Pour some salt on Clay

WOW Clay. I don't know a ton about nutritional stuff, but even my mind read that number and was like "That is not good!" I am so sorry that you can't have the sandwich anymore. I know how much you like it. If anyone could have the willpower to avoid it, it for sure will be you!

Not much to say today. My computer is in the OR as we speak and I am hoping that the computer doctors take good care of her.

Angie is out camping so hopefully she is having fun and drinking tons of (lite) beer.

Last softball game tonight....hope we can keep up the streak and lose another game!

can't think of a good title

so the blog appears to have jumped the shark here.  smattering of postings here and there, but none of us are posting consistently to it - what i'm hoping that means is that everyone finally understands what they need to do in order to lost a little weight, but most importantly know what they need to do in order to be healthy overall.

here's my learning from yesterday, and it hurts to say - i'm never eating jimmy johns again.  god do i love that stuff, and i had been (in retrospect) telling myself that i was eating healthy by going there.  think again.  i checked out their nutritional facts on the sandwich that i get there every time.  it's turkey, ham, cheese, tomatoes, and mayo.  doesn't sound bad right?  2400 mg of sodium in one freaking sandwich!  i almost passed out.  couldn't believe it.  so that's just for lunch, and if you add in the rest of my day, that's like 2-3 days worth of sodium in one day because of that sandwich.  just couldn't believe it.  so, the lesson here is always check a label before you eat anything on a consistent basis.  i obviously need to find a replacement, but for the moment i'm gonna make sure i don't drown in my pool of tears since i can't go back :(

outside of that, the weather has been freaking awesome, so that's a plus.  i won't say much about the dancing class here other than it was a good cardio workout and for the most part did what i wanted it to do - give me a workout so i don't have to run on a treadmill all the time.

ok, off to work i go (but working from home today so a little bit easier than the normal work).  hope you guys have a great day!

Shake Your Grove Thing Clay

First, sorry about calling you on Sunday. It didn't even cross my mind at the time that it was Father's Day. I completely understand and am sorry that I yelled at you for not calling me back.

We are officially 3 weeks for LA! I can't wait to be in LA with you guys. So exciting. I haven't posted me weight because it didn't go anywhere. No down and no up, so I guess it could be worse. I did fit into my size 4 skirt today that a few months ago I could barely fit into. And someone called me super skinny today. That might be a little of a stretch, but I will take the compliment never-the-less.

Next Tuesday, I will so be at the class watching you dance. That will for sure be the highlight of the week. Ang, you should definitely come with us.

hello hello hello

wow...sounds like life has been a little up and down over the past couple of days.

nat, sorry to hear about yesterday, and yes, guys can be jerks, among other things.  hopefully your computer is back up and running and you're able to get some things done.  and sorry about sunday - i was at the house all day from noon forward, so there was definitely no pool lounging or anything like that.  being father's day, i wanted to spend the entire day with the girls - as much as possible anyway.

ang, hope that the hotel situation hasn't continued into this week and still driving you nuts.  and hope that your weekend went well.  haven't seen anything out here from you in a couple days - hoping that means that things are going good and that you haven't had to post anything :)

the wedding sounded like it was a good time.  the pics were good too.

nothing much new from me.  the first hip-hop class is tonight.  think it'll be a good departure from running on a treadmill for cardio :)  also hoping that i don't make a fool of myself in the class, so we'll see.  thankfully you can pay as you go so if it's not something that i'm too into i don't have to go back next week - but really, i want to do this stuff like twice a week: once in class and then once out.

my eating for the weekend with the girls was ok - wasn't great, but was good enough.  obviously i continue to try and make sure that their eating is healthy and balanced.  taking corporate athlete training last week was another shot-n-the-arm about why taking care of yourself on all levels is a good thing to do.  and as a side note, i'm signed-up for the train-a-trainer class in september so that i can become a trainer in that class, so if you take it from like october-on you might have me as a trainer :)   my exercise has been down lately, and i'm really not sure why.  i guess i haven't made it a priority like i should, but that's not like me.  it better get back soon.

nat, what's your weight?  you kept saying that you were gonna weigh yourself.  is there a reason why you haven't?  ang, how are you doing in that category?  fitting into clothes yet that you want to?

ok, back to work.  hope you guys are doing well!  i'll stop up later today!

Today was a Shit Show

UGH....WHAT A DAY! Today was the definition of a shit show. I am using this blog to vent, so if you don't want to hear whining, stop reading.

Day started off well enough. That was until around 930 when my computer decided to just die. Given that I have nothing that I need to do at work, this wasn't an issue....not! The lovely tech support people came about an hour later and proceed to do things with my computer for the next 3 hours. I come back from a wonderful meeting with Angie and am delighted to see that my computer is running. Delightment ends here though, because it is a fake. The computer appears to work, but Outlook, Communicator, excel and a bunch of other things don't operate. The guess IT leaves early though bc no one was able to return my call past 3:30. We will try again tomorrow.

I brush it off and go try to help the world. A friend asked me to meet with a girl who is a business student at UC as she is interested in CMK. I set up time with her to meet and talk at 6:00 in Rookwood. She calls at 6 and says she will be a few minutes late as traffic is really bad. No big deal, I am an understanding person. 40 minutes later and two unreturned phone calls, she is a no show. I leave, feeling delighted that I wasted so much of my evening. I am sure that you can appreciate this Clay, as I know you late people being late.

To top it off, I got a piece of information today that should have made me happy, but instead it worked to upset me. Men are just trash. Ang, you already know what this is but I will update you later Clay.

