Diets, Food and Everyday Life!

So I was in Vegas for work from Saturday until Wednesday of this last week. Overall I did ok, but I could have done much better. I brought 1.6lbs back with me from Vegas, which is not good but considering I’m PMSing it could be and probably is mostly water weight.

I did exercise a lot while I was in Las Vegas just to get from my room to the conference hall it was 3/4 of a mile walk. So I did that at least twice a day plus walking all around almost the whole time. Really the only times I was not walking was during classes (3 hr a day) and during meals (3 hours a day). I walked around so much my legs hurt the whole first day I was home.

So now it’s Friday (thank god) and time for Friday Check-In:
1. Loose weight, I will celebrate next Christmas at 120 or less. *unless I’m pregnate.
Well I am up a pound from where Emily and my weight loss game started at this rate I will never get a massage. This week is nose to the grindstone week and I will keep at it.

2. Clear my debt, get rid of house.
Same as last week, made one payment to the lawyer.

3. Think about babies. Maybe have one.
I have decided that we should wait until he is out of school. Not that I don’t still want one or anything and it’s hard but I am still taking my temp ever day. Over the last two months my periods and temps have become increasingly odd, according to Fertilityfriend.com I am not ovulating.

4. This is my year to volunteer and maybe find a club or some people to hang out with.
Started doing some research on places to Volunteer, maybe something with kids.

5. Join a yoga class after I get my license back!
I am going to pick up the schedule this week I got my license back and am looking for a mid week class.

6. Be an adult.
I have been an adult so far this year. I believe I am totally rocking out on this one!

So I weighed in this Friday at 156.2 which is over a 2lbs weight loss, considering I gained the week before (I didn’t post the weight gain). So I thought this was great and I reviewed my food logs at http://caloriecount.about.com/profile/hotharmony it showed me that the secret to such a great lose is working out at least four days a week and tracking the full day at least six days a week. This last week I averaged between 1400-2200 calories a day. I thought this was high, but I guess it works!

Also I’m in Vegas right now so wish me luck on being able to make the right food choices while I’m hear and to keep moving around.

I lost 1.8lbs this week, it puts me back to almost where I was before our weekend trip to Cincinnati. I have to stay optimistic that some day I will be a skinny hot bitch, but my goal is to aim for 4lbs a month. That is one lb a week, and I think I know I can do that. That leaves me a mear 38lbs to loose and at 1 lb a week I will be at 120 in October 2008!

In other news I worked out 4 days this week, woo hoo!

I don’t normally do a product blog, but OMG! I just saw that Hostess is releasing 100 calorie packs of muffins. I am a devout fan of their 100 calorie cupcakes especially the chocolate one but muffins mmmm mmmmm goodness. Here is what Hostess has to say about these delicious little beauties:

“Discover three delicious new flavors of Hostess® 100 Calorie Packs with Blueberry Muffins, Cinnamon Coffee Cakes and Banana Muffins, all topped with sweet streusel and all with just 100 calories per pack.

Convenient, individually wrapped 3-packs make them easy to eat on the go, so you can enjoy them as a satisfying morning snack or whenever snack cravings hit during the day. Get all the great taste only real Hostess Muffins and Coffee Cakes can deliver, now with just 100 calories per pack. Sensible snacking has never been more satisfying.

Hostess 100 Calorie Packs come in boxes of six servings. Look for them in the Hostess section of your favorite store.”

Now the only real PROBLEM is these wonderful little snacks, is they are no where to be found in my neighborhood. But fill out this form and get 75 cents off your purchase.

If anyone out there in blog land has tried these write me a comment and let me know how yummy they taste.

If you want to know the low down on Hostess 100 calorie cupcakes, read this!

Makes 4 servings

Marinate the chicken with the onions and peppers over night for great flavor, and probably use two pieces of chicken, rather than one. Could substitue pork or shrimp as well.

