Healthy Choices

I should have had some tea when I got up this morning, but I brushed my teeth before I had a chance to drink it, and green tea with lemon tastes disgusting after brushing your teeth!

I felt fine until I got to work and sat down, now I'm tired! How strange is that?

Because I'm updating in the morning I'll just talk about yesterday. I am still feeling down about my committee meeting, and still not sure about what direction I need to take my photographs. However, I'm doing better. Yesterday I worked out yay for HITT 20! It felt good and I'm glad that I made the time to do it after I got out of class.

Then, because I havent had a chance to cook all week because I've been too busy with school, I cooked dinner for the rest of the week. I really dont think it will last a week, maybe until Monday, but we'll see. I really just cooked a main dish and more of a veggie side dish. I made garden burgers and Keema Matar, it is basically a cauliflower curry kind of thing. It smells and tastes absolutely amazing. Both are from chefinyou.com. Like I said I really dont think they will last me a whole week, so I did get some beans, and I have a lot of lentils left over, I might run to the grocery store and see about maybe doing a vegetarian chili or maybe a lentil stew, because it got cold!

The burger is on the right, I forgot to add egg whites, so it was kind crumbly!

So my mom posted in our Women's Weight Loss group on facebook about finding a new healthy habit to do, or something not to do for the next month. I got to thinking about all the things I have subconsciously given up, and then the things that I have given up knowingly. I like to think that I'm making much better and healthy choices in my life. I have given up meat, but with that I have been forced to give up fast food. I have to plan meals out and cook a whole lot more. I give up a lot of free time to exercising. I mean just think of it, I work out 15-55 minutes 6 days a week. I totaled it and its a total of 4 hours a week. Thats one of my classes!

What healthy habit should I adopt next? My mom keeps saying "baby steps" and I like that idea. I dont think that I'm taking baby steps though, I feel like I just feel back into the steps I was taking when I was being healthy before, minus the shakeology. Should I give up sugar again? Or just try to eat clean on the week days, which means less than 5 grams of sugar for everything I eat. Drink more water? (I try to do this anyway, but its hard to drink a gallon of water knowing that you may have pee in the middle of class) I'm not sure. Should I keep doing what I need to do and later add more healthy habits? I dont want to bite off more than I can chew all at once! Just something to think about.

The past couple of days I have been so hungry! I dont know if it is from not eating enough breakfast, if it is, then I'm going to need to rethink my breakfasts. I was eating more when I didnt have cereal, but my usual breakfast is Special K.

This morning I got up at 5:30, because I knew there was no other time for me to workout today. I have work from 8-12, then lunch from 12-2 and then class from 2-5:50 and then work from 6-10. I could try to work out on lunch, but I'm always so sweaty that I dont have time to take a shower. Tomorrow will probably be a 5:00 day, because the only time I have to workout is in the am before my 8:00 class, and tomorrow is a 55 minute workout! Whew!

Dig a little Deeper

So...

Where to start today? I guess I'll just start with yesterday and move forward.

I forgot to bring a snack with me to work yesterday morning and so by the time I got to lunch (which I ended up eating late) I was starving. I got off work, and that was the only time to go to the grocery store, so I ran to the store, ran home and ate a light lunch. I had it light because I wanted to workout, but I didnt want a really heavy meal, but it wasnt enough food for missing a snack and not eating lunch on time. When this happens usually I get a really sour stomach that lasts all day, and part of the next, and so far, that has proved to be true this time as well.

I did workout, I didnt have class because I had a committee meeting with my graduate advisors, so I worked on photos and then I did Fire 45. It was so hard to finish that workout. I almost quit about 30 minutes in, but I talked myself back into it, because I felt so horrible I didnt go as hard, and I did finish. The only problem with this workout is its hard on the knees, and I'm terrified I'm going to hurt my left knee which has been sort of twinging with pain when I do certain things.

I ended up eating the rest of the dal with some greek yogurt in it, but I think I put too much because at the end the taste was really bothering me. Bleh! So maybe not so much next time. I didnt have time to eat a really big meal, which I deserved after having only 300 calorie meals all day. When I got home from the meeting I did have half a beer, crackers, and an egg white sandwhich and cheesecake to eat up some calories because I had a ton left to eat.

