Last Thursday when I weighed in at Weight Watchers, I had lost over 2 pounds from the previous week.
Today when I weighed in, I lost 1.6 additional pounds from last week.
I'm kinda starting to think there's something to this eating clean thing. I'm not even eating clean 100% of the time, and look at the difference it's making. For the most part of the week, I eat pretty clean. On the weekends it's tougher, but I do my best. If I can't eat totally clean, I just try to make a better choice. This month there have been days here and there where I've cheated blatantly - and even with that, look how much weight I've lost.
In 2 weeks I've lost more weight than I did in the previous 6 weeks combined.
So I received my I LOST 10LBS ribbon today. That made me so happy.
I am nearing the end of the month and have been thinking about what I want my goal to be next month. I think I want to try and better my clean eating percentage from this month. What I've been doing is writing down what I eat at every meal / snack, and count whether it's clean or not. I think right now I'm at 84%. I'm thinking maybe next month I make my goal to eat 90% clean. Why not?
I'm not sure what my goals for November and December will be yet. But I'll think of something. Only a few months left in the year!
It's crazy to me to think that I started the year off with one resolution - to make one resolution per month and stick to it, hoping to build healthier habits. One resolution per month has not been hard to keep. It's a LOT easier than keeping a resolution or two for a whole year. And the bonus? I've felt successful at achieving my goals every month. Instead of feeling like a failure because I couldn't stick to something for a whole year.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
My Favorite Lovebirds
Meet Cara and Val.
They got engaged!!!
And I love them both dearly.
I love them because they are kind, sweet, genuine, and fun. I love them because they adore my daughter, and my daughter adores them.
(In fact, as I was posting the pictures below, Maraea came over and saw them and said "AUNT CARE-WA AND AUNT VAL! Wookit dem, don't dey wook so cute?!")
This is one of those couples that just deserves each other; they deserve to be together and they deserve all the happiness this world has to offer.
I was so excited and honored to do their engagement pictures. You can see the joy on their faces. I love so many of these pictures, because their happiness is so apparent, it radiates off the image like a sunburst.
I love you guys and CAN NOT WAIT for your wedding. xoxoxoxo
Congratulations Cara & Val! <3
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
YO. CHECK ME OUT.
Last week I posted a picture of myself on Instagram that showed my back sweat (I know, sexy, right?) and the caption was "You got to sweat like a pig and work like a horse to look like a fox". I came across that picture again last night and I remembered I had taken a similar picture a while ago and I wondered what the difference might be.
Are you curious too? Good, cuz here it is.
Yo. Look at me!!! I can't stop looking at this picture. The difference is so apparent!!!
The picture on the left was me 8 weeks ago. That was taken 5 weeks after I had started Weight Watchers and working out every single day. Eight weeks of work - I knew I was gaining muscle and losing SOME weight, but I didn't know how drastic the difference was in how I looked till I put these two pictures side by side.
This came just in time too, because the other day I was really stressed at work - there's another thing I discovered, I am hands-down a stress-eater: my blood pressure rises and I want to throw my diet out the window and blow it on cheeseburgers and milkshakes and Skittles - and actually lost my appetite at lunch and didn't finish my salad because I just had WAY too much to do and was entirely overwhelmed. I was feeling really down and annoyed and irritated and I was about to start cheating on my diet and screw it all - and then I saw this side by side picture - and it was all I needed to stay inspired to keep at it. Look at the difference I am making in myself.
In another 6 weeks when I go to Hawaii, I WILL LOOK EVEN BETTER.
I am so proud of myself. This picture makes me so, so happy. Like, I want to print it and frame it. I'm ecstatic.
Are you curious too? Good, cuz here it is.
Yo. Look at me!!! I can't stop looking at this picture. The difference is so apparent!!!
The picture on the left was me 8 weeks ago. That was taken 5 weeks after I had started Weight Watchers and working out every single day. Eight weeks of work - I knew I was gaining muscle and losing SOME weight, but I didn't know how drastic the difference was in how I looked till I put these two pictures side by side.