Ingredients
1/2 chicken breast
275 g (1/2 pack) Chow Mein noodles
6 brussels sprouts
6 baby carrots
1 red pepper
1/2 white onion
1 egg
3 t Worcestershire sauce
3 t soy sauce, low sodium
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 t molasses
1 t teriyaki sauce
1 t peanut oil
1 t sesame oil
2 T sesame seeds
1/2 c mandarin orange slices
1 t ground ginger
1 t cloves
1 t rosemary
1 t basil
1 T oyster sauce
1 t szechwan sauce
10 g (2 T) rice wine vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1 t lime juice
1/5 oz five spice powder

Directions
1. Cut up the chicken, pepper (I like orange best), and white onion into small pieces. Include all the ingredients after the egg in the marinade, leaving out a little oil and soy sauce for cooking with later. Marinate over night.
2. Cook noodles. set aside in ice bath with a little oil and soy/sukiyaki sauce.
3. Cook brussel sprouts and carrots in a little oil, then drain a little melted ice off noodles and cover to steam. Set aside.
4. Cook egg, set aside.
5. Cook marinated ingredients, adding the liquid in stages so as not to lower the pan temperature too much.
6. Remove the chicken when it’s done, and continue cooking the peppers & onions and cook the sauce down.
7. Drain the noodles and add all the ingredients back into the pan.

According to my friends at Calorie Count Plus one serving of this Asian chicken is 295 calories!

So here it is. I survived vacation, I got back on the 13th up only one pound. I am going to weigh again tomorrow but I have been sick not able to work out and not writing down my calories for the last three weeks basically.

On a personal note, my x husband lost his job and has not been paying his half of the house payment. So we tenativly decided to foreclose and go bankrupt. I have an appointment with a lawyer on the 3rd. This totally blows my new years resolution to not have any new lawyers in the new year. But I think it will help me move on with my life after being divorced for two years now we need to cut the final ties.

American’s obsess over food as we collectively gain weight. (P.S. not me over Thanksgiving i lost 1 lb) I found this interesting article in the New York Times about how people from LA/Hollywood will come into the most posh high end restaurants and order their food not the way it’s supposed to be cooked.

This happens to be the highlight of the article for me.
“It is a contradiction not lost on the city’s food purveyors. ‘People in this town have a terrible definition of what they are,’ says Eric Greenspan, the owner and chef of the Foundry on Melrose in Hollywood. ‘They spend their whole lives obsessing over a healthy body, so they come to a restaurant like mine and order their salmon steamed and then wake up at 2 a.m. and go to Tommy’s and get chili cheese fries.’

Greenspan’s analysis of this Hollywood phenomenon is part chemistry — people don’t really know what they are eating — and part psychology. ‘If their souls were satisfied,’ he reasons, ‘they would be eating the salmon the way it should it be ordered.”

If you think about it this is how America thinks how we act on all sorts of levels not just food. We snub what we should be experiencing and dumb down the order, only to stick our fingers in the honey pot when we think no one is looking.

You can read the entire article here.

So I guess that sometimes one just needs to eat more. I have upped my calorie intake, especially this weekend and am down to 153.0 this is down .8 from my lowest recent weight.

I am very proud of myself for sticking too it, this week I will stay right on with the calorie numbers and not let my net calorie intake fall below 1400. I am going to run today, maybe at lunch too.

YAAY for me, I was stuck there for a few weeks but made it through.

So today I am taking a hint from a friend of mine and having a weighing myself experiment. Here is how it is going so far. Weigh in one was before bathroom use first thing in the morning, weigh in two was after peeing, weigh in three was after eating breakfast and after first bm of the day. Four is after lunch and bathroom break of the afternoon. Five is before my workout. Six is right after the work out and seven is after my shower.

1. 155.8 9:24 AM
2. 155.6 9:28 AM
3. 154.6 10:15 AM
4. 154.4 2:10 PM
5. 154.4 6:30 PM
6. 154.8 7:10 PM
7. 154.6 7:30 PM

I will edit this post throughout the day.

I am going to preface this post by saying that weight loss is a very unique journey. When people loss weight it is different for everyone.

I feel that I am loosing weight too slowly. I have been eating between 1200-1300 calories per day and exercising 8 out of the last 12 days. As advised by my friends on the chat forums at Calorie-Count plus I am going to up my calories for the next two weeks. Hopefully this will kick something into high gear.

Let the experiment begin.