Speaking of my committee meeting. I swear every time I get out of one of these I have no idea how to fix the problems they are telling me are in my photographs. Its terribly frustrating. I have no answers. I know these meetings are great, and if my photographs were perfect I wouldnt be here, and there would be nothing to critique. But every flaw gets pointed out, and I just dont know where to go from here. I'm so confused and shell shocked this morning. I need to take some pictures tonight, but I just dont know where to go from here. I know I just need to keep shooting, but what do I need to shoot? I am so confused.

I do feel like I'm torn, I am trying to fit so many things into my days. School, work, exercise, eating right, cooking food that I can actually eat, photography and other things I'm just not thinking of, and I'm not making it work very well.

Friday I have to have an artist statement and 10 images to show my graduate seminar class, and now I feel so confused about my work that I dont even know if the statement fits what I'm working on right now. I dont have a week to mull this over, because I have to have images on Tuesday, plus I dont think not working is going to do me any good.

*sigh* or *cry* :(

This is how I feel about what they want me to do, every time I think about digging, this song pops into my head. Dig deeper to find these photos!

Food is fuel not comfort

I read that on a friend's facebook post, and every time I say it in my head I think of that scene in Finding Nemo where they sharks are in a AA like setting and they said "Fish are friends not food!" And sometimes as much as I love food, I do stop thinking of it as comfort, especially when I have to eat the same thing for a week because that's my left overs. I shop and eat on a budget, I like to stay under 75 a week if I can manage it. I really like it when I can get under 50, which is my goal each week.

I've been watching The Biggest Loser, which I havent seen until this season and this week they gave each of the contestants 10 dollars a day to eat off of. One girl is now a team of one, and she only had 70  bucks to shop with. All I could do was laugh because I can eat for less than that for one person! I could probably feed a couple of people for 70 bucks a week!

I didnt have that great of a weekend to be honest, but I did weigh in yesterday and I LOST 3 POUNDS!!! WOO! Myfitnesspal says I've lost 11 so far. So thats great! If you are on Myfitnesspal add me: my username is ladylizzabeth. Its been helping me a lot with keeping on track with my calories, I really like to use it to make sure I'm getting enough protein. Speaking of which, I've been meatless for 3 weeks and going on my 4th! I dont miss it one bit, which I never thought I would say.

After feeling so crappy from the 5k and 55 minute workout, I didnt workout all weekend, or yesterday. The back of my knee still hurts, and I'm not sure whats going on. So I think that I need to rest it. But I am going to workout on my lunch break today come hell or high water!

So I figured I would share my recipe for the third less fat cheese cake, because it was amazing!

Marble Top Low Fat Cheesecake 

Original Recipe adapted from Chefinyou!

Ingredients:

3 packages of 1/3 less fat cream cheese (or use 1 bar of 1/3 less fat and 2 of fat free) room temp

1 egg

3 large egg whites

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

3 tbsp flour

1 cup gram cracker crumbs (you can use chocolate I like plain)

1+ tbsp butter melted

1 oz semi sweet chocolate

Directions:

Preheat over to 325

Crunch the gram cracker crumbs and add the butter to the crumbs (mine was kind crumbly add more butter if needed) Spray 9 inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Put the crumbs in the dish and pack down. You can pop it into the oven for a 5 minutes or so. The original recipe calls for it to be microwaved, but I suggest baking while you have the oven on.

In a mixing bowl combine all of the cheeses and mix until smooth. Next, add the sugar and flour and mix until incorporated. Add vanilla, egg whites and egg and mix. Pour cheese into the baking dish.

In a small bowl put the chocolate, microwave 45 seconds until it is melted. When melted add 3-4 drops of it (use all of the chocolate) to the top of the cheese mixture, take a fork and mix it around until it is swirly looking. Bake 35 minutes or until the cheesecake separates from the sides.

Let cool, cover and chill for at least 4 hours. Or just eat it when its hot like I did, and enjoy!

The Morning After

Let me be very honest in telling you that Saturday morning was pretty awful! I thought I would wake up and feel awesome and invigorated from all the working out on Friday, but I had the worst headache (and I still do today) and my left knee hurt as well as the back inside of my right knee, you know, where it bends? I felt like crap, so I didnt do my Turbo Fire 30, I really just wanted to give my knee a rest. Nothing is worse than an injury when you're trying to lose weight! So I figure an extra day of rest wont kill me, and it might just save me a week of rest days down the road.

I ate part of my mini watermelon yesterday and it was so dang good! Sometimes you open a watermelon and its not sweet at all, or mushy because its over ripe, well this one was perfectly sweet and crisp! The rest is in the fridge waiting to be eaten!

