I really need my computer back

It's starting to affect my posting! Sorry for the delay, here is my schedule:

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	workout
Friday	egg/toast	pulled pork sandwich	holiday party	AM video
Saturday	n/a	pizza	pizza	off
Sunday	omelet/toast		chicken pot pie	video
Monday	english muffin with peanut butter	leftover pot pie	pork tenderloin, roasted pot, snap peas	off
Tuesday	Egg/hashbrown casserole	?	boston market	gym
Wednesday	Egg/hashbrown casserole	unknown	buffalo chicken mac and cheese	am yoga
Thursday	Egg/hashbrown casserole	leftover mac and cheese	chicken pot pie soup	gym

Pretty basic, we managed to stock up on stuff we were low on, and buy ingredients for Christmas Eve dinner as well (we do apps at Matt's parents house), and still be under budget thanks to a low grocery week last week! I'm a firm believer that going in with a list really does save you a ton of money. That is one part of moving out I was afraid about, but on average to buy food for work, I was spending around 100 bucks a month on just lunch and dinners! I'm not able to get all 3 meals for a little bit over that (Our joint food budget is around 60 a week, so 120 per person each month)

It's been a busy few weeks, and I don't see it calming down until after christmas, and maybe even after new years! Last week work was insane, and combined with finishing up christmas shopping (all I have left is gift cards!) and having a million things to do after work each night, I may have thrown a mini fit on Saturday while picking stuff up, complete with crying over a messy kitchen :-) I'm better now, we spent some time cleaning up, and went to IKEA to buy storage things, so we have more places to put stuff, which is an awesome feeling! My goal for the next week is to get my pictures framed (they are being shipped as we speak!), and get the shelves built so we can finally get rid of the boxes of decorations lying around my apartment.

I had every intention of going to the gym yesterday, but made the mistake of eating string cheese, which upset my stomach. I'm thinking it may have gone bad. Or I need to take my prevacid when I wake up :-) Either way I didn't work out, which stinks. But I'll still get in 4 days (Friday, Sunday, todays workout, tomorrows workout) which is okay.Instead I made the most amazing pork. I'll sneak ya the recipe (ok ok it's not my recipe. But I found it, so that counts right?)
Spicy Asian Pork Tenderloin (adapted from myrecipes.com)
Ingredients:

• 1/4 C hoisin Sauce
• 2 tbsp chili sauce
• 1 tsp garlic
• 1 lb pork tenderloin
• salt pepper, paprika,
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
•  1/8 c korean bbq sauce

Super easy right? It was amazing. Sweet and spicy at the same time. I marinated the pork (which I sliced into medallions) and put them in a frying pan with some peppers and onions. They came out so juicy, and crispy, I was really happy :-) I paired it with snap peas tossed in olive oil, salt pepper and parmesean, and some white rice. I felt so accomplished, which made up a little bit for not going to the gym :-)
While I haven't been excellent about my workouts this week (although I haven't been bad either) I do feel pretty good about my eating. I had my friend's holiday party on Friday, and caught myself eating too much, and took a step back, which is huge for me.I also stuck to my wine, which cut down a bunch of calories as well :-)

This was followed by a second NSV on Saturday night. Matt and I went out for a date night to this beer bar/ pizza place called Penguin Pizza. We had a groupon, and I'm so glad we did it finally, because the place was awesome! It was really cute inside, and the pizza (we got the steak and cheese) was awesome. Thin and crispy, and the toppings didn't over power it, which I loved. I hate pizza with too much topping on it, takes away from the pizza itself :-) I only had 2 slices, and a few really good beers. A great night, and a NSV for me! I did eat a third slice when I got home, but in my mind, it's better than eating 3 out and a 4th at home, or something else when I got home (I was pretty drunk, damn those belgian beers!)

