Back on Board

So on Saturday my hip was bugging me a bit. I did some yoga, put on some icy hot, and drank some wine (ok that wasn't for the hip pain). I woke up on Sunday and wanted to cry it hurt so much (ok I did cry). It's just so frustrating, because I didn't do anything out of the normal. On Saturday I did level 2 of Jillian Michael's ripped in 30. There are no outrageous moves in that one (they come in level 3), and I focused on my posture. I made sure to extra stretch out at the end, and was pretty mellow for the rest of the day. So in short, I have no idea what caused it.

What I do know is that I ate my feelings yesterday. I was in constant pain all day and consoled myself in the form of potato chips, spaghetti o's, bread, and donut bites. I felt awful last night as I sat there eating the chocolate pie my mom sent me home with, like I was such a loser for not even trying yesterday. I'm over it, I've moved on, and am looking at the positives. I didn't have fries with my burger last night. I took the breading out of the roll to make it thinner, and healthier. I chose the smallest burger for myself, and finally, I took  a long walk with the puppy (which he loved) instead of just sitting on the couch all day, since I couldn't work out.

And I'm being hard on myself, I didn't eat that much, it was more the reason that I kept on eating that bothers me so much. Moving on, I'm back OP and plan on staying here all week. also, my hip feels a lot better today. Not perfect, but a lot better. I plan on doing a yoga video tonight to get some activity in. Hopefully giving myself a few rest days and taking it easy at the gym will make a difference (I may skip the moves and just focus on my upper body with my weight workouts), and this pesky pain will go away. I won't lie, I'm nervous as to what it could be. But we're not going to think about that right now. As long as it goes away in the next few days, I'm sure it'll be fine. And if it doesn't (or if it comes back), I'll make an appointment with my doctor.

To finish, my meal plan for the week:

Plan for week
	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	workout
Monday	waffles with 1/4c light syrup,	LO meatballs with 1 slice sourdough bread	beef tacos	yoga
Tuesday	banana chocolate chip muffins!	stuffed pepper soup	teriyaki chicken	hopefully gym
Wednesday	banana chocolate chip muffins!	stuffed pepper soup	steak, brussell sprouts, baked potato	hopefully gym
Thursday	banana chocolate chip muffins!	stuffed pepper soup	CYSFD buffalo wontons	AM workout
Friday	banana chocolate chip muffins!	n/a	burgers	gym- cardio, weights
Saturday	egg, toast	pre /post gym snack	taco salad	off
Sunday	egg, toast	pre /post gym snack	superbowl!	gym- cardio, weights

I'm doing a lot of cooking/baking tonight, which should make me feel OP. I'm also extremely excited for Thursday night's dinner, let me tell you :-)

Weekly Checks- Week 4

My Saturday Night :-)

Great Wine

yummy eggplant parm :-)

mid-cooking!

Matt's bock!

Because I couldn't come up with a title more creative than that, haha. Believe me, I just spent 10 minutes trying to think of something :-)
To start, my goals:

WI: -.6- I'll take it!
-Track Everything! Pretrack whenever possible Check! I made a point to track everything in the morning, and check in periodically to make sure I was on track!

-Stear clear of the vending machine, and add ons at the grocery store/CVS -Check! I did well with this, even when I was overtly tempted to stop and grab something. Which is a win!


-Get in at least 2 more workouts Check! I got in two nice 600+ calorie workouts on Tuesday and Thursday this week, which I think helped me get back in a grove, and feel good about working out :-)
-Plan Ahead- Definitely check! I made a point to start my day out by planning ahead, something which I kept up into today, which is rare for me :-)

So I'm keeping the same goals for next week, and hopefully I'll see another loss.
Workout Schedule:
Saturday- Video
Sunday- gym/cardio
Monday- off
Tuesday- gym
Wednesday-gym/video
Thursday- AM Yoga

It's been a pretty quiet weekend. Last night Matt and I made Emily Bite's Eggplant Parm, which was fantastic. It was such an epitome of a great Friday. We grabbed 2 22oz beers from a local company, (one disappointing, the second was great though), and cooked together while listening to records on Matt's fancy new Record Player. It was such a great time :-) We headed out for a few drinks at a local bar, and then headed back to hang out with my sister for a little bit before calling it a night. It was so relaxing, and exactly what I wanted out of a wet, rainy Friday :-)