I also probably didnt eat all that great. I havent had a binge in 3 weeks, until yesterday. I wouldnt say it was a full blown binge, just a mini one, and I have to count it. I really havent been craving bad food, chips, cookies, coke, etc. But yesterday I went to the grocery store to get some stuff to make a light cheese cake, because I really wanted something sweet, but I didnt want a ton of calories, plus if I make it I know exactly what goes into it. So I found this awesome recipe for a marble top cheese cake. I had almost all the ingredients other than the cream cheese, and I wanted to have some bean tostadas for dinner and I needed tostadas. I passed by the chip isle and I was like, hmm that would be good with the tostadas, but do I need them? Well I got them anyway. I ate probably more than half the bad, next time I'm just going to listen to myself and not get them no matter how much I want them. Its just not worth it. I didnt even really want them, I wasnt having a craving for them, just for the cheese cake, which btw, was amazing!

I do have something exciting to share! I got my blue jeans out of the dryer today and I buttoned them and they werent tight, you know how blue jeans can be right out of the dryer? Well they fit perfectly. So I guess all this hard work is paying off!

I also cleaned up my house and did a ton of laundry! It was a pretty productive day. Today though, I have a ton of things to do, I need to write a paper (book report), take some pictures and go print pictures. Tomorrow I'll be in class and editing video for my Committee Meeting on Tuesday!

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Axel, my puppy has been so naughty lately! I dont know what has gotten into him! Most of the time he is super cute and only gets in a normal amount of trouble. But lately, he has realized that he can get into my school backpack and get things out to chew. Most notably has been the mechanical pencil that I lost this morning, a bottle of lotion the other day, a peppermint, a Lara bar... and there have been other things as well.

Its funny later, but I lost a good pencil today! It was one of those ones with the retractable eraser! It was also my last one... He can even undo the zipper a little bit. I think he does it when I go upstaris and leave him, and he gets mad at me. Currently he is pouting on the couch next to me because I got on to him for destroying my pencil.

Virtual 5k Race Report

Yeah never thought you would see "Race Report" in one of my blog titles huh? So the run down on the walk:

Okay, so I know this is going to sound bad, but my alarm went off at 6 this morning and I knew I didnt have to be anywhere until 10, so I reset the alarm for 8 and went back to sleep. I honestly should have just gotten up because on top of the 5k that I was going to walk, I had planned to do Turbo Fire 55. So I had to squeeze all this in. I got up at 8, read for class, then went to school.

Our meetings with our faculty was running behind and I needed to be back at 10:45 to have time to take a shower, do the whole 55 minute work out and shovel some food into my mouth. I didnt get home in time, but I got started about 11, and so I did the Fire 55. Whew! It was long and I was pumped but tired afterwards. So I ran upstairs and took a shower, threw on some clothes, heated up some leftovers and rode my bike (yeah on top of all the workouts I still rode my bike!) to school.

I got off at 3, and I had to pay my electric bill, so I ran (biked) home to get my wallet, and my car. I decided on my way home that tonight I deserved a treat, so I went to the grocery store and got some flat bread and tomato sauce for home made pizza and some beer.

My little treat!

Finally I got home, but while I had been in the store the weather had changed. Earlier today it was warm and humid and right around 3:30 it changed to no humidity and about 10-15 degrees cooler! But that was not going to stop me, so I changed clothes (back into my nasty sweaty Fire 55 clothes, I hung them up!) and got the dog leashed and off we went!

It took us almost an hour, I probably should have chosen route that would keep me from stopping for traffic, but I wanted to get down to campus and walk around to let Axel stretch his little legs, (speaking of legs, he is now conked out on the quilt I'm crocheting for my mom!) We got down to the campus which I now know is less than a mile away!

The white blob that is not a sculpture is the dog

Around mile 2 my legs were really starting to hurt and I was ready to be done, but I knew I had more than a mile to go, and I was in the middle of campus, so I really didnt have a choice.

The dog ran out of pee about a mile in, but that sure didnt stop him from trying to mark every bush, telephone pole or any small mound of clover he saw!

The whole thing took me 58 minutes. I sort of over estimated the distance so its more like 3.36 miles rather than 3.1.

Happy Birthday to Katie over at runsforcookies.com! This was a super fun way to celebrate her 31st birthday by walking 3.1 (or 3.3) miles! If you havent checked out her blog, head over there!

