Another Snow Day and Picture Post

I weighed in this morning showed a .5 lb. loss from last week’s weigh in (which I had skipped…). I had a gain from 2 weeks ago. Yesterday was not a good day. Lots of emotional eating.

I’m debating not weighing in more than once at work and once at home per week. I’m still thinking about it.

I know my biggest problem right now is stress management. A post on that at a later date!

For now… I just want to move on.

Today was another snow day, so I got to work from home! This was a good thing because I woke up at 2 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep. Took me a couple of hours of tossing and turning. So I slept in 1.5 hours later than usual—skipping my morning run. But I think it was good to let my joints rest since I’m just getting back into running again.

Note: My food is not 100% clean and I am aware of that. I am only buying clean food (for the most part), but still using up what’s in the house!

For breakfast, I had a slice of Ezekiel toast with cashew butter and a sliced banana. I also had egg whites with swiss and turkey along with a glass of skim.

I had to laugh at myself when someone left a comment that I could just cut the banana length wise and it would fit perfectly on my toast. I had never even thought about it. lol However, I tried it and it was just too messy for me. So I like my slices!

Speaking of the turkey, I picked up this “clean” lunch meat. It’s very low in WW points but a little expensive for my tastes…

While working, I had my coffee:

I finally decided that I cannot live without my coffee creamer, so I bought the natural stuff.

Here are the ingredients:

Compared with the regular coffee creamer:

The natural stuff isn’t clean, but it’s better than the alternative.

On my break, I ate a KIND bar.

And had more coffee:

I Love Love Love my Keurig.

I didn’t know what to make for lunch, so I went with leftover Progresso 80 calorie soup.

A spinach, strawberry and almond salad with lite poppy seed dressing:

And 2 clementines:

And since I didn’t have much protein at lunch, I was hungry on my last break. I ate 1/2 cup of cooked oatmeal with cocoa powder and stevia mixed in. YUM!

And more coffee. It’s really not that bad when you only drink 10 oz. at a time.

That got me through the afternoon! The day went really quickly because I helped with coverage for people who didn’t make it to work because of the snow storm.

And then it was my turn to clean up the mess…and it was still snowing! I looked online and I’m pretty sure we ended up with over 15” of snow! And only 1-3 had been predicted…amazing.

I look all kinds of gorgeous out there in my mismatched clothes, men’s gloves, and a coat that I wore at 288 lbs. haha It’s a very warm Columbia jacket. I don’t want to spend too much money on a good coat until I lose all of my weight.

I tried to take some pics, but they didn’t turn out so well.

The snow was literally up to my knees in some spots. I ended up snow blowing all 3 stalls and some sidewalks. Our wonderful neighbors did the major sidewalk for us…they are so nice!

Whew! That is hard work lugging that big snowblower around. I am BEAT.

I was pretty happy to come inside to a slow cooker meal.

I ate this on top of lettuce. I added a little 0% Greek yogurt.

And, because I wanted some comfort food after being out in the cold, I had a slice of Ezekiel bread with pumpkin spice cream cheese.

Yum—I am going to miss that when it’s gone. So delicious.

And then I had clean eating chocolate pudding—0% Greek yogurt with cocoa powder.

So there’s my day! I plan on hunkering down and staying warm tonight. It feels like Thursday—I wish it were!

I have to go into the office tomorrow—sadly. I wish they would get all of the technical issues fixed so I can be home on a regular basis again!

How was your Wednesday?

Do something healthy, even if you don’t wanna!

I grudgingly hopped onto the treadmill this morning for a repeat of yesterday’s workout:

1/4 mile—3 mph warm up walk

1 mile—4.5 mph jog

1/4 mile—3 mph cool down walk

Total time was 23:20 for 1.5 miles. Ugh. It was really tough today. I wanted to quit but I didn’t. I wasn’t imagining it because I actually burned more calories than yesterday. Today I burned 287 calories and yesterday I burned 274. Just a smidgen, I know. lol.

My average HR zone was 4.1 and max was 5.5, each of these was .1 higher than yesterday. I think it was a mental thing. I woke up feeling kind of sad (bad dreams, I suppose) and then I hopped on the scale to see I hadn’t lost that much since gaining some on Monday morning.