This came just in time too, because the other day I was really stressed at work - there's another thing I discovered, I am hands-down a stress-eater: my blood pressure rises and I want to throw my diet out the window and blow it on cheeseburgers and milkshakes and Skittles - and actually lost my appetite at lunch and didn't finish my salad because I just had WAY too much to do and was entirely overwhelmed. I was feeling really down and annoyed and irritated and I was about to start cheating on my diet and screw it all - and then I saw this side by side picture - and it was all I needed to stay inspired to keep at it. Look at the difference I am making in myself.
In another 6 weeks when I go to Hawaii, I WILL LOOK EVEN BETTER.
I am so proud of myself. This picture makes me so, so happy. Like, I want to print it and frame it. I'm ecstatic.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Clean Eating Update
As I write this, I am sitting at my desk on my lunch break nomzing on a very delicious salad of organic mixed greens, red peppers, and mini heirloom tomatoes, dressed in a tangy yet sweet homemade clean vinaigrette dressing.
Are you proud of me?
It actually tastes pretty good. I tried some homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressings last week that were way too vinegary for me. They made my cheeks tickle. But this one is pretty good.
So it's mid-way through my clean eating month, and I figured it was time for an update.
First and foremost, the numbers: Out of the 60 meals/snacks total I have eaten since 9/3, 48 of them have been completely clean. That's 80%. It actually surprised me, because I was expecting it to be worse. It can be tough to be totally clean when you go out or when you're super busy on the weekends, but the last two weeks in September I'm relatively event- and stress-free, so I am thinking that number will climb. To be fair - if I went out and ordered a salad, but didn't know if the dressing was "clean", I counted it as not clean. So even though some of my meals were considered "not clean", they were still mostly healthy to some degree. There were a few meals where I went all out - those were definitely not clean.
And guess what I noticed. I didn't feel so hot later that night or the next day. Today, actually, I feel like crap. My stomach is not happy with me. My guess is it's the weekend's crap-eating catching up to me. I am going to set it back on track this week!
So there's that.
Are you proud of me?
It actually tastes pretty good. I tried some homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressings last week that were way too vinegary for me. They made my cheeks tickle. But this one is pretty good.
So it's mid-way through my clean eating month, and I figured it was time for an update.
First and foremost, the numbers: Out of the 60 meals/snacks total I have eaten since 9/3, 48 of them have been completely clean. That's 80%. It actually surprised me, because I was expecting it to be worse. It can be tough to be totally clean when you go out or when you're super busy on the weekends, but the last two weeks in September I'm relatively event- and stress-free, so I am thinking that number will climb. To be fair - if I went out and ordered a salad, but didn't know if the dressing was "clean", I counted it as not clean. So even though some of my meals were considered "not clean", they were still mostly healthy to some degree. There were a few meals where I went all out - those were definitely not clean.
And guess what I noticed. I didn't feel so hot later that night or the next day. Today, actually, I feel like crap. My stomach is not happy with me. My guess is it's the weekend's crap-eating catching up to me. I am going to set it back on track this week!
So there's that.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Clean Eating Meal Plan - Week 2
First things first: I lost 2 lbs from last week - even though I went on vacation over the weekend and ate delicious slutty food at the beach. GO ME! This means I have lost a net total of 7 lbs. Slowly but surely I'm getting there. As long as the scale is going down and my arms and shoulders continue to look awesome, I'm happy.
So I am about halfway through week 1 of clean eating. It hasn't actually been too hard. But, I'm not being a hard-core, crazy person about it. Like, I'm not drinking raw milk. Sorry man. No can do. So here are my rules:
You know, in all my research I kind of found "clean eating" hard to conceptualize. So I will share with you what I've eaten this week so far, to help you along your way. I found a lot of good recommendations for products online, so I'll share them with you here.
THIS WEEK:
Breakfasts: Smoothies and Ezekiel toast; or poached eggs and Ezekiel toast
Lunches: Salads; or clean tortilla chips and guacamole
Dinners: Marinated grilled chicken and steamed broccoli or corn on the cob or baked potatoes
Snacks: Fruit (apples, strawberries, grapes), or whole-grain granola
If you are anything like me, you probably read that and were like "Blech". Well, I consider myself a food snob, and I've surprisingly been pretty happy with my food choices this week. My favorite "clean" purchase of the week: Ezekiel bread. Particularly, this one:
Ezekiel bread can be found in the freezer section. Toasted, it's really not that bad at all. I haven't tried it as a sandwich bread yet. It seems pretty dense and dry for a sandwich bread (and mayo is not clean WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA), but toasted with some butter, it is actually very good. I was scared of it at first, because it's frozen. But I was being cray. I ate 2 slices of this toasted with a little bit of butter and 2 poached eggs this morning for breakfast and I was full for 6 hours. I kid you not.