I was supposed to babysit tonight, but got a text from my lady saying that there was a death in the family, so she wouldn't be going into work (so sad, it was a young death, which are always so much harder :-/). I decided to take advantage of this, and Matt and I cleaned our apartment a bunch, and then ran some errands. We came home, did some laundry, and Matt bottled his second homebrew. He got this fancy bottles today, and they looked really cool :-). We made a great hamburger stir fry, and I'm currently watching 50/50 and drinking some delish wine (Alamos Malbec, it's fantastic. Even Matt, who claims he doesn't like Malbecs, loved this wine). It's relaxing, and exactly what I want out of a Saturday night.

Don't get me wrong, I love going out, and being social, but lately more than anything, I love a good night in, with a bottle of wine or beer, watching a movie/tv show. It really just is the best :-)

What's Cooking Wednesday?

Cheesy Zucchini Skillet

Adapted from a recipe from Pinterest, here is the source:
http://www.readyseteat.com/recipes-Zucchini-Black-Bean-and-Rice-Skillet-5623.html?utm_campaign=RSE_JULY_28&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=SD&WT.mc_id=RSE_JULY_28_A&WT.mc_ev=click&fmid=14269414
What You Need:
-1 1/2 C Zucchini, we diced it but I think cutting it into half circles would work just as well!
-1/2 C diced pepper (we used a bag of mixed peppers but whatever your fancy)
-1/2 C diced onion (we used vidalia)
- 1 Can  (15oz) black beans
-1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes  with garlic
-3/4 C water
-1 tsp minced garlic
-1 C instant rice
-1 C Shredded Cheddar/ Cheddar jack cheese (you can use whatever you want for this, we just had this blend on hand, and used a cup because I love cheese!)

How to make it!
- Heat oil on a large skillet, add 1 tsp garlic, saute then add the veggies. Season, and saute for 5-7 minutes, then add beans and undrained tomatoes. Bring to a boil

-Add rice, stir till blended. Cover, remove from heat and let sit for 7 minutes to allow the liquid to absorbe. Sprinkle with cheese and enjoy!



How Was it?

A-mazing! We added a little sour cream to it, just because I love sour cream haha but it was so fantastic, and filling! We ended up with enough to serve 4 people, so we each had it for lunch the next day as well, and someone asked me about it saying how good it looks. Definetly give this a try, the 20 minutes it took to make didn't hurt either!

Week Planning

Plan for week
	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	workout
Tuesday	chocolate Donut, banana	LO Meatloaf, 1 slice sourdough, banana	steak fajitas	gym-cardio,weights
Wednesday	1 c cheerios with light yogurt, banana	pasta bake	home, roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots/parsnips	AM workout- video/yoga
Thursday	waffles with 1/4c light syrup, banana	pasta bake	ground turkey with peas and potatoes (ST)	AM workout- video/yoga
Friday	waffles with 1/4c light syrup, banana	pasta bake	eggplant parm (EB)	gym- cardio, weights
Saturday	egg, toast	n/a	teriyaki chicken	off (cleaning!)
Sunday	egg, toast	pre /post gym snack	unsure, at home	gym- cardio, weights

I am proud to report that yesterday, while I did go over my points (by 5), I tracked everything. And I worked out. It was only 20 minutes, and I didn't burn too many calories, but It's better than nothing, and actually made me feel a lot better! I tried out a "The Firm" video off of hulu (which by the way is my recent workout obsession. They have so many great videos on there, it's a total untapped resource!), it was only 20 minutes long, but I definetly felt it afterwards, and enjoyed it overall. I actually wish it was a bit more intense at the begining, instead of moving so fast. At some points, I felt like I was struggling to keep up! But considering I was planning on going home and sitting on my butt, I was really proud of myself for pushing that extra bit :-)

I'm also feeling a lot less congested today, which is awesome. I'm planning on hitting the gym after work and getting a good workout in. Here are some goals I've set for this week:

-Track Everything! Pretrack whenever possible
-Stear clear of the vending machine, and add ons at the grocery store/CVS - I've been awful about this lately, but it ends today!
-Get in at least 2 more workouts to bring me to a total of 4 for this week. Ideally I'll workout Thursday too, but if I'm too sore I'll give myself a day off, and maybe do yoga
-Plan Ahead , bring snacks when I'll be out for awhile, think of what I'm going to eat for the day in the morning before work. I've already mealplanned for the week, so this shouldn't be too hard!