AND I have to weigh in at work today for the contest and I don’t want to gain. We’ll see. This is why I know I shouldn’t do contests…I put enough pressure on myself and really don’t need the extra pressure of a “contest”.

Woe is me. I’ll stop complaining.

What I should be happy about:

1. I stuck with my goal and have run 2/5 days this week so far and we’re on day 2.
2. I ran the 1 mile without stopping.
3. Even if I dread the workout, it should improve my overall health—so I should just deal with it and be good to my body.

One thing that worries me is my asthma/allergies/whatever it is. There is something in the air at work. I’m not sure if it’s mold or what it is, but I typically get all stuffed up and feel like I can’t breathe at work. It’s just a typical day for me.

Yesterday was 3x as bad. I had to do my inhaler two times in the 8 hours I was there (it can only be used every 4 hours). I was coughing a lot and felt like I couldn’t breathe. I know it’s just at work because when I leave I feel better.

So I’m hoping running in the morning isn’t going to mean that I get sick since I am breathing bad air at work. I CANNOT wait to be home!

Now it’s time to be positive. I am going to have a good day. I actually have a perfect attendance recognition breakfast this morning for an hour. This is my second year of perfect attendance. Kind of amazing to me! But I guess I’m a dedicated employee…and childless, which probably has something to do with it. lol.

Have a good day! And do something healthy even if you don’t wanna—your body will pay you back with good health.

Executing my plan

I did it! I got on the treadmill this morning for day 1 of my plan to run 1 mile 5 days this week.

This was my first time running in quite a while! I decided to take it a little easier than where I was at before. Here’s my workout:

1/4 mile—3 mph warm up walk

1 mile—4.5 mph jog

1/4 mile—3 mph cool down walk

Total time was 23:20 for 1.5 miles. Slow and steady. I will be happy when the weather is nice and I can run outside. Running on the treadmill is harder for me—probably because it’s boring. I listen to music and read a magazine to keep from getting bored.

According to my Garmin, I burned 274 calories, my average HR was in zone 4 (anaerobic), and max was in 5.4 (maximum effort). My average HR was 148 bpm and max was 173 bpm.

Reasons I want to make exercise a habit:

1. Because I know it’s good for my body, and especially my blood pressure.
2. So when I go to the doctor, I don’t have to tell her that I haven’t been exercising like I did last time!
3. I want to be a runner.
4. I want to finish my two planned 5ks in 40 minutes or less.
5. I want to lose weight….

So there ya have it. My accountability. Now I need to keep my food on track and exercise consistently. I can do this!

Looking ahead and planning for success

This morning I signed hubby and myself up for two 5k races. It’s official! We’ve paid for them and they’re on the schedule.

The first 5K is in April and the other is in June. A couple of my friends are going to walk the one in April also, so that will be fun! I do plan on running though.

The one in June is actually a Biggest Loser 5K, which I’m pretty excited about! Hubby and I set up a team, and I’m hoping to recruit more members of my family. (Hey, Mom, Dad, Mike, Angie, and Betta!!!) I have a high school friend, whom I keep in touch with on Facebook, that is going to run this 5K too.

This is going to be my motivation to get back on that treadmill and run. My goal for next week is to run 1 mile each day for 5 days. It’s an easy goal, but will help me get back in the groove.

I am so looking forward to spring when it’s nice enough to get outside and be active. I Love Love Love running outside in the sunshine; especially in the springtime after a long winter. It makes me happy.

I have been forcing myself to wake up at 5 a.m. every day, for the past two weeks, even though I wouldn’t have to. The goal was to at least get in the habit of waking up—and eventually I will use the time to work out. So this week, I will work out in the mornings. I will keep you updated on my anticipated success…I really need to get it together!

Someone recently wrote a blog post about feeling stuck in a rut of sorts. They wanted weight loss to be easy and had forgotten that it isn’t and never was! I related to that so much. I want this to be easy and have forgotten that those first almost 90 lbs. (since decreased to 60-ish) that I’ve lost were not easily lost. It was HARD. But I did it. And I can do it again.

I need to suck it up, quit complaining about how hard it is, stop letting stress tear me apart, realize that my schedule is busy because I MADE IT THAT WAY, and do what it takes to get this weight loss thing done. I keep adding more to my plate because I am FINALLY meeting “career” goals; things that I want to achieve because I have a passion for them…and I’m getting paid to do it! So while I’m achieving more in one area of my life, I feel like the weight loss/fitness side of it isn’t doing so well. Balance, Balance, Balance.