Another delicious product I found this week: Kind peanut butter granola. I love this stuff! Man, I used to turn my nose up at this stuff. But I really like it. A handful an hour before my workout and my hunger is kept at bay till dinnertime.
As for the smoothies, I use vanilla non-fat Greek yogurt, frozen fruit, and a little bit of OJ to loosen it up. Next week I'll be adding spinach to my smoothies. In the past I've been worried about my sugar content, but this time around, I'm making only half the smoothie I used to make, and I AM tracking sugar consumption on My Fitness Pal to keep an eye on it. However, since fruits are a natural source of sugar (fructose), I am NOT counting those sugar grams towards my daily consumption. The point is to eliminate added sugar (refined sugar) from your diet. You don't want to steer clear of fruits and veggies because of sugar content; but you do want to keep your fruit consumption in check anyway. Try not to eat more than your recommended daily allowance of 3-4 servings a day, in which a serving is considered 1 medium whole piece of fruit or 1/2 cup chopped or frozen fruit.
I would like to share my "clean" marinade with you that I found. The original recipe is called Orange Tarragon Chicken, but I think you can very easily change up the citrus and herb combination and have an easy, tasty, go-to marinade for chicken in no time.
Ok, so what's on my menu for the next week? This is the first time in my life I have ever planned seven days worth of ALL meals. I usually only plan for dinner, and only for M-F, because on the weekends we are usually running around and who knows where we'll be at dinnertime. But this is week 2 of clean eating so here's my go of it:
Saturday
B: Eggs & toast
L: Smoothie
D: Quesadillas (made with clean tortillas, low-fat cheese, and vegetables)
Sunday
B: Eggs & toast
L: Smoothie
D: It's my sister's birthday dinner, so we will have to see where we end up, but I'm figuring I'm fairly safe with a salad.
Monday
B: Smoothie & toast
L: Salad
D: Herbed chicken & cous cous
Tuesday
B: Eggs & toast
L: Pico de gallo & tortilla chips
D: Pollo asado & brown spanish rice
Wednesday
B: Smoothie & toast
L: Leftover Tuesday dinner
D: Pork chops & corn on the cob
Thursday
B: Eggs & toast
L: Salad
D: Veggie burgers
Friday
B: Smoothie & toast
L: Sesame chicken
D: It's my brother's rehearsal dinner, and we are going to a Mexican restaurant YAY but I am going to try to be very good!
So, for a week, that's not too bad. Even if I don't eat the cleanest on Sunday and Friday nights, I will still have eaten clean for 90% of the week.
I have a feeling that the thing that will make the most difference in my health is eliminating the "whites" from my diet. Before my wedding, I eliminated "whites" and soda from my diet and got pretty lean. But that was over 9 years ago and my body was much different then.
So anyway, there's where I am. I've been giving some thought to what my October resolution should be. I'm running out of ideas. Originally I wrote down "new books?" on my list but I've been reading like a book a week for months now so that's not really a good goal. Maybe you have some ideas for me. If so, please share! I can do anything for a month. :)
So I am about halfway through week 1 of clean eating. It hasn't actually been too hard. But, I'm not being a hard-core, crazy person about it. Like, I'm not drinking raw milk. Sorry man. No can do. So here are my rules:
- Eat organic proteins, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
- Allowable dairy is organic low-fat, no-sugar-added milk and cheeses, and organic pasture butter (in moderation)
- Anything "processed" I consume must be comprised of clean ingredients -- For example, soy sauce is clean, yet it's processed. Hot sauce is clean, yet it's processed. Vinegar and oils are clean, yet they are processed. Things like that.
- Eliminate "white" everything -- sugar, rice, flour, pasta, etc.
- Steer clear of the center aisles of the grocery store (= processed foods!). If it has a label, the ingredients better be clean. If I can't pronounce an ingredient, or it does not sound like something that came directly from the farm, it's not going in my cart!