This week is pretty quiet. As in I have very few plans set, except to go to bed early most nights. Friday night even I'm planning on laying low, Matt and I are going to rent a movie and just hang out. It's been awhile since we've had a quiet Friday night in, and where we've both been battling colds, it's probably for the best. And then Saturday I'm babysitting, so This week especially is a great opportunity for me to stick to being OP and getting a lot of workouts in! Let's do this!

Back on Track

So I bit the bullet and did it: I rejoined weight watchers. Thursday morning, I weighed in, and then rejoined. I lost .4 this week, but even so, I know I need this.

I spent most of last week sick, all congested and feeling down. I started to feel better Thursday, and by Friday was at 100%

But then it was cold outside. haha. Matt and I took Friday off, just because we could :-) We were going to the Beer Summit Winter Jubilee that night, and would have to leave work early, so we figured why not. We spent the day walking around Boston, going to the Sam Adams Brewery (which is one of the best Brewery tours btw), and going to the aquarium (Thank you Living Social). The beer fest was awesome, a lot of fun, and the best part is it's over at 9pm, so there was plenty of time to sober up and go to bed early :-). It was a great day out, but then it got freezing outside, and we had to walk for 20 minutes and then wait 20 minutes, and I think that was all I needed to reignite my cold, because yesterday I felt like crap, and then Today I felt 10 times worse. I ended up calling out of my babysitting job, just because I felt so crappy (and it was a 7month old, and I would have felt terrible if I got him sick). I'm glad I did, after babysitting all day yesterday (literally, 11am-1am), I'm freaking exhausted.And thanks to NyQuil and sleeping a lot of the day, I'm feeling a lot better. I'm hoping I can get back to the gym on Tuesday, and work my way back into my schedule. I did get a work out in Saturday morning (go me!) and will do something light tomorrow (I'm thinking yoga)

Happy Sunday!

What's Cooking Wednesday

note: I initially posted this last week, but it got all screwy, so lets try it again!

Recipe Review:
Recipe Review: French Dip Crescents
Taken off pinterest and adapted from the blog Mama Loves Food, here's the link:
http://www.mamalovesfood.com/2012/01/french-dip-crescents-with-easy-au-jus.html

What You Need:
-1 can crescent rolls
-1-2 Tbsp sauce (the recipe said to used horseradish. I hate horseraddish so we used garlic aloi mustard)
- 1/2 pound roast beef (we only made half a recipe, there are only 2 of us!)
- 2 slices colby jack cheese (we used what we had haha)

How to Make It
- Roll out the crescent rolls, lightly spread sauce on each and then layer on roast beef and cheese (I cut each slice of cheese into 4ths, to give me 8 pieces)
- Roll up each crescent starting with the thin side into the big end. Put on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes at 375.

Enjoy!

The Result:
 They were so easy to make, and had an awesome flavor. It wasn't my favorite combination, but Matt Loved them, so maybe it was just me :-)

-p

ackage crescent rolls (8 total)

-1/2 lb thin sliced roast beef

-2 slices colby jack cheese

-2 T dijon mustard (because I don't like Horseradish sauce, you can use whatever sauce you prefer. We actually used Trader Joe's garlic aloi mustard)

I saw this recipe on Pinterest (my new obsession) last week, and wanted to make it so bad. We also had a groupon to the Meat House, so the stars aligned for it to become a reality :-) I didn't make the au jus sauce, because I wasn't feeling well last night, but it looks so good I will definetly make it next time I make this recipe!