I will find my balance again.

So to start tipping that scale in the other direction, I’m going to start training for the upcoming 5Ks. What makes me happiest, is that I have made future plans that involve living a healthy lifestyle. Just because I’m not perfect doesn’t mean I’m not trying. I’m just doing the best I can with what I’ve got in the moment. And I’m about to increase it just a notch.

Who’s with me?

Picture Post

Today I was able to work from home so I thought I’d do a picture post. I may be able to start doing these more often soon!

For breakfast, I made an egg white omelet with ham and cheese. I also had a slice of clean bread with cashew butter and a sliced banana on top. I also had my usual glass of skim milk.

It was amazing how much more time I had this morning since I didn’t have to leave for work! I was able to do laundry, dishes, and read. Eventually, this will be the perfect time to work out.

I was ecstatic to be able to use my Keurig today!! I started the morning with this:

Add a little Stevia and half and half. I am really missing my coffee creamer. I have tried making it various ways and nothing compares. It might just have to be my guilty pleasure.

I have to say that it felt so good to work in my pajamas today!

On my break, I ate Chobani 0% with 1 tsp. honey, 1 tbs. chia seeds, and fresh strawberries.

I even had time to do laundry on my break. LOVE working from home.

It was a snowy day today—another reason I was glad to be home!

And I had another cup of joe. I was still hungry, so I ate a homemade granola bar. It doesn’t really look like a granola bar. I’d almost call it a protein bar. It’s made with peanut butter. Satisfying and delicious.

For lunch, I ate baked blue hake with carrots and a clean hummus.

I was happy to be able to read my book over lunch again! It’s been a few months!

I’m a used book kind of gal. I love to find books at thrift stores. I find books that I probably wouldn’t pick out at a book store. Always interesting reads…even if a little outdated.

I also ate clementines to fix my sweet tooth.

Later on in the afternoon, I drank some tea. I love this Twinings Earl Grey Tea. Delish!

And I ate a box of clean raisins.

Raisins have been my go-to sweet treat. They are naturally sweet and satisfy my sweet tooth.

I was so hungry in the afternoon but I kept telling myself I would be eating supper soon and could wait. I was successful!

After work with job #1 was done, I had to go out in the cold snow to turn in my time card for job #2. Ick!

Someone asked recently if I still had my part time writing job—I do! Except now I write FULL time and a half. I am a full time technical writer for job #1 and part time reporter for job #2. Writing makes me happy.

While hubby worked on clearing out the snow, I continued laundry, prepared for supper, and started cleaning our bedroom.

We made an investment in a new bed. This will be our third bed in six years. The one we have now is so terrible that I will wake up in the night feeling paralyzed with pain. This mattress is only a couple of years old too.

So, we bought a Sleep Number bed. I carried ALL of the components upstairs by myself and stored them in the guest room. That was a workout!!

We will get that set up tonight and I’m excited to sleep on it!

I cooked a turkey breast in the crock pot today. It was delicious! For supper, I had turkey, low fat cottage cheese, and I was going to eat acorn squash (pictured) but it was disgusting and I didn’t eat it. I ended up eating a slice of light bread with pumpkin spice cream cheese instead.

I also ate a side salad with spinach, fresh strawberries, almonds, and lite poppyseed dressing.

As you can see, I didn’t eat totally clean for supper. But I don’t think my supper was “unhealthy” in any way. Just eating up what’s in the house…it will be a while before everything “unclean” is gone!

I was CRAVING a brownie. I decided to try making up a clean eating brownie in a mug.

Wasn’t worth the points—8. But it satisfied that craving somehow…

After supper, I got started making a dessert that I’m bringing for dinner plans we have tomorrow night. Actually, someone hubby knows found my blog and invited us over. First time someone “in real life” has found me through the blog.

I still only share my blog with my close family (i.e. my mom, dad, sister, brothers, and sister in law…oh and my brother in law and his boss…long story lol). Only a few of them actually read my blog, and they are all so supportive and I trust them all. Always have.

I understand that putting my innermost thoughts, struggles, and sometimes triumphs on the internet opens me up to the possibility that someone I know might find it…and I think I’m ok with that…but it also worries me to death! lol.

