Day Off

Oh my goodness- day off was amazing, but now Im retreating back into my thesis cave. I got edits back on everything so I'll finish it tomorrow. The break was needed. I went to the gym Monday for the first time in two months!!!! It was awesome, although I am sore today.

Wish me luck! I am so close to being finished!!

Weigh In

Good Morning, friends! Tomorrow will mark 2 weeks away from my defense, so I am on the home stretch! I weighed in this morning per my usual Monday and am down 2.8 lbs. Woohoo. Now just gotta get 2-3 1,000 more off by Friday when I head to Charleston (read "the beach") to visit my sisters for Easter. I am so flipping excited to see them!! 

The three of us are best friends and we live 10+ hours from each other. Jamie is a lawyer, clerking for the supreme court in SC, and Shelby is an administrator at a university in TN who just finished her master's degree. I am so proud of them! Interesting fact- we are almost Irish triplets- Jamie is 13 months older than me and Shelby is 15 months younger than me.

My sisters and I (Left to right): Me (middle sister),
Shelby (youngest), Jamie (oldest)

The trip plan happened kind of spur of the moment. Shelby and my hubbies are going to Las Vegas together next weekend for a bachelor party, Shelby had some extra days off work, and I will have my thesis wrapped up by the end of the day today so it just worked out that we could meet and drive to see Jamie.

So how about it- any Charleston bloggers have some must do suggestions? We'll be hitting up the spring festival Friday, maybe some outlet shopping, the beach (of course), and Jamie says there are some roof top bars calling our names.

I am not comitting to posting everyday again until I finish writing my thesis and composing my presentation for the defense. Then you'll see me back at it! I am trying to lose the weight I gained during the last few weeks of writing being sedentary in my bat cave.

Have a wonderful week!

C

Squirrel

I've been busy lately so no food for this week, my eats haven't been bad though. More eating at home, more fruits and veggies, etc. I did catch this little guy hopping along outside the MEC building today though and thought I'd share. He was super cute.

Monday

Happy Tuesday. Its a rainy day here in Charlottesville and I am not pleased at all to be at work. I haven't been getting enough sleep between staying up late working and then not being able to fall asleep when I do go to bed because I'm too stressed out. :( 

Anyway, enough complaining. It will all be over soon. I finish writing this week and present on the 3rd. I weighed in Monday morning at 158.6, a gain of 1.8 lbs.

 As for my food, it was definitely improved today. I planned it Sunday night. I am also back to relaying pts+ values when I can since a few people I know have joined ww online and will be following their system.

The plan: yogurt and kashi, veggie and humus, apple,
salad with chicken, asparagus, steak w/ marinate.
Not pictured, but planned: Starbucks coffee

I had a Starbucks Frappuccino to start out the morning for 120 calories and 3pts and 3.5pts+.

I stuck mostly to the plan with some editing based on what I was in the mood for. I had fage yogurt with blueberry and acai with 1/3 cup of kashi go lean crunch cereal. 2pts, 3.5pts+, 127 calories.

Midmorning snack was shortbread cookies from starbucks (not planned) for 4pts, 4.5pts+, and 170 calories.

Lunch was Santa Fe Style salad with chicken. Definitely a favorite of mine for 5pts, 6.5pts+, and 270 calories.

Matt and I had planned a late dinner and I was hungry before then. Instead of the snacks I had planned, I made a drippy egg sandwich for 4pts, 5pts+, and 198 calories.

Dinner was phenomenal. I marinated two steaks the night before and the man grilled them to tender, yummy perfection. He also grilled a side of asparagus. Yum! The steak was 5pts, 5pts+, the marinate and olive oil for the asparagus were 1.5pts, 1.75pts+, and the asparagus was 0pts all around. The whole meal was 6.5pts, 6.75pts+, and 293 calories.

Late into the night, I had a light beer (not pictured) for 2pts, 3pts+, and 98 calories.

Monday Stats: 

Water: 89 oz. / 80 oz. 

Points:  24.5 / 22

Weekly Points: 3 used today / 32 remaining

Calories: 1,062

Points Plus: 32/29

Weekly Points Plus: 3 used today / 46 remaining

Exercise: 1.5 mile walk

Activity Points: 1 today / 1 week

Weekly Weight Loss: +1.6 lbs / 40.0 lbs total 

Hope to see less of each other next time!

C

Situational Awareness

Hi everyone! I hope you had as productive of a weekend as I did! I cleaned our entire apartment top to bottom, I reorganized under all of the sinks, I finished yet another chapter of my thesis (getting close, folks), and I did some event planning for work. I also got a chance to sneak out for some beers Friday night with real people, not just books! I feel good about the work I'm getting done- especially on my thesis. Its due in a week! I've been busy lately trying to finish it up which is why I haven't been around here. While I am super excited about that progress, I have been remiss on the health progress. 