Thats all.....tomorrow is a new day. And hopefully this new day includes a working computer.

Dancing Queens

Hope you had fun this weekend with the girls Clay. I had to really restrain myself to not drunk call you on Saturday!

The wedding was very good. The eating, not so good. There were several times where your name came up. It went something like "Clay would not approve!" On a positive diet note, we danced our butts off, so I am hoping that numerous calories were burned during that. I mean doing the booty call and the Superman dance have got to work off some calories. Angie, I can definetly see the potenial you have for line dancing greatness. I cant wait to see you bust a move in the country bar setting.

Today's eat.....not on track. Not so bad in terms of what I ate, but horrible in terms of quantity. Rachel and I went to Greenup Cafe today for brunch. I love that place. It makes me feel like I am in New York or something.

Two cups of coffee with cream
Country potatoes, small greens salad, and quiche (YUMMMMMMM)
Nothing else to eat till about 9 tonight...not good I know. I made 2 English muffins with butter and jelly.

3 weeks to LA.....i need to keep being healthy.

good morning

hey guys.  just wanted to post real quick before the day really gets started.  the girls are watching robin hood right now, one of my disney favorites.  eating yesterday was about the same, minus a snack and a little less water than usual.  

hope you guys are having a good weekend, and i hope that the wedding went well last night.  will talk to you guys tomorrow!

TGIF

I am so glad that everyone is back at it. I still cannot wrap my mind around Clay and line dancing till late at night without even having one drink. Very cute I am sure, but just not something that you would expect from Mr. Brizendine. I can't wait to see us all at dance class. I will make sure to bust a move!

I now know that I am old because it is a Friday night and I am excited about being at home on my couch with episodes of What Not to Wear and Ten Years Younger on.

My eating for the day:
English muffin with PB and J, coffee with skim milk
Spanikopita (sp) and a greek salad with water
A bit of the worse tasting piece of chocolate bar that I have ever tasted....thanks for that Clay!
Not a good "dinner"- a Margaretta and half, chips and guacamole, some sort of taco-ess thing.

Yeah for the wedding tomorrow! Angie and I will do our best to try to not drunk call or text you Clay.

Will power is a good thing

Ang, sorry to hear about the bags of chips shoved in your face and the 4x too big helpings of food at your parent's house.  Old habits have a hard way of dying with older parents.  My mom was so used to cooking for 3 boys that when we get together sometimes with just one of the sons and the parents now the food quantity is still the same.  But good job holding off on the chips and keeping the pasta quantity ok.  With the game tonight (praying for no rain), just don't binge.  It's ok to eat some of that stuff every now and then - just don't let everything you've done so far get thrown down the trash at once :)

Nat, hope Houston was/is ok for ya.  Not sure when you were coming back, but hope you have a safe flight back as I assume that was last night or sometime today.

OK, about this whole dancing thing.  Back when I was in my 4th year in college, I realized that I really liked to dance.  Actually, it might have been a wedding or two at some point before then, but that 4th year is really when I started to get into it.  There was a place just off of Purdue's campus called the Neon Cactus, and that's where I started getting into it.  They'd line dance until about 1 or 1:30 AM (I would learn the dances just from watching other people out on the floor, and semi making a fool of myself trying them a few times with everyone else).  Once 1 or 1:30 hit, they'd switch the music to hip-hop/club music, and the floor would turn into a little different kind of dancing :)  I did that all during my 4th year, and then I came to intern here.

Brian Schwartz, still a good friend to this day, was one of my roommates at Xavier when I came to intern.  He loved to dance as much as I did, and we went to the Forest Fair mall 2-3x a week to learn line dances and dance.  We'd be there till 2 every time we went, and lessons were around 8, so we were there for a while.  We learned about 40 new dances that summer, and even performed a competition line dance at the end of the summer that the head instructor there wanted us to do.  So when I went back to Purdue, I wanted to dance every night, but as an RA, I obviously couldn't.  But I did as much as possible, and for about 5 months after I moved here in June 2000, I kept it up.

Since then, unfortunately, my dancing has gone down.   I've maybe been 10 times since 2002.  The thing is, I hate running, and dancing would certainly provide the interval cardio that running would.  And it would get me out more.  And to be clear, while I'm doing all this dancing, even at a club, I'd have nothing but water to drink.  You can't keep dancing for 6 hours while drinking alcohol the entire time, so bartenders learned to hate me because I'd get nothing but the good ol H2O.

I sent a note to a friend of mine who teaches dance and she gave me some recos today on places to go.  I'll widdle down the list and see where to sign up.  Let me know if either of you are interested.

Yesterday was corporate athlete training for me, so I definitely ate right there.  Dinner was a frozen pizza for one, but it was probably the best I've ever eaten.  A California Pizza Kitchen Sicilian pizza.  It was great.  Today the snacks have been the usual, but trying to figure out now what to do for lunch since I didn't bring it.

Will talk to you guys later!

Talk about a test of will-power

I dealt with a huge amount of pressure to overeat tonight...yes, I ate at my parent's house. I love visiting them, but I know what meals at the Bien house are like. Snacks sitting out while mom is cooking (sometimes healthy things like raw veggie sticks, but not tonight) and dinner in MASS proportions even if it's healthy. Tonight, they had Ruffles Potato Chips and onion dip on the counter when I got there. After having the bag pushed toward me several times, I took 5 chips and put a tablespoon of the dip in a dish and chewed REALLY slowly. Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs with a piece of garlic bread. I ate a very small portion and again chewed SLOWLY. My dad is obese, but my mom is tiny. Probably because he orders her around like an army seargent and she never sits still for more than 30 seconds at a time because of it. Old school marriage. Gotta love it. Not. After dinner, my mom and I walked a hilly 2.5 miles around her neighborhood. Exercise is good.