My plan for the next few days is to plan ahead and make sure I stick to the plan! I'm not drinking until the weekend, since it'll be a drink heavy one (with Christmas and everything). I also made an egg hashbrown cassarole to last me the rest of the week. It's very similar to the egg hashbrown muffins emilybites makes, except I put it in a pan instead of cupcake form :-) It was a delicious breakfast, and really light in calories too! My goal is to stay away from treats this week, as hard as that may be. Gotta start sometime, right?

Happy Tuesday!

Changes, Updates, and Planning

So I finally found that sneaky motivation that has been MIA this fall. No idea where it was, but I'm going to go with inside that thanksgiving turkey :-) Or maybe I just got tired of seeing bigger numbers on the scale. My full on recognition came on Sunday, when I was hiking. It made me realize 1. How much I missed hiking with my sisters, and 2. that I'm not done yet. I want to get fitter, healthier, thinner. I still have a ways to go, and I need to start doing better again, for real. Not just talking about it. I need to get strict again.

One thing I never understood was the mentality of "you can eat whatever you want on weight watchers". Because when I do that, I don't lose. I think WW was great for teaching me that I didn't have to starve myself, but it also taught me about making choices, and limiting indulgences to when they are actual indulgences, or treats. And not just something I eat everyday. When I was doing well on WW, I was only eating dessert 2-3 times a week. I was only drinking 2X a week, and one of those times was 1-2 beers. I would eat my hamburger topless (hehehe), without the top bun, and portion things out ahead of time, so that I wouldn't accidentally eat more than a serving size. To me, that isn't eating anything I want. That's following a plan and restricting yourself, however slightly, to make effective change.

I understand what the saying means, it was just always something that never registered with me, because to me, effective weight loss is restricting certain things, and following a plan. And that is what I'm getting back to. Portioning out food, planning ahead, limiting "treats"

So in that realm, here are some changes  I'm making:

•  To keep me accountable, I'll be posting the following:
• A weekly post on either Monday or Tuesday which will review my weekend, and plan ahead for the week!
• Recipe Reviews on either Sundays or Wednesdays
• Weighing In On Thursdays, which I will post every Thursday (with a better name)

I'm really excited for this! I'm also getting a new phone (Samsung Infuse I think?) Either next week or the week after, so the amount of pictures I post will increase. like a lot. :-)

And I have some updates as well...
-Thanksgiving was great. I combated the dreading snacking by going to see the Muppetts with my sisters. Great movie, family bonding, what more could you ask for? The food was amazing too, and we had so much left over! My mom gave us giant ham steaks (bc my dad doesn't eat turkey, so naturally she bought an entire ham) so we have been using them to go along with our breakfasts (cut up of course)

-I managed to work out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Sunday's workout was a whopping 865 calories, thanks to a 2 hour hike. I felt so awesome afterwards. Oh , and guess who left her HRM at the bottom of her laundry basket. Best find ever!

- I did no shopping this weekend. Well that's a lie, I bought clothing for myself. Whoops. Now I'm onto holiday mode. And I have no freaking idea what to get anyone. But this is rare, normally I do all my shopping online this weekend, and I'm pretty much set for the holidays.

-I made an eggplant parm soup last night after dinner. From scratch (like boiled boullion to make stock). It was way more work than I had hoped for, so hopefully it's tasty! But I'm excited to have so much of it- Lunch for the week for Matt and I!

-I've updated my financial and weight loss goal pages on here, for once. I'm back to hard core budgeting (I knew November would be a wash with all the moving) and work out goals. Lets get it!

Plan for week
Day	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Lunch	Turkey BLT	Eggplant Parm Soup with slice of french bread>>>
Dinner	Buffalo Chicken Bites with roasted pot/veg	cheesy taco pasta	brats w/ aspara	1/4 lb burger, sweet pot fries, veggie	steak stir fry
workout	rest	1/2 cardio (elipt) and 1/2 strenght	yoga/video (morning?)	cardio (run/walk), strength	morning yoga

Happy Tuesday! Now if only my sinus issues would go away!