You know, in all my research I kind of found "clean eating" hard to conceptualize. So I will share with you what I've eaten this week so far, to help you along your way. I found a lot of good recommendations for products online, so I'll share them with you here.
THIS WEEK:
Breakfasts: Smoothies and Ezekiel toast; or poached eggs and Ezekiel toast
Lunches: Salads; or clean tortilla chips and guacamole
Dinners: Marinated grilled chicken and steamed broccoli or corn on the cob or baked potatoes
Snacks: Fruit (apples, strawberries, grapes), or whole-grain granola
If you are anything like me, you probably read that and were like "Blech". Well, I consider myself a food snob, and I've surprisingly been pretty happy with my food choices this week. My favorite "clean" purchase of the week: Ezekiel bread. Particularly, this one:
Ezekiel bread can be found in the freezer section. Toasted, it's really not that bad at all. I haven't tried it as a sandwich bread yet. It seems pretty dense and dry for a sandwich bread (and mayo is not clean WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA), but toasted with some butter, it is actually very good. I was scared of it at first, because it's frozen. But I was being cray. I ate 2 slices of this toasted with a little bit of butter and 2 poached eggs this morning for breakfast and I was full for 6 hours. I kid you not.
Another delicious product I found this week: Kind peanut butter granola. I love this stuff! Man, I used to turn my nose up at this stuff. But I really like it. A handful an hour before my workout and my hunger is kept at bay till dinnertime.
As for the smoothies, I use vanilla non-fat Greek yogurt, frozen fruit, and a little bit of OJ to loosen it up. Next week I'll be adding spinach to my smoothies. In the past I've been worried about my sugar content, but this time around, I'm making only half the smoothie I used to make, and I AM tracking sugar consumption on My Fitness Pal to keep an eye on it. However, since fruits are a natural source of sugar (fructose), I am NOT counting those sugar grams towards my daily consumption. The point is to eliminate added sugar (refined sugar) from your diet. You don't want to steer clear of fruits and veggies because of sugar content; but you do want to keep your fruit consumption in check anyway. Try not to eat more than your recommended daily allowance of 3-4 servings a day, in which a serving is considered 1 medium whole piece of fruit or 1/2 cup chopped or frozen fruit.
I would like to share my "clean" marinade with you that I found. The original recipe is called Orange Tarragon Chicken, but I think you can very easily change up the citrus and herb combination and have an easy, tasty, go-to marinade for chicken in no time.
Orange Tarragon Chicken
- 2 chicken breasts
- Juice of 1 orange
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon tarragon
Ok, so what's on my menu for the next week? This is the first time in my life I have ever planned seven days worth of ALL meals. I usually only plan for dinner, and only for M-F, because on the weekends we are usually running around and who knows where we'll be at dinnertime. But this is week 2 of clean eating so here's my go of it:
Saturday
B: Eggs & toast
L: Smoothie
D: Quesadillas (made with clean tortillas, low-fat cheese, and vegetables)
Sunday
B: Eggs & toast
L: Smoothie
D: It's my sister's birthday dinner, so we will have to see where we end up, but I'm figuring I'm fairly safe with a salad.
Monday
B: Smoothie & toast
L: Salad
D: Herbed chicken & cous cous
Tuesday
B: Eggs & toast
L: Pico de gallo & tortilla chips
D: Pollo asado & brown spanish rice
Wednesday
B: Smoothie & toast
L: Leftover Tuesday dinner
D: Pork chops & corn on the cob
Thursday
B: Eggs & toast
L: Salad
D: Veggie burgers
Friday
B: Smoothie & toast
L: Sesame chicken
D: It's my brother's rehearsal dinner, and we are going to a Mexican restaurant YAY but I am going to try to be very good!
So, for a week, that's not too bad. Even if I don't eat the cleanest on Sunday and Friday nights, I will still have eaten clean for 90% of the week.
I have a feeling that the thing that will make the most difference in my health is eliminating the "whites" from my diet. Before my wedding, I eliminated "whites" and soda from my diet and got pretty lean. But that was over 9 years ago and my body was much different then.