Lunch was a cluster as well, although I didn't go nuts. Come on! Free Montgomery Inn ribs? Are you kidding me? I ate a small slab and a few chips dipped in BBQ. SO freaking good! I think I could eat ribs every day. Every mother loving day.

Tomorrow...BIG challenge. Brand lunch (must order healthy and eating out is hard for me b/c of unlimited choices of yummy food and gigantic protions). Happy hour after work and then taking Joe to the Red's game for father's day. Ball park foods?? Forget about it. Ice cold overpriced beer! Hello? It's me!!! I'm in big trouble. Wish me luck!

Briz- What's up? I'm waiting to hear from my supposed dancin' machine (watch him get down, watch him get down) Where the heck are ya???

Clay Brizendine = Dancing Machine

Greetings for Texas Ya'all (I actually saw a church sign that said "Prayer for Us Ya'all...really people? Does God talk like that???)

Clay, I don't even know what to say. I knew that you liked dancing and are talented at it (the boy has moves), but had no idea about these lessons. That the heck?!?!? What kind of classes were these? When did you do this? More detail is certainly needed. While I suck at dancing, I am sure that when we go out and I have a few drinks in me, I will be busting out all the moves. You can surely count Mrs. Lang and I in on that.

Yeah for being so skinny Ang! I am so proud of you. Hot, Hot, Hot! I haven't weighed myself yet this week, but will do that tomorrow morning at home. I want to be skinny too.

The eating was a little off yesterday with the traveling. I am in the torture test of eating today...i.e. at a research facility with a ton of food consistently available. So far, so good, but there is a ton more time to go. I will hang in there.

Yesterday:
Yogurt with granola and water
Auntie Ann's pretzel at the airport (not a lunch I realize)
Coffee with creamer and peanuts on the plane
Chipotole burrito bowl with chips in Houston, iced tea
We did Indian for dinner which I thought I didn't like and I now know I don't like. I had a couple of pieces of some chicken thing and rice, but not much.

Final point, the city of Houston loves Clay. I have seen more streets named after him than I can even count at this point. That man sure does leave his mark.

I'm in it to win it!

I weighed myself this morning and I am 133lbs. I am super excited about it because I have clothes that fit me know that I haven't put on in 2 or 3 summers. Last week I weighed in at 132, but I think it may have been a fluke with the scale. !33 is fine by me. I have gone to the pool every night this week so far and have managed to tread water for at least a half hour each time. We are taking the kids back tonight, so I can do it again. I am loving this as a form of exercise and am finally seeing changes in my arms.

Food has been ok. I made a bunch of black bean roll ups, but had to throw them away b/c there were tomatoes inside that I bought before the recall. I bought all of the ingredients again (sans tomatoes) and they are sitting on my counter. Hopfully I can make them tonight. I have been stcking to cereal or eggs and coffee in the morning, an early light lunch, afternoon snack of a Pria bar (although yesterday I caved and got Starbucks because I needed some caffeine) and random stuff for dinner. Dinner is always the hardest for me. It's when I tend to over eat. Swimming has helped with that as well since it's hard to over eat and then tread water. All in all, I feel like I'm doing OK...definitely back on track with the things I was doing before surgery.

Briz - Let me get this straight...you DANCE??? So much that you used to do it for hours at a time??? Who are you, dude? All I know is you are my new best friend because I LOVE to dance. I actually took a hip-hop class on the west side of town from a girl who was a Ben-gal cheerleader to lose the pregnancy weight I put on with Gabe. OMG, it was really hard work and I felt like an idiot, but I was in really good shape. I was also a clogger for 10 years. (insert laughter here) Remember I grew up in the country. I promise it was the best exercise EVER and as a bonus, I got to wear a square dancing outfit and double-tap capezios. Yes, I still have them and yes they still fit. I get them out every once in a while to make my kids laugh.

I'm going to need more details on your dance history and we are going to have to go dancing one night in LA. Did you ever do any couples dancing? With all of that dance time per day, were you a professional? I need to know this stuff!!! What other talents are you hiding?

Where, o where, have my posts all gone?

man, i am getting terrible at this stuff.  really.  thankfully my eating hasn't gone as awry as my posts have.

natalee, i do want to say that i'm proud of you for the weight loss and for keeping your eating on track most of the time.  an occasional lapse is to be expected (i still do that - remember wendy's :) but you've done a really good job of late keeping the will power strong and eating good stuff.  that's awesome!

ang, with everything going on around you with sick kids and new country club memberships, i can imagine it's been a little tough keeping things going good :)  the treading water thing is awesome, so definitely keep that up, and the week that you brought the wraps in for lunch was definitely a good idea.  keep stuff like that going and you'll for sure make your way to your ideal size...whatever that is :)

two interesting things for you guys that I thought about recently:

1 - there's only some people that enjoy running or being on the eliptical or something like it for cardio.  but as i  watched savannah's dance recital the other day, which included 4 or 5 hip hop dance routines, i thought about some of the times that i was in the best shape of my life.  honestly, one of those is when i was dancing 2-3 times a week for 4-6 hours at a time.  talk about keeping your metabolism going!!!!  i could eat like crap and the fact that i was dancing that much was burning 1500 calories each time without me even knowing it.  so, that being said, one of my missions this week is to find out where they teach hip hop dance classes to old folk like me :)  and sign up.  i'll gladly take $$ out of somewhere else in order to do something i love that will keep me in shape.  isn't that what we all look for?  and given that, if you guys want to join me either in the class, or more importantly out dancing some weekend or even weeknight, ur more than welcome to join :)