Hubby tells me I don’t need to be ashamed in any way whatsoever. I try to assure myself that this is for the sake of expression. I must be voicing the things that many of us feel, think and experience, but don’t talk about. So if for nothing else, for the art of writing about experience! lol.

How do you feel about sharing your blog with people in your “real life”?

I am right at my points target for the day. If it weren’t for the brownie, I’d have a lot left! So I guess this was a good day!

It was nice to be home and nice to post like I used to. Do you like reading daily diary type posts?

Have a good weekend!!

Clean Eating Chocolate Pudding

I’ve had quite a few requests for the Clean Eating chocolate pudding recipe.

The original recipe is at the pin below, or here. Instead of using Stevia, I use 2 Tbs. of honey. It is delicious! Enjoy!

Source: muffin-topless.com via AJourneyToThin on Pinterest

Weigh in day

This morning’s weigh in went as expected. For this reason, I am giving myself a pass on today’s weigh in. I know it’s not a reflection of the work that I put into this past week. This will give me permission to keep it all together and expect a loss next week.

Instead, I’m just going to post a few reminders, all of which are found on my Fitness board on Pinterest.

 

 

Source: pinterest.com via AJourneyToThin on Pinterest

Source: pinterest.com via AJourneyToThin on Pinterest

Source: pinterest.com via AJourneyToThin on Pinterest

A stumble, a grumble, and a chuckle

Today was the first time, in over a week, that I turned to sweets to try to make myself feel better. And wowee—sugar really has an affect when you haven’t eaten much of it!

I ate a Laffy Taffy someone gave me for Valentine’s Day and I also ate a snack size bag of cookies. I suppose that’s not terrible but definitely not a road I want to go down.

That kind of threw eating clean out the window for today and I ate a salad with BBQ sauce and salad dressing for supper. I also had a slice of light bread (still some left) and pumpkin spice cream cheese. I still think that’s a healthy supper choice. Not totally clean, but definitely a healthy choice.

I will need to create a very delicate balance between eating clean and not feeling deprived. So far, I have not felt deprived, but I could also feel myself leaning towards, “well I really blew it, might as well eat whatever I want now” since I ate one small Laffy Taffy. That’s not healthy behavior. But it is noted. Balance. It will be ok to eat foods that are not clean, I just want to eat MOSTLY foods that are clean.

These cravings, my terrible days, weight gain, and the ginormous red zits on my face all point to the fact that TOM is looming. Joy. And tomorrow is weigh in day. I WILL NOT LET IT TRIP ME UP THIS TIME. Last time I was doing really well, TOM arrived and I had a gain on weigh in day after a good week. I let it totally derail me. Not this time! I have to stay strong!

Why is chocolate so appealing during TOM? It’s no coincidence and I know I’m not the only one. It would be a marketing genius to sell chocolate in the tampons aisle. Just sayin’.

I’d love to go into hiding to cover my horrific zits. However, I have a job. I suppose I could wear a ski mask. No, strike that thought. That wouldn’t go over well.

My only chance is the massive snow storm we are expected to get on Thursday. Maybe, just MAYBE, we will get 4 feet of snow and for once they will close the office that I work at. Work hasn’t been kind to me this week. It ain’t happening.

So tomorrow, I will weigh myself, take a good look at my zitty face in the mirror, and give myself a pep talk.

“This is life, my dear. Use some Pro Active, avoid the chocolate, and don’t let the turkeys get you down!”

Source: Uploaded by user via AJourneyToThin on Pinterest

It is what it is…

What a day…I’m sure glad it’s over but I’m not ready for it all to begin again tomorrow. It is what it is.

The day began with hubby leaving for the week. I.Hate.That. Hate it x 1 million. But it is what it is.

When I got to work, I weighed in for the company weight loss contest. Their scale is 13 lbs. heavier than my home scale. What the what?! It is what it is.

Friday wasn’t a very good day for me. I was made to feel like I was worthless and unappreciated. Never a good feeling. But it inspires me to do better for myself because I know I deserve it. I was never quite able to shake that feeling over the weekend, so it kind of trickled over into my Monday…It is what it is.

