Avoiding the Truth

Truth be told, I have avoided posting here because this past weekend was an eating healthy diet BUST. Friday I broke down and ordered Pizza Hut and chowed on 4 pieces that night as well as more the next day. Saturday night my husband and I went out with friends and enjoyed a few drinks, a little sushi, a slice of birthday cake and then topped it off with a late-night run for lard-infused Mexican food. Sunday was slightly better, but not great.

Monday I skipped breakfast and had a 6" Subway chicken breast sub plus nearly 2/3 of a can of Pringles for lunch and for dinner, I made quiche and ate my fair share of the pie.

Ok, so to the point. Today, I stepped onto the scale expecting to be 188 again and to my great shock and surprise, the needle on the scale pointed clearly at 186! One hundred and eighty-six! Now, I ate a light dinner (cereal) last night because my leftover quiche lunch had filled me up and I didn't feel like the pasta I had meal-planned for. But really? 186?!

Totally awesome.

Lesson learned: even if I have an off day, or weekend, or week even, I can always pick up, get back on track and still lose weight. Especially right now when I have a lot to lose.

~C

Rockin' into the '80s!

What's the reason for the '80s-style celebration? Well, I'm excited to post that I am back in the '80s again - 188lbs this morning! I have a looong way to go, but I'm pretty darn happy to be out of the '90s :o).

~C

food log:

breakfast: diet dr. pepper (out of time this morning)

lunch: salad with beet rice, black beans, 2 hard boiled eggs and champagne dressing, diet dr. pepper (the soda is leftover from the birthday party)

snack: apple and honey roasted peanuts, sprite (more leftover soda argh)

dinner: potato with spray butter and ketchup, a big bowl of zucchini and broccoli with spray butter, sprite

snack: honey roasted peanuts and another sprite (I think there are only 3 left - yay!)

Saving grace

I'm rapidly approaching my one-year anniversary of being unemployed and it's making me more emotional than usual. I'm glad I've decided to address my issues with overeating and making bad food choices (not to mention never working out) because it's the one thing that is keeping me from drowning my sorrows in a 1/2 gallon of ice cream or a bag of doritos.

~C

Food log:

breakfast: cottage cheese and strawberries with some sugar

snack: apple

lunch: leftover salad and grilled chicken breast with beet rice and champagne dressing.

snack: pear and 1 Girl Scout cookie - thin mint, a few almonds

dinner: large quesadilla with extra sharp cheddar and veggies on top, homemade Spanish rice with tomatoes, black beans, onions, garlic and green chiles, diet dr. pepper (x2)

Hold on - it might get bumpy!

This past weekend we hosted family for a birthday dinner for my son. He specifically requested hot dogs and french fries to eat. Great.

So, you combine hot dogs with french fries, potato salad, tons of soda, 3 containers of ice cream and one huge cake and you have a diet nightmare. Well, you do if you're me. Especially when the leftovers alone could feed my binging tendencies for a whole week. And binge I did, for the weekend. I ate more hotdogs over 2 days than I have in a year probably. And I enjoyed a piece of cake 3 days in a row for breakfast. And I ate all of the leftover potato salad by myself. I can't tell you how many sodas I drank - some diet and some not.

And how did it make me feel? Like shit. Plain and simple. After several days of "good" eating, my body was not happy with the change back to junky foods and large portions. Thankfully, however, instead of just beating myself up over it, I remembered that every time we eat we have a choice. We can choose to drown our sorrows over the bad choices by making more bad choices, or we can start fresh the next time we open the fridge. And in doing this, we can still achieve better health and healthy weight loss.

With this in mind, I started fresh today. And although my lunch wasn't ideal, it was better than hot dogs, potato salad and ice cream. And, when I weighed myself this morning, I was still at 190 and for the first time in a long time, I put on a pair of jeans and they felt less tight than before.

Food log:

breakfast: 1 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 banana and honey

lunch: 2/3 of a footlong chicken breast sub from Subway - it included mayo, mustard, oil and vinegar as well as cheese and veggies, 2/3 of a can of cheddar Pringles, 2 cans of diet dr. pepper

dinner: TBD though grilled chicken on salad is a likely contender

~C

Would you like some cheese with that w(h)ine?

Today was a long day. But thanks to planning ahead, I did not go straight for the carb-loading pasta that I adore when I'm feeling stressed and pressed for time. Whew!

You see, earlier in the week I started the family on chore lists. They were not particularly well-received, but the list of everyone's daily responsibilities has been a great stress reliever for me. Part of the chores includes assigning meal planning for each day of the week. Today was my hubby's day and although he didn't come up with the idea himself, he was responsible for picking up a roast, carrots and onion on his way home from work as well as getting it prepped and in the crockpot before he left for work at 1:30 p.m.

When I arrived home after a crazy day at work, the house smelled fabulous, the dishes were all done, and we were able to eat within 5 minutes. Talk about awesome! And I have a plan for the leftovers tomorrow which will make dinner prep a cinch.

Anyway, the piece de resistance was a yummy glass of wine at the end of a long day while enjoying a home cooked meal. Ahhhhh . . .

Food log:

breakfast: bread with PB and honey, coffee w/ cream and sugar, 1 praline

snack: apple

lunch: leftover salad with chx, balsamic, etc like last night, 5 strawberries

dinner: 2 small servings of roast with a side of carrots, onions and celery, 1 glass of red wine

dessert: small slice of ice cream cake - now all gone and out of the house!

Weight this morning: 190

~C

Hello, Mr. Salad.

My name is C and it's been a while since we've seen each other. I know that you are good for me and everything, but could you please be a little less "cleansing"?? It is kind of gross.