2 - there were actually two things that were going to go in here, but i spent so much time writing the first one i forgot what this one was :)  oh wait - now i remember.  it was eating fresh foods and not frozen or canned ones.  over the past couple of weeks i've been comparing on and off the contents of frozen vegetables vs fresh, and obviously there's not comparison in that fresh are 1000x better than the other stuff.  what i was surprised about is how easy it is to cook some of the fresh veggies.  green beans?  throw them in boiling water and let them boil.  asparagus?  put em in the oven and let em cook.  things like that have changed up some of the ways that i eat and i do really feel better for it.

ok, back to work for now since it's 2.  nat, hope you had a safe flight to houston.  ang, hope ur day is going well too.  adios for now!

Yeah for Angie being back

Glad you are back Ang. I love the new exercise idea, all I need now is a pool. Maybe my trainer Clay can step it up and invite me to his pool. (Wink, Wink).

We are now under a month till LA. The time is flying by quickly - I think I started counting at 80 or so. Getting there soon.

My eating today was good. It went as follows:
Yogurt and granola, ice tea
Turkey burger with cheese on wheat (When, o when are the veggie burgers coming back?!?!?), side salad with ranch
150 calorie snack pack - There were the most amazing sugar cookies up on our floor today, which Ang can a test to. No less than 10 people asked me if I wanted on or ate one in front of me. My will power was at its strongest, because I didn't even have one bite.
Ice tea/lemonade combo from starbucks
PBJ on wheat, backed tortilla chips and salsa, water.

Heading to Houston tomorrow, so I will have to be on my game to make sure I stick with it.

You are not alone...

I wanted to post something last night, but it was really late when I got into bed and I didn't want to log on.

Summary of the weekend is that I finally exercised!!! Joe and I walked every day and this was the first weekend we took advantage of our new Deer Run Country Club membership. I have a new favorite exercise. Treading water in the pool! Every time Joe or I get in the water, we have to tread for 15 minutes. We are always creating little games like that to amuse ourselves, but I think this one will stick. We ended up doing this about 4 or 5 times, so that is at least an hour of treading. I can feel every muscle in my body today, so I know it was a good workout.

Food intake...not so good. Quantity was decent until Sunday, but quality left a lot to be desired. Sunday was (as Natalee would say) a shit show. Way too much Frisch's breakfast bar in the morning, beer at the pool and pizza for dinner. I felt so gross last night that I made him walk a lap around the neighborhood. Yuck! Comfort food is one thing, but eating like that 2 times in one day is disgusting.

I am back on track today, but went snackless this morning due to a late breakfast and early lunch. I'll write a full menu report tonight.

One lonely Blogger

So apparently it is just me on here. Since apparently I am talking to myself, I will be brief and say that I had an "ok" weekend. Given that I was back home for the weekend and went to a wedding, I am happy with my eating. I would have normally used it as an excuse to overeat, but I did a good job with moderation. Given how much Rachel and I sweated it up on the dance floor, I wouldn't be surprised if I dropped a pound this weekend.

Come back to the blog my friends!

I have discovered the healthy alternative for ice cream

Yagurt....It just might be the best thing ever. Rachel and I discovered it after dinner tonight in Rockwood. It is a soft serve yogurt based ice cream that is 99% fat free. It has a really unique taste and when you add in coconut and almonds, it is a really healthy snack (I think).

Keeping it short tonight, so here is my food for the day:
Cereal with skim mils
Iced tea
Tuna salad on wheat with lettuce and tomato, chips
100 calorie oreos - which have no real resemblence to actual oreos
Dinner with Rachel at PJ Changs - stemmed veggie dumplings, glass of white wine, sweet and sour chicken
Yagurt

Home for the weekend for my friend's wedding, but I will try my best to post. Ang, have fun at the graduation. You are going to look smoking hot! Clay- Keep enjoying the vacation.

One Year as a Full Time Working Girl!

Today was my one year anniversary of working at P&G. (Glad to see that my bestest friend completely forgot about it even though I reminded him just the other day =) I remember when I started just a mere year ago, I was so much thinner. What a difference a year will make...in so many different ways.

Anyways, enough of me being introspective, I will just get down to the details.

Cereal at home with skim milk
Water throughout the morning
Early lunch - Ang and I were on the ITC nerdy eating schedule. Turkey burger on wheat with cheese (when, o when are the regular veggie burgers coming back?!?!?!) Salad with spinach lettuce, black olives, egg, cheese, and ranch dressing
100 calorie pack of oreos
Edgar planned a surprise HH for me at Nada. Very sweet of him. I had a margareetia and a half and some chips and quac.
Weird dinner - English muffin with butter and jelly, apple sause

The exercise has been off this week. Not good. Since the race, I havent run since. I need to figure out something to do when there are rainy days and I can't run outside (without being dripping wet).

Hope the vacation is going well coach.

Liking snacks

So the first thing that I need to say is that I love that you guys had snacks yesterday - that is awesome!  And they weren't coffee - a Pria bar and a kellogg's bar, in my book, are actual snacks.  If you guys could keep that up I'll be really happy.

Yes, I did go to Wendy's yesterday, and yes I ordered a double-cheeseburger.  It just hit me as I was driving by the place - it just sounded so damn good.  And it tasted the same too.  Was great!  That's the good thing about the way I eat...so often I'm watching everything that so closely that sometimes I forget about what eating 'comfort food' can do for the soul :)  It was definitely good.  Snacks for the day were about the same, if not more than usual, and dinner was baked salmon with asparagus.  i've started putting fresh blueberries or strawberries into my cereal each morning for an extra boost of healthiness each day too.

