Monday, April 21, 2014

In the best way...









So, here’s the deal.  I skipped the post last week because hectic doesn’t begin to describe the way things are going lately.  It’s the end of the school year, I’m traveling all the time it seems and I completely demolished the underside of my car last week because I’m so distracted.  Needless to say, April has been a pretty cruel month.  Having said that, it’s also been awesome in many ways.  I’m going to try and cram in a summary here and make some promises that I hope aren’t empty.  I really plan on getting back into the swing of making recipes and decent posts in the coming weeks as school comes to a close and things slow down just a bit. 

Over the past few weeks I have been doing a new finagled plan that I came up that up until the last few days of a fat-filled Easter week (which made me backtrack a few pounds) was working splendidly.  I lost around 6 pounds in a few weeks so I think I’m going to continue to do it.  It’s very simple.  It forces me to limit myself in carbs, proteins and dairy but I am also allowed to indulge just a bit each week so I’m not completely deprived.  It really works but last Tuesday I ran over a curb and got a flat tire.  This is not unusual for me.  I have done it many times but this time I hit it very hard and the curb had a sewage drain underneath so it did extensive damage.  I am so fortunate to have friends and family to help me around and financially but this mistake has caused me stress and will cost me a lot of money.  It also made it so I had limited food options.  I didn’t grocery shop and walked to the nearest food place and two times that was Chinese food last week.  I also had Mexican food twice.  Then, of course, Easter was yesterday.  So, I’m trying to forget about last week and get back on the wagon again today because what I was doing was really working.

In addition to trying to eat a little better, I’ve also been taking a pill that my general physician prescribed.  I’m generally opposed to pills when it comes to dieting but decided to try it.  It was originally a pill for migraines but many patients found it curbed their appetites so I’ve been taking it.  I think it does work decently because I have been noticing that I’ve been getting fuller faster and trying to save half my food, especially on the weekends, and eating it later rather than all at once.  He gave me that and a Vitamin D supplement which I was apparently really low on.  I’m not sure if that will help or not.  I also have been doing these 30 day exercise challenges to try and get in better shape.  I’m doing 4 of them.  One for the arms, thighs, abs and a squat challenge.  Those are all going well but I came to the realization that I will have to keep up the work after the 30 days are over.  Essentially, I’m working my butt off.  As always, my constant struggle is food but even that is getting a little better.

Since I posted last  time, I went to Atlanta with my Dad, brother and his girlfriend.  We had a great time even though the Heat lost!  Jordan and I saw the Lion King in Atlanta which was amazing.  I went to the A-Day game with Ian and his mom which was a lot of fun.  Cassandra and Ian joined me and my family for Easter dinner and there were all kinds of things in between.  I stay busy and honestly, when I went to bed last night, it felt more like I was collapsing into it than anything but I don’t think I would make any changes.  Obviously, if I could, I’d go back and un-hit that giant curb but I just mean I value the people and activities in my life so much that I think it’s worth it to be this tired.  I don’t have QUITE as much going on this weekend so the reprieve will be nice because it picks right back up the next weekend.  I will post again next week…hopefully with more than just a summary but I won’t make any promises just yet.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Bye!

“Here we go
Going in alone
Into the dark and wonderful unknown
Let us go
Let us go

In the best way
You’ll be the death of me…” Wonderful Unknown-Ingrid Michaelson 

Monday, April 7, 2014

Hit me with your best shot...

Hi y’all! It’s been a couple weeks!  It feels like I’ve been everywhere and back since I’ve posted and I guess I kind of have.  I’ve also run the gamut of emotions when it comes to dieting.  The last time I posted I was in kind of a diet rut.  Over the past year/year and a half I’ve had trouble losing weight.  I’ve been hovering between 10-20 pounds above my lowest weight since I started my weight loss journey a few years back.  Overall, staying down a hundred pounds when I’ve lost a total of 115 over the years isn’t bad but I never quite reached my goal so it’s frustrating to hit a wall and stay there.  I am a hardcore food addict and every time I jumpstart the weight loss again, I quickly lose track of my progress to the things I love most: eating and drinking.  To put it simply, Weight Watchers works.  If you stick to it, it is a program that will get you where you need to be.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t leave much room for error though and after several years counting points starts to get old.  I have found that venturing out on my own doesn’t work well either.  It seems I can’t really be trusted to make smart decisions by myself.  Having said that, over the past couple weeks I have devised a plan combing what I know Weight Watchers wants me to act like and what I know I want to do and I think I’ve come up with a decent compromise.  The plan I worked out is one wrought with obsessive compulsive disorder so I won’t bore you with the details.  The first day I started it, I came down with a stomach virus which jumpstarted it nicely.  I’ve lost about 6 pounds over the past couple of weeks.  I don’t really remember ever having a stomach virus as an adult.  I don’t really vomit at all so when I was at the Gavin Degraw concert and the sudden need to run quickly to the bathroom and lose my dinner came upon me, I was confused.  I didn’t eat for 30 hours after that.  I bounced back pretty quickly and didn’t throw up again but my stomach still flinches from time to time.  After that though, I was 100 percent perfect that week on my diet…even through a three day trip to Nashville.  I was only about 80% Saturday night and Sunday but even when I messed up, I still didn’t binge eat which is a great improvement.  It feels so good to be losing weight.  I have about 13 pounds to lose before I get to my lowest weight but I like the direction I’m going.  I’m also working my butt off in the gym.  Running, squats, sit-ups, elliptical, crunches, curls, all of it, almost every day.  I want to have another perfect week so that’s my goal.  One day at a time y’all.  One day at a time.












I know I’m the worst but because I’ve been traveling so much I haven’t had time to grocery shop or cook so I don’t have a recipe to share.  I have included pics/videos of my ventures above though to fill up space and give the illusion that I’m not a lazy blogger.  I KIND of saw Gavin DeGraw at Iron City in Birmingham but there are no pictures of that.  Jordan and I had a blast in Nashville.  We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame.  For my cheat dessert we had Jeni’s Gravel.  I’m still thinking of how amazing that was.  We saw Cher Lloyd and Demi Lovato one night and Pat Bentar and Cher the other night.  There are a few videos of Cher.  This past weekend I went with Ian (you may not have heard of him if you don’t follow my life on Facebook. He’s new.  We like him.  A lot.) to an Umphrey’s McGee concert at Iron City in Birmingham again.  They are a jam band.  It was the first jam band I’d ever seen.  I have to say I didn’t have high hopes but they ended up being amazing.  There’s a video of them too.  Ian took both the video and the pic you see of them.  Their light and playing skills were awesome.  Before that we went to a beautiful wedding where I had the most amazing cake (dessert tastes better when you only get one a week) Both weekends were great. 

This weekend won’t be any slower as my brother, Lisa and Dad are heading to Atlanta to see Lebron James and the Heat play the Atlanta Hawks.  I’m pretty excited about it!  I will also meet up with Jordan on Sunday while I’m there to see the stage version of the Lion King so it should be another fun and busy weekend. 

Have a good week everyone!

Bye!

“Well you’re the real tough cookie
With the long history
Of breaking little hearts
Like the one in me
That’s ok,
Let’s see how you do it
Put up your udkes
Let’s get down to it
Hit me with your best shot
Why don’t you hit me
With your best shot
Hit me with your best shot
Fire away

You come on with a “come on”
You don’t fight fair
But that’s ok, see if I care
Knock me down, it’s all in vain
I’ll get right back on my feet again

Hit me with your best shot
Why don’t you hit me
With your best shot
Hit me with your best shot
Fire away…” “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” – Pat Benetar