The only thing that bothered me today was my eating. I mean I have been eating healthy and everything, but I just didnt have time for food. For a snack I had half a lara bar, and I was going to have half of another right before the 5k, but my mom got me the pecan pie kind, and the taste of it is weird. So far I have tried the key lime pie, apple pie, carrot cake, blueberry muffin and now pecan pie. I do like the apple, blueberry, and carrot cake but the others I can do without. I will just choke it down tomorrow, I dont want the bar to go to waste.

So I decided to have a beer and pizza, it was excellent for dinner, and I'm sure I'll be hungry around 7 since I had such an early dinner. I may just have some dal, or maybe some beer and pop corn.

Avocado on pizza is ah-may-zing!

All I know at this point is my body is saying "screw you bitch!" I think has given up on me at this point. I'm ready for some Grey's Anatomy and maybe I'll just fall asleep on the couch!

Through the rain

Yesterday was my rest day and boy was it nice to have a day off! I dont really have a day off from school, far from it. I had two papers due and two quizzes all for one class! But thankfully I had them finished beforehand.

Yesterday I cooked my dal! It is a little more spicy that I would like, so next time I'm not doing two chile peppers! But overall the flavor is good. It seemed really runny when I took it out of the crock pot, but it thickened up. 

That is the dal in the background and my semi successful saag paneer. I'm still not really getting the paneer, or cheese, right yet this time it is really soft. Not sure what I did with it to make it so soft. 

I watched a documentary on Netflix last night (instead of reading which I did until I couldnt take any more of my book, which basically means I almost fell asleep) called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It was good, it was about this Australian guy who decided to go on a two month fast drinking only freshly juiced fruits and veggies for his meals. I think he probably did some beans and nuts as well. Because thats what he talked about. He lost a lot of weight, and he met another guy while he was in America doing this documentary and they both had the same autoimmune disease. The other fellow, Phil, was like 400 + pounds, and did the same juice diet, which started with 10 days and then he went on to a month and then two months. He didnt do the juicing for 10 months straight, but eventually he lost like 200 + pounds. It was really cool! 

After that night I woke up and started throwing up for no reason except probably being hungry, I decided to take the only shake I liked from that Dr. Oz shake fast and have it a couple of hours (or hour) before bed. Its really good, I add strawberries, raspberries, flax seeds, almond butter, water and spinach. It really fills me up, and helps me get a couple more servings of things I need for my nutrition. 

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Today has been good, I got up and worked out, Fire 30 and then did the 10 minute stretch because my back needed it. I felt good, but ran out of time and didnt get to drink my tea, so I had a headache this morning. But I found that I didnt really need it. I guess sleeping in yesterday (until 7:30) did some good. 

Also, I rode my bike to school this morning, when I got off of work I walked outside and realized that it was misting. So I had to ride home in the rain/light sprinkling. I think my hair is messed up and I had to throw my jeans and sweater in the dryer to dry them off. I guess I dont mind so much, but the weather didnt say anything about rain!! Otherwise, I would have driven the car. Well thats the plan this afternoon anyway. I would rather ride in the rain. If we werent going on a field trip to Monroe today for class, then I would totally ride back to school (better equipped with a change of clothes) in the rain.

Tomorrow I am excited I have a Fire 55 workout and I'm also participating in a virtual 5k that Katie over at Runsforcookies.com is hosting. The cool thing, I can walk it with the dog, and he will LOVE that. Hope its not raining tomorrow because I'm excited to get out and do this. If it is, I'll have to go to the school and walk on the treadmill. 

Also, I have a photo assignment to do for my new boss, should be exciting! 

Madras Soup Recipe

I have been writing in the morning because I realized that its some of the only down time that I have. So I guess I'm just going to be talking about yesterday. Hope thats okay rather than taking about today, which has been good so far, but its only 8:25!

Yesterday morning I got up at the ass crack of dawn (5:30) to get to do my workout. It was only 15 minutes but it was a 15 minute HITT, and I was pretty tired afterwards, but also felt happy that I had done it. Today is my day off, which is great because its my only weekday off from work, so I can get some things done in the morning (like sleeping in!) that I wouldn't normally get to do. 

I realized yesterday after seeing a classmates post on facebook that I have a paper due Monday. I thought I had more time for this, but I guess not. Its over a book I am reading. The book is pretty good, I just need to finish it by this weekend. I also have a committee meeting on Tuesday so I will be getting ready for that this weekend as well. Nothing like looking forward to a busy weekend, when you arent even there yet!