How is the exercise coming along?  I haven't seen much about that lately and would like to see how you guys are doing.  Ang, I know a sick little one prevents some of that.  Nat, I know that you were running a little, but don't know if ur still doing that or not.  See if you guys can start listing that along with your food for the day.

Oh, and Nat, again - VERY proud of the healthy weight loss.  Let's keep it up!

Quick Post

I am so freaking tired tonight, I won't bore you guys with witicisms or whining...I'll just hit you with the facts and go to bed.

Breakfast: Raising Bran & Coffee
Snack: Pria Bar (how about that Briz?!)
Lunch: Veggie Burger on wheat with pepper jack cheese and diet pepsi
Dinner: A little more than half of a Carnitas Burrito Bowl and Corona Lite from Chipotle.

I drink too much alcohol. I know this. I have to stop drinking during the week because the chub is not going anywhere.

Amen. Goodnight.

Clay ate Wendy's Today...Is the sky going to fall?

Why in the word are you up at 7:20 on your week off?!?!? You need to be sleeping in my dear. If you aren't going to take advantage of this, Angie and I would be more than happy to switch you places.

Today was a day of "shock and awe" when I got your text. I don't believe that in all the months that I have known you, you have ever eaten at a fast food restaurant. I don't even know what to say besides, I am so proud!

The new weight, as of last Tuesday, was 145. I am feeling good about that (though there is a big part of me that wants to be 135 or better yet 125). Not going to happen I know. But glad to see that I am making progress.

I need to get more on track with the snacking. Clay, your comment about it keeping your metabolism working is just the kind of input that I need to make me stick to it better.

Here is my day:

Cereal with skim milk - the healthy kind, Kellogg's with strawberries
Coffee with one cream
Cheese and spinach quesdilla, iced tea, some chips and salsa - It was the Welcome lunch for Air Care CMKs newest member. Not sure how I feel about my new CMK team yet....we will see.
Kellogg's cereal bar before a quick trip to the mall that was completely unproductive
The rest of my super healthy fruit, spaghetti, iced tea

Enjoy your day off tomorrow Mr. Brizendine. Ang, I will see you in the office in the morning.

hey there

good morning ladies.  so it's 720 AM on tuesday and i'm awake and posting.  what's up with that?  got some things to do today so needed to be up a little earlier to get them all done.

ok, first, i'm starting to suck at posting.  really.  as your coach i should be out here all the time, but i'm not.  my apologies for that.

as far as the actual eating goes, i haven't veered too much from the daily routine.  sunday was a little off given our shopping excursion, but i did my best to bring snacks to not totally drop the ball for the day.  yesterday the only snack that i didn't have was my apple.  lunch with pbj and dinner was lasagna right after working out.

i think the best thing about the past 5 days or so is that i've actually gotten myself back into the gym.  lifting well and running well, and i can feel my body already getting back into it.  when you exercise regularly, again, your body does the work for you of remembering that you need to eat, and when it tells you to eat, you need to listen to it.

nat, i didn't see your new weight out there - post that sucker! :)  ang, i soooo hope gabe gets to feeling a little better and you get some relief from playing nurse.  that has to be hard, especially at the very beginning of the summer.  hopefully he's better soon and you can both get back to normalcy.

last thought then i have to scram.  one thing that i'm seeing is that you guys are very off and on with the snacks.  as much as you possibly can, make sure that those are in your routine for the day.  remember, snacking keeps your metabolism going throughout the day, thus helping you lose weight even if ur sitting at work.  and obviously i want that snack to be as healthy as possible.  an apple, some pretzels, part of a protein bar (you guys could start eating 1/2 a protein bar for a snack, and then the other half later as another snack - that would be pretty good).

ok - out of here for now.  will talk to you guys later!

Poor Gabe and Angie

Sorry to hear that Gabe isn't feeling better yet. It looks like he should be turning the corner soon.

Ha! Your feedback cracks me up. You will have to tell me who said that. I don't think that you come across any more overwhelmed than anyone else at work. I know that I am overwhelmed with work 98% of the time. Just because suppliers have such easy jobs doesn't mean that they can't appreciate how hard we work to make the world smell better. I am sad that you don't look forward to coming at work....especially since I am there! =(

I am all about doing another 5K. We will have to make sure that we keep our eye out for those races and don't miss them.

I am feeling good about the eating today:
Yogurt and granola, water
Salad from Ingredients. YUMMM- Mixed greens, cheddar cheese, artichokes, mushrooms, egg, sunflower seeds and fat free ranch. More water.
100 calorie pack and one bite of cake
Fresh fruit cup with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries (this makes me think of what you eat all the time, Clay!), Lean Cuisine spaghetti, more water.

Still confined to the house.

Gabe woke up again this morning with a fever. A trip to the Dr. revealed Fifths Disease which is not really a disease but a virus. He is supposedly at the tail end of it, but will probably need to stay home again tomorrow. I'm hoping his dad will step up to the plate there because I worked from home today and will also have to work from home on Thursday since he has early dismissal (I'm talking they go in at 9:00 and are dismissed at 10:45 on the last day of school...how dumb is that???)

Anyway, despite the fact that I'm going stir crazy, I have managed not to overeat. If anything, I haven't eaten enough with all of the attention I've had to pay to him and trying not to let work slip.