So anyway, there's where I am. I've been giving some thought to what my October resolution should be. I'm running out of ideas. Originally I wrote down "new books?" on my list but I've been reading like a book a week for months now so that's not really a good goal. Maybe you have some ideas for me. If so, please share! I can do anything for a month. :)
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Clean It Up
I can't believe over a whole month has passed since I've blogged. I suppose I've been really enjoying my summer. :)
I swore off Facebook for the summer and have barely missed it. It's been nice, being Facebook-free.
My August resolution was to kick off my next cookbook - The Scott Family Table - and I have successfully done that, thanks to the help of my sister acting as photographer. I have decided that for this cookbook, I don't want as many "process" pictures. I really just want finished-product pictures, and candids. I wasn't hardly in my last cookbook; I want to be there more this time. I've got another few "cooking weekends" lined up in the coming months, which I'm pretty excited about.
With that said, August has been a hectic month. Happy hours, barbecues, and all kinds of fun stuff. Not much relaxing.
Weight Watchers is going well. I'm wrapping up this session in the next two weeks. I've lost a grand total of 7 pounds so far. I don't really find this discouraging, because with all the working out I've been doing, I've really been gaining a lot of muscle. My arms and shoulders are more toned than they've ever been; but my problem area remains, as always, between my belly button and my knees.
When the next session of WW starts, I'm going to change my workout routines. I'm adding in some jogging on the weekends (I tried it last weekend and my knees came out unscathed). I'm adding more reps to my weight lifting. I'm adding some cardio on days where I normally don't do cardio. And I'm switching up my ab exercises. I'm also going to add in a rest day - probably Sunday - because I think I'm allowed to have one. I will still try to be active to some degree, but maybe not in a I GOTTA GO WORK OUT kind of way.
September is right around the corner. What is my resolution? It might be impossible for me to achieve. But I'm willing to give it a try. I've been inspired by this gorgeous gal I follow on Instagram (follow her - @notsteph). She's got 3 kids, eats clean, and looks amazing. She's also very tiny, and while I will never be tiny, I figure perhaps I can employ some of her methods and find some more success of my own. I recently asked her what her biggest tip was for managing the midsection, be it diet or exercise. Her response:
There it is in black and white. The truth I've been trying to deny for so long. (And she's not the first person I've heard it from, I think just now, finally, I'm in the frame of mind where it's clicking. You have to be mentally ready for this sort of thing.) You know, I just want to be able to eat what I want and just exercise and lose weight. Well this just isn't possible. That was the first thing Weight Watchers taught me. Also, I learned something very valuable this month.
Back at the beginning of August I had felt that I had worked so hard to get to where I was at, that I deserved a cheat day. Not a cheat meal, a cheat day. True Fatty style. So I planned this whole elaborate day around food - eggs Benedict for breakfast; a Wawa hoagie for lunch; a chocolate milkshake; candy; a cheesesteak and french fries for dinner; soda; the whole nine yards. (Just reading that list right now makes my stomach turn.) And you know, I really almost felt kind of shameful on my cheat day. Like here I was, this self-proclaimed Fatty, planning out all the ridiculous foods I was going to eat that day. Here I was, sitting at home by my blow-up pool, salivating over going to Wawa for lunch and getting a hoagie. Is there anything more True Fatty than that? I mean really. There were so many points in the process where I could have called it quits - instead, I went inside, got my keys, got in my car, drove to Wawa, ordered the hoagie, paid for it, came home, and could only devour half of it. I didn't even really enjoy it. If I'm going to "cheat", I better love every fucking bite. (Now - my cheesesteak, for dinner - I loved every fucking bite of that, so much so that I wish I'd skipped the hoagie so I could have eaten the whole cheesesteak.)
So what did that teach me? It taught me two main things:
So, back to my original question. What's my September resolution? To eat as clean as possible. I am going to try my darndest. I've been slipping in many departments lately - soda, candy, chocolate - because the scale keeps going down, so I keep thinking that I'm doing fine so it's okay to inject myself with fake sugar, of course, duh. But I think now, 9 months into my year of resolutions, I am ready to attempt it. I think I talked about it earlier this year but figured it was too extreme - well now I think I am really ready.