I felt like if I posted, even a ten minute post with no pictures, there wouldn't be much to say.. I ate out (again). I had Raising Cane's (again). I had ice cream when I wasn't hungry (again). I went over my calorie range and then some a lot (again). 

I have been telling myself that I don't have time to cook and blog if I need to be working on my thesis- which is entirely true, but what I have also secretly been telling myself is that I can do whatever I want food-wise because I'm working on my thesis and not blogging- which is entirely untrue. 

I have known I was doing this too, that it wasn't ideal, that I wanted to stop, but didn't even have time to pump the breaks and re-assess. It has been pretty frustrating, knowing my goals, but not feeling like I had the time to plan to achieve them. If food, weight loss, and health were my number one priority on a week to week basis, I know I could achieve any goal. That's just not how it is right now. 

I want to graduate. I have to graduate. I will cry myself to sleep for at least a month day if I don't graduate. That is how badly I want to be done with school. I need this for me on a personal level, just as much as I need to live a healthy lifestyle to feel like a balanced person now. 

So that leaves me in an odd place. I am spending every free moment trying to finish my work. I am not taking care of myself health and food-wise, often I don't feel like I have the time. I also have some events coming up I like to think of as "weight deadlines:" graduation, Foxfield races, Easter weekend with sisters at the beach, best friend's wedding in Scotland. So seeing the scale numbers going up, the rounding out of my cheeks, and the reclaiming of "teacher arms" (you know, when you move your arm and you have a flap that jiggles around like your elementary teacher's), is also adding some stress.

I got some really great lifestyle advice a year ago when dealing with a stressful situation that I couldn't fix. I was told that to relieve the stress and pain I was going through, there were two factors that could change: the situation, or myself. If neither changed, the problem and stress would remain the same. I love that outlook on problems. It is such an intuitive solution. I now look at most problems like this to find resolution.

In the case of where I am now, I can leave the situation as-is, and be a little stressed about gaining weight, and frustrated that I don't get to live my life like I want right now. That is essentially waiting it out until the situation goes away (3 weeks until my final deadline). Or, on the other hand, I can try and rearrange my situation and myself with the little wiggle-room I have with my time, and come to better personal satisfaction- which is what I am going to try to do. We'll see how it goes.

So, for the next week, I'm going to try and track and blog what I eat- all of it. And if I don't have time to write everything, I'll just upload pictures. Also, when I am done at work or writing for the night around 10-11, I'll take the time between then and midnight to plan, prepare, and measure my food for the next day. I have already started this tonight and have Monday and most of Tuesday's food planned and prepared. This should give me a head-start on my week. My goal is to finish writing the thesis Wednesday and proof through next Monday.

Ah, I feel better. I am a planner. It is well beyond my bedtime, but after preparing Monday's food, I wanted to let you in on what is going on in my life so that when you hear from me Tuesday with Monday's eats, you'll know where its coming from!

I weigh in tomorrow (great), so you'll see that Tuesday too. Enjoy your Monday and wish my luck!

Y2 W11 D2

Happy Tuesday, and happy crunch time to all those finishing up various degrees! We're on the final stretch! Breakfast was a poo cocktail 4pts and 170 calories.

I accidentally deleted the picture of lunch. It was a garlic chicken lean cuisine steamer. It was too garlicy. I think it was bc I still have a sinus infection going on. I smelled garlic for the rest of the day. 5pts and 270 calories.

I snacked on some on honey roasted peanuts since I was hungry in the afternoon for 4pts and 150 calories.

Dinners are killing me lately. I need to have a plan before I get home from work- inevitably late- and thus starving. We had tacos with chips and cheese on the side- I had many more chips than pictured. Mindless noshing. I am estimating 11pts for everything.

Tuesday Stats: 

Water: 80 oz. / 80 oz. 

Points:  23 / 22

Calories: ?

Weekly Points: 1 used today / 17 remaining

Exercise: none

Activity Points: 0 today / 1 week

Weekly Weight Loss: -0.0 lbs / 41.6 lbs total 

Hope to see less of each other next time!

C

Y2 W11 D1

I weighed in Monday morning and was pleasantly surprised to see the scale hadn't moved. I thought for sure it would have gone up since I've been couch/bed ridden and eating anything in arm's reach for a week. So still at 156.8. 