This morning I was promptly greeted with another proverbial slap in the face. But I do respect myself these days and I know that I deserve better. That is one fabulous gift I have received from this weight loss journey. I have learned to value and respect myself. And I expect that others will respect me too. Darn it, I am WORTH IT. It is what it is.

And then…someone noticed a white hair. Oh.My.Word. You may as well have told me you saw wrinkles on my forehead, that I should start planning for nursing home care, start researching the best quality adult diapers, or that I would need to walk with a cane. Because that’s what I see in my mind’s eye.

I am too young for white hair!! I thought it was hidden at the base of my head. And then when the girl said, “Ohhhh look at this!” and my other co-worker promptly responded, “Oh, are you noticing her white hairs?” WHATTT!?!?! You all noticed my white hairs and didn’t try to alert me of this fact? I cannot have white hair yet. I am 27 years old. 27! Not 90! I don’t even have kids yet! It’s not possible to get white hair before you have kids, is it?! Oh please. Sniff, sniff, is that ammonia? Mmhmm. It is what it is.

But then my Dad is in town and he listened to me gripe and vent about my day. He gave me the kind of advice that told me to value and respect myself. He made me feel like I AM WORTH it. He made me feel like I deserve better. He reminded me to dream big and overcome all of the small things and small people in this world. Life is what I make of it. It is what it is.

And then when I realized that I hadn’t heard from hubby all day and when he didn’t answer his phone I started to get frantic with worry, it all became clearer. When he finally called me back to say that everything was ok and the cell phone reception was bad, it all became clearer. Can you hear me now? I hear you now. The one I love is safe. He still loves me more than I deserve. A couple of weeks ago he brought me flowers with a note that said, “Just so you know that you are treasured.” All is right in my world. I am blessed. It is what it is…and I am thankful.

Weekend, Baking, and Sharing Clean Eating with Hubby

Hello everyone! I hope you had a good weekend. As always, mine went too fast. I just want to crawl back under the covers and stay put. But unfortunately, I have to go to work.

I just wanted to check in to say that I am still within my WW points. I have used up all of my weekly points but I am tracking everything and haven’t gone over. I just need to get through today and tomorrow.

I ate clean over the majority of the weekend. Friday night hubby and I decided eat Subway for supper and I also had a small cone at Dairy Queen. Everything was within my points. No guilt.

Other than that, the only other “unclean” food I ate was salad dressing. Yeh, I think I’m doing ok!

I did a little baking this weekend. I made clean eating granola bars—the recipe was for granola but I used quick oats instead of rolled oats and ended up making them into bars. I also tested out a recipe for peanut butter balls, which I ate one of…yep, only one! Technically, this may not have been “clean” because I don’t think the dark chocolate I bought was dark enough—but I just needed to test the recipe. And then I also baked the dessert I had planned to make for Valentine’s Day- Molten Lava Cakes. They were good—but not worth the 8 points each, in my opinion.

One thing that I love about clean eating is that when I eat a “clean” dessert, I am satisfied. They are usually rich, not overloaded with sweetness, and I am satisfied with one. Hubby couldn’t even finish his lava cake—it was that rich! Cocoa rich though, not sugar rich, if you know what I mean.

Funny story. I whipped up my favorite dessert for hubby this weekend. It’s 3 points and so delicious. Greek yogurt, cocoa powder, honey and vanilla. I eat this practically every night during the week and was so excited to share it with him.

His reaction to the first bite, “blechhhhh”, while making this long face like he’d just eaten a lemon. I was like, “what is wrong with you?” He declared his wasn’t mixed right, so he tried mine, which I was happily eating, “Blecchhhhh”. “I don’t understand what is so bad about this to you!” “Blechhhh”. He ate it all. I think it was just shocking to his palate to eat something that wasn’t SWEET SWEET. lol

This week I want to do better about working out. This has been a struggle for me. I have to do it for my health, even if it’s just going for a walk.

How was your weekend?

Oils—Healthy or not?

I recently developed a love for a popcorn that the package said was natural. It is the best tasting popcorn I have ever eaten. It has three simple ingredients: popcorn kernels, palm oil, and salt. It looked good to me!

Little did I know that palm oil is a very unhealthy fat. It is loaded with unsaturated fats. I didn’t know this until I came across that information in Tosca Reno’s Clean Eating book. How sad! So I am on the search for a new popcorn. Today’s grocery shopping was unsuccessful. All packaged popcorn is loaded with unhealthy chemicals and/or fats. I think I need to buy a good air popper. Any brand recommendations?