I've done a fair amount of research this morning. I have lists in my phone. I am looking at my favorite recipes and figuring out how to make them "clean". And it's back to nature's bounty I go - on September 2nd. I know I know, but look, I'm going on vacation with my fam-a-wee this weekend, it's our only vacation this summer, and I'm not gonna go crazy or anything, but, just, ugh, gimme one last weekend. I still have to step on the scale NEXT Thursday so that's keeping me in check. I mean have you been to an East Coast beach? Eating clean is practically out of the question.
I've got some recipes I'm interested in trying. I'm so happy to see that potatoes are on the clean eating list :) :) :) seeing as though they cost points on the WW plan. But, whatever. I'm going to try and do both. But now I plead for your help - please please please - if you've got recipes, or a favorite site you like to go to to get recipes for clean eating, please share them here. I need everything: breakfast, lunch, dinner, sides, etc. Treats would be nice too. But not necessary. Anything you've got for breakfast that's grab-and-go or wrap-and-go that I can eat on the way is super helpful. For the past few months I've been eating a homemade egg-and-cheese sandwich that holds me over till lunch (1 egg + 1 egg white, 1 slice 2% milk cheese, on whole-grain "1/3 daily value fiber!" English muffin) and I'm getting kind of bored of it. Ok, really bored of it. Okokok, so bored that I ate Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs a few too many times in the last couple of weeks.
My recipe restrictions: I don't like many veggies (lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, bell peppers, spinach - that's about it), I don't eat any fish (I know, sacre bleu), and I'm not a huuuuge fan of yogurt, though I can deal with it in smoothies and stuff. Anything I can make that "hides" veggies = bonus.
So anyway, there you have it.
Along with all that, I'll also be back to my crazy spreadsheets for September to track my progress. I'm making them now. I swear.
Wish me luck. xo
I swore off Facebook for the summer and have barely missed it. It's been nice, being Facebook-free.
My August resolution was to kick off my next cookbook - The Scott Family Table - and I have successfully done that, thanks to the help of my sister acting as photographer. I have decided that for this cookbook, I don't want as many "process" pictures. I really just want finished-product pictures, and candids. I wasn't hardly in my last cookbook; I want to be there more this time. I've got another few "cooking weekends" lined up in the coming months, which I'm pretty excited about.
With that said, August has been a hectic month. Happy hours, barbecues, and all kinds of fun stuff. Not much relaxing.
Weight Watchers is going well. I'm wrapping up this session in the next two weeks. I've lost a grand total of 7 pounds so far. I don't really find this discouraging, because with all the working out I've been doing, I've really been gaining a lot of muscle. My arms and shoulders are more toned than they've ever been; but my problem area remains, as always, between my belly button and my knees.
When the next session of WW starts, I'm going to change my workout routines. I'm adding in some jogging on the weekends (I tried it last weekend and my knees came out unscathed). I'm adding more reps to my weight lifting. I'm adding some cardio on days where I normally don't do cardio. And I'm switching up my ab exercises. I'm also going to add in a rest day - probably Sunday - because I think I'm allowed to have one. I will still try to be active to some degree, but maybe not in a I GOTTA GO WORK OUT kind of way.
September is right around the corner. What is my resolution? It might be impossible for me to achieve. But I'm willing to give it a try. I've been inspired by this gorgeous gal I follow on Instagram (follow her - @notsteph). She's got 3 kids, eats clean, and looks amazing. She's also very tiny, and while I will never be tiny, I figure perhaps I can employ some of her methods and find some more success of my own. I recently asked her what her biggest tip was for managing the midsection, be it diet or exercise. Her response:
"Belly fat is all diet. When I eat too many "cheat meals" my arms, legs & butt still look fit but my belly is the first to show what I've really been eating. You can do all the core workouts in teh world, but if your diet is bad then you won't see the results you want."
There it is in black and white. The truth I've been trying to deny for so long. (And she's not the first person I've heard it from, I think just now, finally, I'm in the frame of mind where it's clicking. You have to be mentally ready for this sort of thing.) You know, I just want to be able to eat what I want and just exercise and lose weight. Well this just isn't possible. That was the first thing Weight Watchers taught me. Also, I learned something very valuable this month.