Breakfast, I was pretty excited about. A friend of mine recommended this. I have dubbed it the "Poo Cocktail" for its fiber content and subsequent effects. My unnammed friend has been extolling the powers of the poo cocktail for several weeks, and while not a yogurt lover, I decided it held promise. Its 1/2 tub Fage greek yogurt, 1/3 cup Kashi Go Lean Crunch (almond and flax), and 1/3 banana. Delicious. And, as promised- functional. 4pts and 178 calories.

I also had a Low Fat Banana Oat Nut Cookie for 2pts and 78 calories. I sent the remaining cookies to school with Matt because they are too dangerous to keep around the house while working on my thesis.

Lunch was a Lean Cuisine Steamer for 5pts and 270 calories.

Followed by a snack of some sabra humus and broccoli for 2pts and 100 calories.

It was a slow day working on the thesis. I am making images to add to chapters which doesn't feel like "real work" (so I never factor it in to planning time wise for some reason), so I didn't finish the to do list I had planned for the day. I also didn't get the edits my advisor promised me- go figure. 

Matt and I had a late dinner after some work with students. We walked around downtown for a bit +1 activity point before settling on Trinity for dinner. I ordered their chicken tenders...which I did not like at all, so I gave Matt the majority of them and traded for 1/2 of his amazing wrap- "The Harry Carry." It was complete with burger meat, fries (yes, in the wrap), sriracha ranch, some amazing cheese, and wonderment. Guessing 15pts and 800 calories for my part. We washed the debauchery meal down with some Mamma's Yella Pills 12 pts, 600 calories.

Before Trade

Tradesies

Monday Stats: 

Water: 58 oz. / 80 oz. 

Points:  39 / 22

Calories: 2,000 oof- that's the most in a while

Weekly Points: 17 used today / 18 remaining

Exercise: walk around dt

Activity Points: 1 today / 1 week

Weekly Weight Loss: -0.0 lbs / 41.6 lbs total 

Hope to see less of each other next time!

C

17 Day Diet Verdict

A few weeks back, I wrote about the 17 Day Diet and asked you all whether you thought I should try it. I appreciate everyone who weighed in and your input gave me some good direction. The votes were 5 to 4 that I should try the diet. Which is what I'm going to do! But, per the advice of some really smart ladies, I'm going to wait until I have less on my plate to start it.

The binding deadline for my thesis is May 6th- meaning by then, I have to have submitted my thesis, defended it to my committee, fix their comments, and have it bound. I can't possibly do any work on it after that date- so the 7th seems like a great day to tackle something new and detox from the celebrations that I am sure will ensue the night of the 6th. The 7th also happens to fall 17 days before I leave the country for my best friend's wedding in Scotland! Perfect timing to drop a couple of pounds.

As it gets closer, I will let you know what the 1st phase of the 17 Day Diet entails. In the mean time, I am going to continue to try and limit my calorie intake and post pictures here, but not to sweat the small stuff. I'm in the final throws of writing and I'm not going to let my weight loss goals get in the way of finishing this semester.

Cheers!

Low Fat Banana Oat Nut Cookies

Warning- these are like crack cocaine. I found the recipe on Skinny Taste from Gina. I modified it a little, but essentially it was the same, so you can run over there to get it. These are like banana bread in cookie form, which to me means, they are acceptable as breakfast food. They are gooey, and have oats and nuts in them so I was sold. I made these because I had some naners that were on their way out and a million packets of instant oats from forever ago that we never touch.

My modifications are listed below. Heed Gina's suggestion that you do not want to make these while you are alone in the house. I've eaten four. Yummers. 

Serving Size: 2 cookies

Points: 4pts (Pts+ 5)

Calories: 175.8

I used 1 cup old fashioned oats and 1 cup instant (which was 2 pkg of banana cream oats and 1 pkg of maple and brown sugar since that's what I had).

Picture of my mushed banana. See how brown it was?
Mushed like a dream.

Go. Make these now.

It's been a while since I've posted. I have been really sick and today was my first day back in the kitchen. It felt so good to be cooking and grocery shopping again! I feel like a human being. I am not looking forward to weighing tomorrow, but I should be back to posting (and eating) as usual soon!

Checking In

Just stopping in for a quick update. I weighed in Monday as promised and was up 2 lbs putting me back at 156.8. Not good, but not terrible considering everything.

I've been down sick this past week, off work, with a fever, cold, and ear infection for six days. It has been awful. I literally didn't get out of bed for at least 3, and the other 3 were spent between bed and couch. I've looked like quasimoto my face is so swollen. I'm still not 100%. I'm still on painkillers for my ear and two kinds of antibiotics. Today was my first day back at work in a week and it was a little rough toward the end. 

I have to get some work done this weekend since I really need a draft of my thesis to be complete by the end of next week. So I'm going to take it as easy as I can, but I can't sleep all day like I have been. Wish me luck! I've missed you guys!