I have to admit that I'm having a love affair with Indian food! When I went home this weekend I got a bunch of stuff to be able to cook different Indian dishes. The first one I tried was Madras Soup, which is this tomato and coconut milk soup that is delicious! Mom had it at our fave. Indian restaurant and so I thought I would try to make it. It called for regular coconut milk, but I used lite coconut milk, next time I think I will add a third can of it, rather than the two, to help with the flavor. Or just use regular coconut milk (which has a ton of fat!). 

Madras Soup

So I also made another dish which is Saag Paneer, I think I already told you about my last attempt at this, well I did it this time and it was more or less a success. I cooked it on the stove top, but it just needed to cook even longer, so I popped it into the slow cooker to simmer all night, and it really helped the flavor! I found a recipe for Saag in a crock pot, so I think I'm just going to do it that way next time rather than try to do it on the stove. 

Saag: looks gross, but tastes amazing!

Today I'm making Dal, and this time I have the right kind of lintels! 

I'm not sure what everyone else does when it comes to weighing in. I saw someone on a group for weight loss that I'm in post and say that she has a love hate, but mainly hate relationship with her scale and that she isnt losing weight. So I wonder if people check the scale daily or once a week, once a month? I know I probably shouldnt but I step on the scale almost every morning. I have always done this, before it used to be because I wanted to see if I had lost weight and how much every day. Now, I use it as a guide to tell me how I'm doing with what I'm eating, how much water I'm drinking and if working out is helping me. I used to record my lowest weight of the week on my weigh in day, which sounds like cheating, even if I had gained some of it back during the week. Now I just record what I see on weigh in day. It really is a helpful indication of how much water I'm drinking and if I had too much salt.

I'm going to post my soup recipe, I got it from Vegweb but I made some changes because, lets be honest, thats the best way to do it.

Madras Soup

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 jug of tomato juice (64 oz)
• 3 cans of light coconut milk (or 2 cans of regular coconut milk)
• 4 tbsp dried parsley
• 1 1/2 tbsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp caynne pepper
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• Greek yogurt (one tbsp for each serving) 

Directions

Combine all ingredients, except the greek yogurt, in a big pot. Bring to a gentle boil on medium high heat. Simmer over medium low heat for 30 minutes. Add a tablespoon of greek yogurt as a tangy garnish and some extra protein. 

This is one of the easiest recipes I have done in a while! If you can get reduced sodium tomato juice I would suggest that, if not, dont worry about it. 

Enjoy!

What is today?

Because we are out of school today I keep forgetting that today is Monday and not Sunday. Thank you Martin Luther King Jr. for all you did, and all the inspiration you give us today, and for getting me out of class!

This weekend I went home to Benton to make some pictures and video tape food being made. It was a good weekend. I think its safe to say that I'm now obsessed with Indian food. Honestly, I really really am. I love it. You know I should start posting recipes again. I always like sharing my recipes, but really I'm running out of time to do things. At this point I feel lucky just to be able to post! Its not lost on me that I'm only posting 2-3 times a week, but for right now, its about all I can manage.

I did start working out today. The whole Turbo Fire program that I'm following is 20 weeks. I know I can do this for 5 months. Its not going to be easy, because finding time to workout is difficult. I'm just going to either have to do it at night or force myself to get up and do it in the morning. I am going with morning because its just easier, even if its not better, because who wants to get up at 5:30?

I have now officially lost another two pounds! Before I even starting working out and during a weekend of yummy eating! I know I had at least 3 cinnamon rolls! Which is what we made for my video and photographs. I know I probably would have lost more if I hadnt been so bad about water and about eating whatever I wanted. I mean I kept a reign on it when I got full I stopped. So I'm down 5 in two weeks! Not bad!

And this marks my two week anniversary of being a vegetarian. On this topic for a mo. so... I have decided that being a vegetarian is similar to being gay (its probably worse for a vegan or even a gay vegan, dont be offended here, what I'm about to say is true). Telling people is like coming out of the vegetarian closet, people are either really happy and proud of you and think what you are doing is awesome and want to be able to do it too. Or the look at you like you shot their dog, some people get really offended and take it personally that you dont want to eat meat. I wish I could say I was allergic to meat. That would solve a lot of annoyingness. So yeah, I went to my inlaws for my father in law's birthday this weekend. I was worried about what to eat, so I just packed a lunch and ate before we got there (its a three hour drive) and had a small plate of veggies and an egg so as not to offend. I was told to not even bother trying to explain the vegetarian thing.