I also cut the recipe in half, basically. The 2 slices of cheese I used added up to about 2 oz (a little under but I rounded up), and I only used about a half a pound of the roast beef. But that's just because there are only two of us. I may make this for a party in the future!

Directions:

• unroll crescent rolls, and dab a bit of mustard onto each piece of dough. Add 1-2 slices of roast beef and 1/4 of a slice of cheese to each.
• roll each crescent starting at the wide end.
• Bake for 10-15 minutes at 375. Mine were done around 11 minutes.

Enjoy! These were so easy, It took all of five minutes to prepare, and they cooked while I was eating my dinner. Love recipes like that!

The Result:

Good, not Great. I think the Au Jus would have made it a million times better, but they had a great flavor to them. they were a bit high in calorie for what you want (380 for 2), especially considering I was still hungry afterwards! Matt however loved them, and thought they were fantastic, so maybe it's just me :-)

Before and Afters

Before and after pictures are one of my favorite part of my weight loss journey. It helps to remind me why I'm doing this, and how far I've come so far. And the Patriots game is a blowout, which can be kind of boring (especially with all that hype!), so I found myself going through old pictures and making this:

not too shabby, huh?

And of course, I showed Matt, and he goes "oh cool, make me one". So Ladies and gents, get ready to have your mind blown. By the by, he lost 50 pounds from October 2010 to now, all through diet and exercise. I wish I was a boy, he would eat Chinese and lose two pounds the next day. I eat Chinese and retain water for 3 days, but whatever. Here is Matt's before and after shot:

(ignore the mad face in the after shot, he insisted on using unattractive pictures)

crazy huh? I will be honest, my weight loss journey took a new life when he decided to get serious about it, and now I know that part of the strength of our relationship is the fact that he is so committed to getting healthy, whether it's trying new recipes, or taking a long walk on a lazy Saturday, it makes all the difference and really adds another element to everything.

It's funny, because 4 years ago when we started dating I would never have considered a commitment to being healthy to be something of importance to me. And I would hardly consider myself a "health nut", but at the same time living a healthy lifestyle has become a huge goal for me in my life, and having a partner who shares that goal is so important, and has really helped to shape our life and goals together. I'm very grateful to have that element in my life, because I feel like I wouldn't be able to truly life a healthy lifestyle if  Matt wasn't interested in achieving it as well. I would have to make concessions and sacrifices that would ultimately hurt it, but Matt is so great about making healthy and exercising a priority, I rarely feel like I'm inconvienencing anyone with my efforts. Which is great.

But enough sappiness, haha.

How important is healthy living in your relationships? 

Photo Shoot

 Matt "Gronking"

Matt Tebowing

Saturday night in with an exciting game, I mean, what would you do at halftime?

Busy Busy Busy

So I made all those big plans to post more frequently, and I obviously haven't followed through. To be fair, my home computer was MIA (read: viruses), and work has been super busy lately, and honestly? I haven't been great with my weight loss lately, so posting about it hasn't been something I've wanted to do. Plus I've felt like all my posts lately have been all "wah, I can't lose weight, where's my motivation?" or  "yay everyone I'm recommitting", and I just couldn't bring myself to post yet another one, you know?

And that's not to say I haven't had some positives. I worked out 5 days last week, and 5 this week (4 >300 calorie workouts, and one 20 minute yoga video), and pretracked most of my meals. And tracked everything, even when I didn't want to. Which is an accomplishment. Plus, I did lose a pound last week, which is sure better than the gains I've been having.

The thing is, I've been at this for almost 2 years now. And since June, I've flopped around the 190s like crazy, only to end the year on the higher end of that decade. Which isn't cool, like at all.

So I've done a lot of thinking this week, and examined my diet, and my habits. I'm bored eating, and giving into every single bit of temptation I face. Someone sends cookies to our desk? Why of course I'll munch my way through three of them. I've just been lax, something for whatever it's worth I rarely was during that first year and a half. I treated indulgences as treats, not daily (or bi daily) parts of my diet. I had a routine, and I stuck to it. I ate when I planned to, and felt good about my diet. I've gotten content, I like parts of my body now. I got lazy, and would take a bigger portion, or eat something only to go over my calories, but it was okay, because it was only 200 calories, or something like that.