Back at the beginning of August I had felt that I had worked so hard to get to where I was at, that I deserved a cheat day. Not a cheat meal, a cheat day. True Fatty style. So I planned this whole elaborate day around food - eggs Benedict for breakfast; a Wawa hoagie for lunch; a chocolate milkshake; candy; a cheesesteak and french fries for dinner; soda; the whole nine yards. (Just reading that list right now makes my stomach turn.) And you know, I really almost felt kind of shameful on my cheat day. Like here I was, this self-proclaimed Fatty, planning out all the ridiculous foods I was going to eat that day. Here I was, sitting at home by my blow-up pool, salivating over going to Wawa for lunch and getting a hoagie. Is there anything more True Fatty than that? I mean really. There were so many points in the process where I could have called it quits - instead, I went inside, got my keys, got in my car, drove to Wawa, ordered the hoagie, paid for it, came home, and could only devour half of it. I didn't even really enjoy it. If I'm going to "cheat", I better love every fucking bite. (Now - my cheesesteak, for dinner - I loved every fucking bite of that, so much so that I wish I'd skipped the hoagie so I could have eaten the whole cheesesteak.)
So what did that teach me? It taught me two main things:
- That a cheat day is waaaaaaay over-necessary.
- That a cheat meal is probably more do-able, enjoyable, and likely to keep me on track.
So, back to my original question. What's my September resolution? To eat as clean as possible. I am going to try my darndest. I've been slipping in many departments lately - soda, candy, chocolate - because the scale keeps going down, so I keep thinking that I'm doing fine so it's okay to inject myself with fake sugar, of course, duh. But I think now, 9 months into my year of resolutions, I am ready to attempt it. I think I talked about it earlier this year but figured it was too extreme - well now I think I am really ready.
I've done a fair amount of research this morning. I have lists in my phone. I am looking at my favorite recipes and figuring out how to make them "clean". And it's back to nature's bounty I go - on September 2nd. I know I know, but look, I'm going on vacation with my fam-a-wee this weekend, it's our only vacation this summer, and I'm not gonna go crazy or anything, but, just, ugh, gimme one last weekend. I still have to step on the scale NEXT Thursday so that's keeping me in check. I mean have you been to an East Coast beach? Eating clean is practically out of the question.
I've got some recipes I'm interested in trying. I'm so happy to see that potatoes are on the clean eating list :) :) :) seeing as though they cost points on the WW plan. But, whatever. I'm going to try and do both. But now I plead for your help - please please please - if you've got recipes, or a favorite site you like to go to to get recipes for clean eating, please share them here. I need everything: breakfast, lunch, dinner, sides, etc. Treats would be nice too. But not necessary. Anything you've got for breakfast that's grab-and-go or wrap-and-go that I can eat on the way is super helpful. For the past few months I've been eating a homemade egg-and-cheese sandwich that holds me over till lunch (1 egg + 1 egg white, 1 slice 2% milk cheese, on whole-grain "1/3 daily value fiber!" English muffin) and I'm getting kind of bored of it. Ok, really bored of it. Okokok, so bored that I ate Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs a few too many times in the last couple of weeks.
My recipe restrictions: I don't like many veggies (lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, bell peppers, spinach - that's about it), I don't eat any fish (I know, sacre bleu), and I'm not a huuuuge fan of yogurt, though I can deal with it in smoothies and stuff. Anything I can make that "hides" veggies = bonus.
So anyway, there you have it.
Along with all that, I'll also be back to my crazy spreadsheets for September to track my progress. I'm making them now. I swear.
Wish me luck. xo
Sunday, July 21, 2013
FIREWORKS
If you have been holding your breath waiting for my fireworks post, you can let it go now. Because here it is!
I'm so excited to share these with you.
Now believe me - I know that these are not professionally admirable or anything of the like, but I am SO excited that my camera can do this without me having to sit and think about it too much. I'd like to get myself to a fireworks show and get a proper setup going - tripod, remote shutter, etc - and really get some awesome captures. But for the first go-round with my new digital camera, holding as still as I possibly can... this ain't so bad.
First, fun with sparklers:
Now, the fireworks:
And, I think my favorite one of the night:
A big thanks to my good friend Danielle for hosting the 4th of July this year and having us over. She makes a killer burger and an even deadlier Mudslide.
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