hate with two little kids.  Everything was just too hard with little ones.

So we decided to move to Buffalo, where my husband grew up.  Maybe I just fall for cities easily, but I love Buffalo too.  I never expected to love it... after all, it's Buffalo.  So we bought an old house (that requires our constant attention-- never ending projects) in a sketchy up and coming neighborhood that we can walk to a lot.  Around the corner there is an amazing coffee shop, a gallery, an Italian grocer, a lovely florist... you get the picture.  My office is two miles away from my home and we have one car, which may seem crazy, but we make it work pretty easily.  That is, except, when that one car is out of commission.  We are waiting on a part to come in and are without wheels this week. So finally I'm getting to the silver lining!  I have to walk to and from work.  In the cold Buffalo winter.  You would not believe how many calories that burns! Let's take a look.

See those circled spikes?  That's my walk!  In the morning I caught a bus part of the way, but I hoofed the whole cold two miles home (that dip is from my stop at the coop to pick up some food for dinner).  And it was a really great walk.  One that made me thankful that walking is an option.  One that made me thankful that I'm strong enough to do it.  One that make me thankful for the lovely neighborhood I walk through.

So yes, our one family car is not working this week.  But because of that I got more exercise, spent more time catching up with friends on the phone while walking, and got to enjoy my neighborhood.  So that's a pretty nice silver lining.

In my toolbox: GoWear Fit

Confession:  I love gadgets.  I love numbers and statistics and bar charts. Oooooh, bar charts.  So when I started looking up info about the GoWear Fit, I knew we'd be very, very happy together.  If you watch the Biggest Loser, you've seen these ugly armbands a lot.  I'm surprised they don't pimp it as much as they do Subway or Brita-- but that's neither here nor there.

So I started shopping around and then became obsessed.  I MUST have one!  But, you see--- I'm cheap.  Like, really cheap.  But I found one on ebay for $50.  Sold.  I've been wearing it for a few weeks now and I've got to say, it's amazing.  It tracks all the calories you burn throughout the day and night.  It even track how much you sleep.  I've always known that losing weight is as simple as calories in and calories out.  The problem is that I never knew exactly how many calories were going out!  Here is what I've learned so far:

1) I get less sleep than I thought.  I never really gave is much thought, but I really do a lot better on 8 hours of sleep than 6.  Like, a lot better.  

2) I burn fewer calories per hour sitting at my desk than I do sleeping.  That blew me away and I still don't know what to do with that info.

3) Just because I go to the gym, doesn't mean I've burned enough calories to lose weight.  It's shocking, but if I just go about my normal routine and go to the gym for an hour,  I'll burn about 2500 calories a day.  Eating 1800, that'll make me lose at a rate of about a 1lb a week.  Now I understand how I didn't really lose weight when I was going to the gym faithfully in the past-- I wasn't doing anything else during the day to make it work!  And the nightly bowl eating out of the container of ice cream was killing any calorie deficit I had.

I'm still figuring it all out, but it's a super handy tool.  One reviewer compared it to a big, expensive string around your finger reminding you that you are trying to lose weight.  That's about it.  Maybe I'll post a screenshot of my daily summary with the daily food?  I'll let ya know ;)

food snapshot- 12.28

breakfast- ezekiel muffin, cream cheese, bland orange

Sprouted Grain Bread with turkey and muenster broiled and melt-y good.  Banana.

Pita Chip... on my calendar

I probably should have taken an after pic too.  Potato Leek soup (finished), carrots, horseradish crusted tilapia (ate half) and a failed crockpot risotto experiment (ate just a bite)

picture time

A while back I came across this article about the public humiliation diet.  I guess it stuck with me.  This is my version of the PHD.  Of of the things that I think will be most helpful for me is to take a picture of everything I eat an post it here.  You'll have to bear with me while I figure out the best format.  I'm thinking I'll post the previous day all at once.  So far today, I just had breakfast, so let's start with that.  

Ezekiel English muffin with cream cheese and a terrible, terrible orange that I only ate half of.

Away we go!

Greetings!  Welcome to my blog.  I've got to lose 65 lbs.  These are the same 65 lbs-- give or take-- that I've needed to lose since college.  And I'm 31-- so me and these 65 extra lbs are pretty tight.  It's going to take a lot to shake 'em loose.  They really like me.  

If you are like me, you've sworn to yourself that you'll lose weight about 138 times in the past.  This time I'm going to do it.  Want to watch?

If there is one thing I have learned about myself over the years, it's that I have a though time sticking with things.  When the going gets tough, I eat a cookie.  So this is going to be tricky.  

The obligatory "before" picture

So here is what I promise you.  I will check in everyday.  I will journal what I eat.  I will finally do this crap.