Breakfast: Raisin Bran and Coffee
Lunch: Black Bean Burrito and half a diet pepsi
Snack: Butter and Jelly on Wheat Toast
Dinner: Home-made quesadilla...same as last night and a corona lite with lime

I am sitting here finishing my corona and wondering if I will ever catch up on life. I got all of my W&DP feedback and and agency person said "always seems overwhelmed with her workload". I wanted to laugh. I have to try to put out a better vibe, but I'm not someone who is going to pretend that everything is peachy when it isn't. Of course I'm overwhelmed! Is anyone who works at P&G not overwhelmed? If there is someone out there who isn't I want their job. I know the surgery and being out didn't help in catching up, but I am so freaking burnt out on Febreze. How much and how long can you give a shit about scented water? Just once I want to wake up and want to go to work.

Did I mention I've been staring at the same walls since Friday? UGH!!!

I can't believe I have to go back to work tomorrow.

I just realized that my post last night was so late that is was actually already today...if that makes sense. I am such a night owl. I just love when the house is quiet, the kids are tucked in and Joe is asleep next to me. (He's so darn cute when he's sleeping. I also love how much I love my husband. I don't, however, love that he is snoring!)

I think Gabe's fever finally broke. (Fingers crossed.) Today was Sunday Funday, our neighborhood street party. He was determined not to miss the bike parade or the firetruck opening their hoses on the kids. I loaded the little guy with Motrin and he did just fine. I waited for the fever to come back and so far it hasn't. He's tired, but hopefully he'll be 100% tomorrow. I feel like this weekend didn't even happen bc we were stuck inside so much. Food today was not so good, but the beverages were straight up bad.

Breakfast: 2 cups coffee w/cream
Lunch: Black bean burrito and water
Snack: Hotdog and beer at Sunday Funday
Beer, beer, beer (I did put lime in it, so there was at least some fresh fruit intake. Ha!)
Dinner: Home-made wheat quesadillas w/chicken, cheese, sour cream and my special home-made salsa and water.

I still have a little sickie boy...

I'm sad to report my little man can't shake this fever. Medicine makes his temp go down for a while, but it keeps going back up. The poor kid is still all wrapped up in a fleece even thought it's borderline hot in here. Despite the beautiful weather, I only went outside once today to grill chicken for dinner for Ava and I and so that I'd have something healthy to reheat for the next few days. I just felt so bad for Gabe.

Nat, I'm SO proud of you for running the 5K today! We should plan to do the Reggae Run and Run Like Hell in the fall. I've always wanted to do both but have never done either. I have only done one 5K because I hate running so much, but races are a little bit more fun than running on a treadmill.

Today's eating was not a lot. I will try to do better tomorrow.

Breakfast: Raisin Brand and coffee
Lunch: Black Bean Roll Up and coffee
Dinner: Half a grilled chicken breast with BBQ for dipping and Miller Light
Really long hot bath to cope with cramps and another Miller Light

My body is still all whacked out from surgery. I don't know how that is possible because the surgery was so minor, but I swear I had PMS for 2 weeks and today I had cramps that were reminiscent of the second stage of labor. Crazy shiz.

OK. I have to get some sleep in case Gabe is up in the middle of the night.

OTR 5K Complete

Sorry to hear that Gabe isn't feeling well. Poor guy, at least he has a great Mom who is taking care of him.

Last night I went out with the girls to see Sex and the City. It was actually very good, which was a little bit surprising. Sometimes it seems when things have a ton of hype around them, they sometimes are a big disappointment.

This morning was the Over the Rhine 5K. Thanks to Coach Briz for coming out and supporting. It was great to have you there. I finished the race in about 40 minutes. I ended up running more of the race than I thought I would be able to. I think I ran about 75% of the time. It was a lot of fun, and a completely new experience. The cops were there to keep the course safe, and they provided a lot of encouragement along the way. There are pictures below for you Ang.

Here is my eating for both today and Friday:

yogurt and granola, ice tea

Small slice of ice cream cake - there is always a birthday happening in out work group

Veggie burger on wheat

half of clay's protein bar - I am with Angie on this one. Half is about all I can imagine eating. It is like eating a really thick, and rich brownie. Not bad though.

Glass of white wine, I split a salad with Karlie and had half of a flat bread pizza.

English muffin with jelly and butter, bottle of water before the race

Too much water to count immediately after the race and a half a banana

Ice tea

Water, coleslaw, gyro, and french fries.

Happy Weekend!

The weekend got off to a rocky start in the Lang house. Gabe had a fever when I picked him up from school aftercare. I don't kno why, but the poor kid is afraid to tell anyone but me when he doesn't feel well. I don't know how long he felt bad during the day, but he came home and crashed. He also missed his baseball practice last night and his game this morning, but I think he is feeling a bit better now. I didn't blog last night b/c I was sitting with him, but I'm going to play catch up for yesterday and Thursday. It's easy b/c I ate the exact same thing both days except Clay's (half) Powerbar replaced my Starbucks on Friday.

Breakfast: Raisin Bran and coffee
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Black Bean Roll Up & Diet Pepsi
Snack: Starbucks (thursday) Half Powerbar (friday)
Dinner: Burger w/reduced fat provolone on wheat bun, half baked potato w/butter & cheese and 1 Bud Light

Briz- I liked the Powerbar or whatever it was, but I could never eat a whole one at once. It was too rich.

I also know this beer thing is not good, but I am compelled to drink one at night since the weather is FINALLY warm.

OK. Have to fix lunch for the kids.

Good morning....Good morrrrrning

OK, like Nat, glad to see that everyone's back.  