Since starting to read ingredient lists, I have realized how uneducated I am on oils! I am unsure what’s good for me or not. Palm oil sounds innocent enough, right? I am smart enough to know that hydrogenated soybean oil isn’t good for you and that olive oil is good for you, but I’m pretty confused on the others.

A quick internet search yielded a great chart that I wanted to share with you. Here it is.

Source: eatingrules.com via AJourneyToThin on Pinterest

 

The chart, from eatingrules.com, lists many types of oils and categorizes them as healthy or not and states the reason why. I picked up unrefined coconut oil today and I am excited to try it out. It looks like it’s packed with healthy fats.

I might print this chart out and carry it in my purse for the next time I’m at the grocery store reading labels! I hope you can find some use out of it too!

Clean Eating Day 4- Valentine’s Day

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s day!!

So here’s how my day went down. I was given Valentine’s candy from co-workers and someone even brought in baked goods. Didn’t touch them. Nope!

Hubby wasn’t supposed to be home until late—so I wasn’t worried about supper. I’d just heat up some leftovers for myself and make the clean dessert for when he got home.

WELL—he ended up getting home in time for supper. So, since it was Valentine’s Day and all, we decided to eat at a local restaurant that had a special Valentine’s promotion.

And I am totally ok with that. I ordered salmon for my entrée and ate what I wanted. The portions were just right. The meal included a very small dessert also—so that was my first un-clean sweet for the week.

Later on in the evening I ate 3 Girl Scout cookies and was going to eat a serving of Dove chocolates but I just couldn’t do it! All I wanted was 3 pieces. Still feel ok with that.

But the SUGAR! I felt like my heart was racing. It was the weirdest thing. And stopping at 3 chocolates because I didn’t WANT anymore? Now that’s new.

I’m starting to see that there’s a very dangerous line with sugar. Throughout this week, I thought about how I wanted a cookie or other sweet treat, but it wasn’t so intense. It seemed like after I ate that dessert at the restaurant, I was like “more, more, more!” Sugar may just be addicting. Yes, I said it.

I was also amazed that, for the the first time all week, I felt bloated. I don’t like the way that feels. So this morning, it’s absolutely no problem for me to get right back at my clean eating.

Since I said this was going to be the way I eat 90% of the time, I am totally ok with the Valentine’s Day eats. I don’t feel guilty about it. I enjoyed the holiday out with my hubby. I can make this work for me.

Holidays will be an exception—but not a free for all. I didn’t eat sweets at the office because it wasn’t really worth it. Not that the Girl Scout cookies and Dove chocolates were necessary, but the plan is that I don’t want to eat “unclean” foods more than once a week or so—so I wanted to get that out of the way. Ok…guilty as charged…probably not a good decision. I was intoxicated with sugar, remember? lol

I started this morning off with oatmeal, cashew butter, a banana, and skim milk. I tried making another batch of coffee creamer with unsweetened almond milk and using xantham gum—let’s just say I don’t have the recipe quite perfected yet. Blech!

Have a great day and a fabulous weekend! How was your Valentine’s Day?

I Love Avocados!

This post brought to you by Avocados from Mexico. All opinions are 100% mine.

I Love, Love, Love avocados! They are so creamy and deliciously good for you. I love to add sliced avocado to my salads and make guacamole. There's nothing better than a good avocado to lighten up just about any dish.

In fact, Avocados from Mexico has a variety of recipes on their website. The Avocado and Feta Salad recipe looks good to me--plus it's clean!

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Avocados from Mexico has a Share the Avocado Love Facebook app!They have great buttons for bloggers if you want to show the world how much you love the fruit.

Also, be sure to check out the Avocados from Mexico Cafe Press store where you can find t-shirts to show off your avocado admiration, like this one! Cute, huh?

 

You all know how much I love unique coffee mugs--check out this one. I'd love to add this one to my collection.

How fun is that?  

So on this Valentine's Day...show yourself some love by indulging in a tasty avocado.

What's your favorite way to eat avocados? I like them however they're served. What can I say? I <3 avocados!

How much do you love Avocados from Mexico? Me amor!