I've said this all numerous times before, but I finally realized what I need. I need that structure that weight watchers provided, which my fitness pal doesn't. The structure that I thought I had mastered, but obviously don't. My Fitness Pal is awesome, and I know when I hit lifetime I can easily use it to track and maintain successfully. But I think I need the structure of weight watchers, and points, to help me lose successfully. So I am giving my fitness pal till the end of the January,  and then most likely making the switch back. It's worth the money, and hopefully will help me hit my goal in 2012!

Life has been pretty boring lately. Lots of babysitting, working, and exercising. Tomorrow night is my friends birthday, so we are doing a night out. I plan on driving home at the end, and getting a couple of good beers to sip, and dance a bit as well :-)

I hope to get a workout in Saturday, Sunday and Monday (since it's a holiday). My weekend besides Friday should be pretty low key. Saturday Matt and I are going to make strombolis and mozzarella sticks. I plan to take pictures and hopefully do a recipe review (my first of hopefully many!), and then watch the Patriots game with a couple of beers :-) 

Sunday my plan is to babysit, go to the gym, and then spend some time with my family. Monday is a holiday, and our plan is to finish getting the apartment organized (we still have a few things to bring over, if you can believe it. It's only been 2.5 months), and just enjoy my day off :-)

Happy (almost) Friday Everyone!

January Goals

Happy New Year Blog! New Years was great, I got properly drunk, and spent most of Sunday hungover. Once I was somewhat functional Matt and I went out for tapas and more drinks to celebrate our 4 year anniversary :-)  Lots of fun, followed by a lazy movie day yesterday, and just like that the holidays are over and it's time to get back on track.

To start:
-I've reset my Goals/Lists so that "week 1" is this week. I think it'll just help me visualize this whole fresh slate thing. Plus It was less painful to list that I am at 199 this week than to show I gained AGAIN last week. We're not going to talk about it. I have no idea what happened :-/ Either way, welcome to week 1 of 2012!
-I didn't meet any of my December 2011 goals, blech. I think I set my sights too high. Here are my January 2012 goals

By January 30
Goal 1	Burn 6000 Calories
Goal 2	Lose 3 Pounds
Goal 3	Work out 4X a week (20 times in the month
Goal 4	Try to hit GHGs (adapted to MFP) daily

Very similar, except I lowered my calorie goal to 6000 a month. I think that's more achievable.

GHG(good health guidelines) are such for those of you who don't follow Weight Watchers (Taken from the WW website):
-1. Eat at least five servings of vegetables and fruits each day
-2.Choose whole-grain foods, such as brown rice and oats, whenever possible.
-3. Include two servings of milk products – low fat (1%) or fat-free – each day
-4. Have 2 teaspoons of healthy oils (olive oil, canola, sunflower, safflower or flaxseed) each day.
-5. Ensure that you are getting enough protein by choosing at least a serving or two of lean meats, skinless poultry, fish, beans, soy products, and lentils.


Most of these I do really well with, but the one part of MFP that makes it harder is that there is no reminder. So here is my reminder! :-)



-Meal Plan for the rest of the week:
I was up on and off all night last night, and feeling pretty crappy today. Plus I'm a tid bit congested, and freaking tired! I think I may take today as a rest day (Hey, I've done well so far this week, ), and make it my mission to get a good workout in tomorrow night, and a morning workout on Thursday. And Maybe some yoga tomorrow morning, if I feel so inclined :-) I'd rather take tonight off and not get sick, and get a good nights sleep

Plan for week
	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	workout
Monday	n/a	chicken salad/ pita pockets	chicken rollatini with zucchini and cheese	power sculpt
Tuesday	waffles	cheddar brocolli soup	cheesy taco pasta with veggies	gym
Wednesday	waffles	cheddar brocolli soup	veggie korma/ rice	gym
Thursday	waffles	cheddar brocolli soup	Chicken Provelone and arugula panini, Sweet Potato fries	AM yoga
Friday	egg sandwich	left overs	out	AM video
Saturday	egg sandwich	out	salmon veggies and rice	walking