I do want to make one point tho.  Honestly, I don't care if anyone blogs as long as they're eating and exercising right.  I'd rather you guys take the 10 mins that you would blog and exercise or fix a healthy meal.

My eating yesterday was status quo - snacks as usual, a 6 inch club from Subway for lunch and for dinner, and then a bowl of cereal around 9 as a later snack.

I'm gonna be bringing some snacks up to you guys today to see how you like them.  I know that you guys are eating better than you were before (Ang, you'll get back there, don't worry), but I want to see if we can at least introduce another snack into the day.

Back to work for now....adios!

Angie is back!!!

"Hail, Hail the gangs all here and we are in the blog now!" (That is part of an OSU song, well minus the blog part)

Glad you are back Angie. I am sure that the budget is absolutely NO fun at all. You will push through this though, and when you do, it will be time for LA! I cracked up at your comment about deep fried bacon. That is even worse than the chocolate covered oreos that I saw the other day. People wonder why America is fat....that might be two good examples of why right there.

My eating for the day:
English muffin with butter and jelly, coffee
Small blue berry muffin
PBJ sandwich, baked chips, iced tea
Fat free ice cream from cold stone...the small size with strawberries and rainbow sprinkles. If you were to tell my closest friends and family that I got fat free ice cream, they would laugh in your face. This is a sign of progress in and of itself.
Small salad, 2 pieces of Dewey's pizza, iced tea

Played some softball which Clay can a test to as not being very pretty. I did work the "sexy" leg muscles by catching. They are really sore, indicating how out of practice I am in some area ;)

I'm back and I'm sorry!

I don't know what my problem is. I could give a lot of excuses, but it all boils down to the fact that I am not making this blog a priority. I'm sorry and I am really going to try harder. I just don't know why I have had such a hard time getting back on track since my surgery. Seems like it should have provided new focus but instead my head (and eating) is all over the place. I feel stressed and tired and I am counting the days until the end of the fiscal year. I don't even care where the budget comes in anymore. I just want it to be over.

I am going to weigh myself in the morning. I don't anticipate a low number, but I am hopeful that I will get my head back in the game.

Eating today:
Breakfast: 8:30 small bowl of oatmeal with splenda and a small coffee w/cream
Lunch: 11:30 Black Bean wrap (this will be my lunch every day this week b/c I pre-made them on Monday) and a small diet pepsi
3:30: Tall (small) skim caramel mocha without the whipped cream
Dinner: 7:30 small bowl of skyline chili with cheese and a glass of wine (good combo on a lot of levels, right?) You don't ever have to worry about Natalee eating fattening Skyline Chili...she hates it!

I'm watching this show called Deep Fried Paradise and some dude in Texas actually serves deep fried bacon with cream gravy for dipping at his restaurant. WTF? You might as well slit your wrists...although if you do it after eating that, the cholesterol plaque in your veins may prevent you from bleeding to death.

So we are just missing Angie

Glad that my bestest friend has returned to the blog. I can't believe that I have not been given an update on the personal life drama. I have two thoughts about possibilities, so you comment in ( ) doesn't entirely help. I better get a personal update tomorrow.

In terms of exercise, I have been walk/running at least 3 times a week. As I think I told you the other day, I tracked the distance in my car and it is 2.7 miles. I am sure that this isn't enough. What else should I add?

My eating was good today....it looked like the following,

Scrambled eggs and ice tea
Gyro and small piece of baklava (sp?)
Baked Lays
6 inch Subway sandwich on wheat with cheese, black olives, pickles, cucumbers, and lite mayo. Bottle of water.

Not the only one posting

Nat, I resent the remark that you are the only one posting.  Granted my last real post was a while ago, but I'm still posting! :)

Honestly, I'm not setting a good example for you guys lately, so my apologies for that.  Lately has been a little crazy for me with vacations and way too much work sandwiched in between them.  Personal life has been a little nuts as well (and no Nat, this has nothing to do with a certain subject that I know ur thinking of).

OK, all in all, my eating has been prolly 80% good lately and 20% off.  The off has been things like ice cream with the girls and a little too much pizza which spells B-A-D N-E-W-S for anyone.  Luckily my snacks are saving me - I've been religious about those and haven't deviated even when I've been in the car or with the girls.  Keeping those around has helped.  It's the dinners here and there that have been the issue, but I'm working on those now.  I made a pact to myself the other night that frozen veggies, while convenient, are the DEVIL (Waterboy reference anyone?!?).  Fresh veggies are where it's at, and with new pots and pans from IKEA (I finally broke down and spent a couple bucks on things to actually cook in) I think I'm gonna start trying things.  Been experimenting with baking fish lately, and while costly, it's been ok.  Need to learn the fresh veggie thing to make sure I get those in each day too.

As far as you guys are concerned, it seems like the eating has been fair to good lately, but not great.  And to be clear, mine has been far from great.  The part that I wonder about is the exercise with you guys.  Are you doing it, and if so, are you doing it enough?  It's incredibly important.  I haven't been doing it enough lately, but I hate making excuses as to why.  I just haven't.  So my body is killing me for it, and I want you guys to be in the same spot - that your body tells you to get back in the gym when you haven't been there in a long time.

OK, back to work.  Hope you guys have a great day!

I guess it just me posting these days

Where is my team? I got on tonight fully expecting to see posts from my two favorites. What do I see instead? My post from yesterday at the top of the page. Not good team, not good.

I will be brief and just post what I ate.