Thanks a bunch - glad we had this talk.

breakfast: bread w/ peanut butter and honey, 5 strawberries, coffee w/ creamer and sugar

lunch: lemon butter pasta leftovers with extra 1/2 chx breast, apple

snack: one peanut butter chocolate GS cookie, 1 praline

dinner: salad with tomatoes, onion, parm cheese, basil, and homemade balsamic vinaigrette, grilled chicken

Start. Stop. Start. Stop. Start!!

Daily food log:

breakfast:
cottage cheese with honey drizzle

1 hard boiled egg

sweet coffee with creamer

lunch:

turkey deli meat

1 cup Trader Joe's chicken fried rice (surprisingly healthy and low fat) with light asian sesame dressing

apple slices and cream cheese on 2 celery sticks (didn't care for that much)

dinner:

1 reasonable-sized serving of pasta - spaghetti with a lemon butter cream sauce, tomatoes, basil, garlic and grilled chicken

dessert: about 3 bites of my son's ice cream birthday cake

I feel good about my eating today. Hooray!

Full Disclosure

Ok - I want a re-do. A chance to once again 'try again'. And, since it's a new year I'm entitled to it right? Well, I'm hoping that by using this blog as a means of accountability, pursuing a healthy lifestyle might actually be possible as we kick off a new decade. So, I'm joining my friend C in an attempt to make better choices. Like C, I absolutely cannot say the "D" word (diet!) or I will be consumed by it, fight against the act of "D"ing, and honestly turn into a wretched woman that no child or human should ever have to encounter. I simply can't diet - or can I? This pursuit has always been something I've had to do on my own - and left to my own devices I lie, cheat and steal (yes, there is still an empty box of thin mints hiding under my bed that I stole from my husband last summer). So, this will be the first time I fully disclose my poor habits, my self loathing and my daily challenges and tribulations when it comes to food. I'm not going to lie - I need help. But this time I can't afford to pay for a magic pill. This time, it's all me and C. Two women capable of empowering each other but not ourselves. So, we plan to feed each other our own medicine and see if this route will do the trick. I have to do this over time and with support and stop hiding my feelings, stop talking a talk I've yet to walk. I can honestly say if there is a fad diet I've done it - including convincing my husband that spending $400 for hcg injections was going to do it this time - "swear"! That was just my latest of many, many dieting mistakes made in this short life. Here's a resolution to not make too many more.

Following C's lead - here is the low down on me:
Age - 35
Current weight - 195
Height - 5' 4
Heaviest - 212 (after first child)
Lowest - 127 (age 23)
Body Fat - 46% (I have one of those fancy schmancy scales and I hope it's broken, that is high!!!)



Let's see if this full disclosure thing works. Have to be completely honest, already not liking it. I'm a private person (its the Scorpio in me) but we'll see if this works - at this point, I'll try anything.

~M

Will someone save me from myself?

I bought a bag of tortilla chips today and I can't stop eating them! Argh!!! Feel free to drop by and remove them from my kung fu grip.

Ok, vent over. Chips are going into the pantry.

Food log:

Breakfast: chocolate drizzled popcorn with Starbucks coffee. I ran out of cottage cheese today.
Snack: 1 See's chocolate, tortilla chips with mango salsa
Dinner: Tasty salad, butternut squash soup, and Indian carrot/butter dessert
Midnight Snack: too many tortilla chips with salsa to admit

~C

Daily Food Log 1/5/10

Ok, started out good and went astray then returned back to my senses. Work sucks when there are always treats!!!

Breakfast: Cottage cheese w/ pear jam, 2 cups coffee w/ creamer and sugar
Snack: 2 See's chocolates
Lunch: Costco Pub Mix (snack mix) wth??
Snack(s): 3 more chocolates and a few kernels of chocolate drizzled popcorn, diet coke
Dinner: 2 servings of salad - diced steak, onions, cheese chunks, artichoke hearts atop romaine lettuce with low fat Champagne dressing. Not my usual salad combo but pretty tasty nonetheless.

As for a stats update, I weighed myself this morning and appear to have lost 3 pounds. It may be back tomorrow but it was nice to see a decrease instead of an increase for once.

~C

Every journey begins with a step

I hope to eventually update the blog daily with a food accountability log. That has worked for me in the past but every new routine takes some getting used to. Today, I am happy to report that my first step in my journey back to wellness (health, emotional, spiritual, financial, etc.) has started with eating cottage cheese with homemade pear jam for breakfast the past 4 days.

I doubt there are many people out there who would say that cottage cheese changed their life, but it's a healthy alternative for me and one that I know that I can live with. When I was pregnant with my son two years ago, I developed gestational diabetes and had to test my blood sugar several times a day and also followed a more balanced diet than I was accustomed to. Cottage cheese and fruit got me through the last three months of my pregnancy and I'm glad to get back on track like I did then.

I've also eaten a salad or two and am working on portion control - not an easy task for me when it comes to pasta which we had for dinner tonight. But like the title says, every journey begins with a step and I'm just getting started!

~C

Welcome and starting stats

Welcome to Fuzzy Mints! This blog is a personal and honest journey of two moms working toward a healthier lifestyle.

As for me, I'm not a fan of words like diet, weight loss, can't eat that, no carbs, low carbs, skinny, fat, etc. I believe that as I make better choices for myself, I will naturally feel better and look healthier without the pressure to diet and lose weight.

With this in mind, I thought I would start out with a list of numbers:

195 - Current weight
5'7" - height
30 - age
190 - highest weight during pregnancy
2 - children
6 -years of marriage
9 - months I have been out of work

Ok, enough said about that!

~C