I love my in laws- they are great! They remind me of my family, which is wonderful. But I know they think I'm crazy! I'm an artist, and whats worse than an artist? A photographer. Whats worse than a photographer in college? One that wants to go to graduate school. I'm the crazy artist wife that their son/grandson/stepson/nephew/cousin married and no one gets me. So whats worse than an artist? A VEGETARIAN ARTIST! Maybe next I'll go live in a tree.

No pictures for today, sorry! I'm going to go to bed soon (*gasp* its only 10:36!) I am beat! Tomorrow is my next workout wish me luck!

A no snow, snow day

So tomorrow is the end of the week, which I'm digging. I wont have school Monday because of MLK day. It will be nice to be out of school. Speaking of which, I was off yesterday for a snow day that didnt have any snow. I would say that I was productive with my time, but that would be a big fat lie.

I wanted to try to make saag paneer, which is basically Indian creamed spinach with soft cheese made from whole milk. Its one of my favorite Indian dishes. I dont like creamed spinach, but I LOVE this kind. I made the paneer the night before, it wasnt that hard. Heat up whole milk, add citric acid to separate the curds from the way, press the curds into a block and voila! cheese! So that was no problem. I had tried a recipe from Chef In You, which is this amazing blog that has loads of wonderful vegetarian dishes. I tried the Dal Bukhara, and while I didnt have the right kind of lintels, it was still amazingly tasty. I'm still eating it, and I plan on having a nice serving for lunch today (yum!).

Anyway, I tried this recipe for saag paneer and it wasnt that great. I didnt have any fenugreek leaves, and I tried mustard greens but replaced the fenugreek with more spinach. I even steamed all the greens to help keep the nutrients in, rather than boiling them to cook it. First it looked awful, like baby food, and then second it was the most disgusting thing I have put in my mouth in a long time. Ick, ick, ick. I dont like mustard greens. Period. I threw the whole thing out. Next time, I'm going to have to find another recipe. I did make the paneer and it turned out fine. So at least I didnt fail the whole recipe.

After that, I ate lunch (the dal) and sat down on my couch and flat out fell asleep for 4 hours. What a waste of my day. But I guess I needed some sleep, because I didnt have a problem going to bed last night.

Because of the failure of my saag, I had planned later in the week to do a stir fry. I dont know if you have ever heard of PF Chang's Singapore Streetnoodles, but it is full of fresh veggies and flavor, they add shrimp and chicken, but obviously that wasnt something that I was going to add. So I made it! It was excellent! I added tofu to it. I'm hands down not a fan of tofu because of the weird texture and the lack of taste, but I chopped it up into teeny cubes and added it, hoping that I wouldnt be able to notice it. And I really didnt. I was glad to be able to add some kind of protein to it.

I know I really didnt touch on this, on my last post, but I did lose 4 pounds. Of which, I'm super excited. I had worked out twice last week, but this week I haven't really felt like it. I need to find a plan to consistently work out and just make myself do it. The original plan that I was following for Turbo Fire was 5 months, but I would really like to just make it through the whole 3 months of the original schedule. I know I said that becoming a vegetarian was going to be a big commitment and here I am doing it, and its not so bad and really not as hard as I thought it would be. I mean as long as I have something to eat in the house, I dont find myself craving sugary things or chips or anything. I havent had a binge in a week and a half. So maybe committing to work out 6 days a week only for 3 months wont be so awful. I guess I just need to make up my mind and do it. I feel good about my food choices, but I dont feel good about working out, and I know from experience that it is half of what I'm doing. 

Maybe I just need to take this a week at a time and not even think about the next weeks (or months) of workouts until its time to think about it. I think I over think things ;).

I know this post is getting long, but I havent written in a couple of days, so just bear with me, I only have one more thing to talk about. Today (as in just now) I realized that maybe I just need to make a long list of things that I want to accomplish either this year, or just in general. I figure it needs to be just in general, because near the end of the list I was getting desperate to think of things. I decided to do 27 goals because that's how old I will be this year (plus a new one I just thought of). Here is my list:

1. Weigh 125 pounds

2. Finish 3 months of turbo fire (no skipping)

3. Enter in more photo contests/exhibitions

4. Run a 5k

5. Do the couch to 5k program without quitting halfway through

6. Ride my bike to school

7. Try a triathlon

8. Go to a Zumba class

9. Make a cookbook of all my favorite recipes

10. Learn to develop film

11. Drink more water

12. Try P90x

13. Write down everything I eat

14. Create new recipes

15. Wear cuter clothes

16. Be better at cleaning house

17. Learn to sew

18. Write a book

19. Become a personal trainer

20. Be vegan

21. Color my hair red

22. Get a tattoo

23. Go to Europe

24. Pay off my credit card

25. Run a Ragnar

26. Take a picture every day

27. Wear a bikini 

28. Imitate the greats

Some of this wont happen in a year, but I think a lot of it can. So I think I'm going to just start and work my way through this. My first one obviously needs to be fitness based because that's whats lacking right now in my health plan. Maybe looking at the big picture is just something that I dont need to focus on right now. Most of the time I feel like I'm struggling to just stay afloat, so I think I just need to keep the focus on the now. Next week I'm going to start my 3 months of Turbo Fire. I have started it on the wrong day before, and its hard to keep up with the days, but I dont want to put this off and not have it happen so maybe I just need to do it today. 

I think the hardest thing is going to be finding time to squeeze this in. My problem is this, every day but Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday I have to be at school at 8 am. I usually get up at 6. If I have more than a 30 minute workout I run out of time to do things in the morning, which means getting up earlier than 6 and going to bed earlier than 12. I dont do well working out at night. Plus, usually I dont have time at night. I feel like I'm more likely to put it off either way! I could do it at lunch, but I usually get really sweaty and dont have time to workout during my 2 hour break. All excuses I know! I guess it's going to be the morning for me.  

One week meat free

Today (well technically tomorrow but I started a week ago today) marks my first week under my belt (haha) as a vegetarian. I have to say that I like it a lot. I'm just feel so much lighter.

I do have to plan meals out, and make sure that I have food around that has protein in it. Honestly, I think I get more protein now that I'm thinking more about it, than I ever did when I just ate meat. I dont really like sandwiches with meat on them, so I dont feel like I'm missing out on much.

I did have some salmon on Saturday night, but I figure that its fish so it doesnt count, which is silly, I know. But its not pork, chicken or beef, all of which I dont want to eat. Speaking of Saturday, the weirdest thing happened. I had a good dinner, it was salmon with asparagus and potatoes and cheese dip. So I had some cereal about 2 hours before I went to bed, because I was starving and my stomach gets really sour if I dont eat. I woke up at 6 am on Sunday morning and my mouth started watering like filling with saliva (that is such a gross word) and I started to feel nauseous. I spit out the water in my mouth and then I ran to the bathroom and threw up. There wasnt anything in my stomach, everything had digested. I dont know what the problem was. If it was food poisoning it would have started sooner, and I would have felt much worse. I felt fine before and after throwing up.

This has happened a couple of times before, once after I ate some almond butter and an english muffin and the other times it has woken me up, but I havent thrown up. I'm not a thrower-upper really. I think I can count on my hands the number of times that I've thrown up in my life.

I dont think it was the salmon, because Corey had it too, and he was fine. Plus I've only not been eating meat for a week. So, not really sure what happened, and I hope it doesnt happen again! I hate throwing up!

Today I started my first day with my new Assistantship with the Associate Dean of the liberal arts. I had originally hopped to get this assistantship, but another lady was picked over me. She left right after our Christmas break and so I am now filling the job. It's going to make my days much longer, and it will be more work, but I'm game for it. As my mom said, I do better when I dont have much time. I thrive when I dont have a lot of down time.

I took some fun pictures this weekend. I wanted to do what one of my professors has suggested and take 5 different pictures of one thing. The first one I did was a concept, so when I think of my family and my grandma I think of my grandma having all this knowledge, and so I took some pictures around this idea. I wanted to start with recipes because thats the base for everything thats done in the kitchen. 

This second comes from the idea that she knows exactly the measurement to pour into her hand hand without using measuring spoons.




I also think I'm often not measuring up to the high standards that I feel my family has for me, and so this is one of my images trying to depict that.



I'm running out of time so for now, thats going to have to do!

ALSO I lost 4 pounds!!! HUZZAH!

Another day another dollar

I dont really have a topic for today. Except to tell you about how awesome I am.

I figured that sometimes we can all do with some healthy positive reinforcement, so I'm going to brag.

I worked out today. I didnt want to, and I got through only 20 minutes, but I did it. So I call that a success! I was just so dang tired! Gah! I have been all day even though I had green tea with breakfast. Just not enough sleep, I know I didnt go to bed at a reasonable hour last night *cough 2:00 cough*. I dont know what possessed me to stay up that late, but oh well! It means I will be nice and tired for bed tonight.

In other news I had a whole day without meat! It was actually really good. There are some things I can do without meat. I wish I could go dairy free and just be a vegan, because I had egg whites today and I felt really guilty about it. Maybe next time I can get egg beaters, is that fake egg? I will need to do some research. I dont want to be vegan, and I keep telling myself and everyone this, but I keep wanting to get away from everything but cheese! But until then, I did have a great lunch!

I had a toasted whole wheat english muffin with avocado, eggwhites, rf feta and some grapes, carrots and roasted red pepper hummus! Yum! For dinner I did a falafel mix, but I only used half a cup because I'm the only one eating it, and I still had a whole serving that I can eat tomorrow. I mixed in some black beans with the falafel, and had a mint yogurt sauce, steamed carrots and asparagus! I love me some veggies!

I was thinking today about all the stuff in the last 3-4 years that I have done to lose weight and I guess I have been mostly successful because I havent gained all the way back to what I weighed in the beginning. I have tried Weight Watchers, working out every day, shakes, working out 2-3 times a week, counting calories, bodybugg... and I'm sure that there are some that I dont remember. I think what has been most successful was when I was on weight watchers, eating what I liked but still being accountable for it, and working out 3-5 times a week. Working out every day and doing the shakes worked well too, but I cant drink those shakes anymore, although I do LOVE the workouts! So I know that this new phase is going to work for me, its a mix of everything so far, I'm working out 3 times a week, watching what I eat, but still eating things that I like (minus meat of course), and writing it down and staying accountable for what I am doing. I think thats the key, accountability.

My plan for working out is this: For the next three weeks I'm going to do 3 Turbo Fire workouts, one short, one 30 and one longer 45-50. I'm going to randomize them and working out Monday Wednesday and Saturday work best for me, so those are my workout days. After the first three weeks I'm going to add a day of strength training with Turbo and do this for another three weeks. We'll see where to go from there, and how much success I've had with this approach. Eventually I would like to work up to more than 4 days, but also doing other things like running or biking. I just get so bored running, so I dont know if thats something that I'm up for!

Lunch

Lunch

Dinner! Yum!

New year

Well, as I saw someone say on their blog, its been a whole week and I now really know what my resolutions are for the year... I have a few, so here it goes:

This year I really want to have a whole year of healthy. I dont want to start and stop and start and stop, I want it to last, if I can make it a whole year, why not another year? I want healthy habits to be second nature. That being said, I want this year to be the last year I make a resolution to lose weight. I mean if you've been reading with me I have done quite a few things here and nothing has stuck. I thank that just has a lot to do with me, and how I get bored quickly. I want to better manage my time and priorities. Lastly, I want to become a vegetarian.

I saw a documentary about vegans and this experiment that a vegan did, she got three other people to quit meat cold turkey (haha) for 6 weeks, she educated them about being vegan. How animals are treated, the impact that mass production of meat products has on our economy and so on. It was very interesting and while I'm not totally ready for veganism, because lets be honest, I dont think I can give up cheese and milk, I am ready to not eat meat. I know I tried this before, but I wasnt really motivated to do it. Now just the thought of eating meat kinda makes me feel queasy. Its going to take some adjustment and some rethinking about food, but I'm ready. I was going to set a goal for this, like a challenge of 6 weeks, but I dont want to do that and get there and then quit. I think in the next couple of weeks I'll know how this is going to pan out and if it will work or not.

I did have my first vegetarian meal today, and it was delicious. I got back to Ruston on Friday and have been super busy since then and had no time to go to the grocery store, so for lunch I had tuna, I know its meat, but its all I had and I was starving, better than the ham I had in the fridge. I think eating out will be a challenge, but thankfully I dont eat out much, so I'll just deal with that when I come to it. For dinner I had a meatless chicken breast (yeah I know my mind rebels at the thought of this and how disgusting this is, but I saved a whole chicken today, thanks) with mushrooms, garlic, onion and two tablespoons of greek yogurt to make a sauce. With whole wheat pasta, broccoli and roasted cauliflower. It was really really good! Who knew?

I dont have a picture of it, because it really did look gross, but it smelled and tasted good, and thats what counts!

I'm going to stop now because I need to get to work on a movie review for class, and I need to stop procrastinating. Tomorrow: work out!