Yogurt with granola, coffee with skim milk
Great lunch at this cute place called Paula's. I never even knew about it till today, but I will defin be back. I had a cup of chicken and rice soup and a half a tuna melt sandwich. Water to drink.
Late 100 calorie snack at 5:30
It was dinner with Cincinnati's Best Dinner Club and #8 was Jo An's in Erlanger. It was the first time I was brave enough to eat sushi, so I am proud that I tried something new. Lord only knows what I actually ate but I would sum it up as: 2 cups of Saki, 2 pieces of fried calamari, some mixture of rolls, a salad with ginger dressing, and shrimp. It was very filling, and for the most part good. I am thinking that sushi is relatively good for you in terms of fat and calories, etc. Maybe I am wrong.

Good night guys!

I have returned!

Hey guys,
We have all be on a little hiatus, but I am back at it. Since I haven't posted since Wednesday, I am going to try to do my best to remember everything that has happened. This might be a little bit of a boring post, but it will be helpful for me to reflect on what has went down (into my stomach) the past 1/2 week.

Thursday:
Started off strong with breakfast and lunch - English muffin and fruit, Subway with turkey and lite mayo. The reminder of the day was a shit show. The Beer and Healthy Boobs HH was a great time, but what I had for "dinner" which I will refer to as the "Appetizer Roadshow," was not so good. If Angie came remember and elaborate, I will reference for a reminder.

Friday:
After the horrible eating the previous eating, I decided to revert back to my old ways to make up for it. As I write this, I feel ashamed because Clay's last post was just talking about how he is proud of us. This was not a good day, and I can certainly do better.

OJ, small yogurt, breakfast bar for breakfast. Lunch consisted of 2 bags of cheese, a bag of crackers, and a 100 calorie pack. Disgusting I know. There is of course a story behind this - Angie wanted to go to Skyline for lunch. I decided to be wild and try it. I love Cincinnati and I love Angie, but that is the nastiest thing I have ever seen or attempted to eat in my life. Never again.
Dinner - I had none. This is the bad part. I did the mall and a ton of shopping and just didn't really eat. I had an iced tea and eventually at 11:00 or so, some chicken nuggets.

Saturday:
I got up and went for a run. I decided to figure out how far I was running/walking so I drove the route and tracked the mileage in the car. It is 2.5 miles. I need to get it in gear for the 5K on Sunday.
No breakfast, lunch was a cheese quesadia and chips and salsa. Dinner was a salad with ranch and mashed potatoes.

Sunday:
English muffin with lite butter and jelly
Baby shower brunch - Bethany and I split a Greek salad, and a salmon flat bread pizza. I had a roll, glass of white wine and a piece of the most beautiful cake ever.
BBQ with the girls in the evening. These things are deadly because there is food everywhere. I would rate my performance as a C. Angie, feel free to challenge my rating. The main highlight here was a hot dog, 2 deviled eggs, cheese spread with Triscuits, and a small piece of cake. 2 Corona Lites as well.

Monday:
No breakfast.
BBQ for lunch where I tried to improve on my performance last night. I had one Turkey hot dog, a ton of fresh fruit, and a small helping of pasta salad. 2 lite beers throughout the afternoon. I also played three games of beach volleyball, so I hope I burned some calories there.
I have been sipping on a large iced tea since I got back and just polished off 2 English muffins with PBJ.

That's the recap. I need to get back to doing this daily.

Um....

...where did everyone go?  We're getting ready to go to the Butterfly show and possibly the park afterward.  Haven't seen any posts, including mine, since Wednesday....hope everyone's doing ok!

3 Brizendines would be a lot to handle :)

Yes, Kyle was in town today, but only from 3 till 9:30, and a lot of that was spent with the girls since they haven't seen each other in almost a year.  I expected him to stay through until like Friday morning, but that didn't happen as Chad's plans changed a little as did Kyle's.  To make a long story short, Kyle has a plate in his mouth that holds his 2 top front teeth in (he knocked them both out on a basketball rim back in the day), and crazily, one of them came out of the plate last night.  So a semi-emergency trip to the dentist this morning took care of most of it, but he was still a little out of it.  So he came up for the day and headed back.  Sorry Nat - I asked him if he had any interest in coming downtown, but he didn't, and since he made the drive up, didn't think I'd force him to do much.  Was good seeing him though.

My eating today was a little off.  The morning was fine, and lunch was leftover chicken and zucchini from last night, but have had little snacks this afternoon.  Dinner was the 'chicken oscar' from Ruby Tuesday's, and because I looked stuff up online before we went to get it, I knew that it was about the healthiest thing I could get there.  Only like 450 calories, little fat, and a decent amount of protein.

As far as being proud of you guys and how you're doing.... There has definitely been progress, and I'm proud of that.  And while it was somewhat scary, I think tracking what you ate even for a day gave you an idea of the big things that can be done quickly to improve your health a little.  If we weren't really working toward a goal of LA, I might be a little more lenient, but I know how important the trip is and so need to keep you guys honest with some of this stuff.  You need the exercise, need to eat healthy, need to be at your best....but that's not just now, that's ongoing too after LA.  

Overall I'm very proud of you guys.  Are you going as fast as I would like?  No.  But this is a big and drastic change that I'm asking you guys to undertake, and I know that it took me 6 months to find what was right for me as far as what to eat and when to eat.  We don't have 6 months, though, thus if I seem a little impatient or ask you to do a lot, that's why.  But I am proud of you guys for taking this seriously...just need to keep it up.

OK, really tired so off to bed.  Hope you guys have a great night!!!

  

Is the third Brizendine Brother in Town?!?!?!?!

All day Angie and I wondered, "Where is Clay?" My only thought was that Kyle was in town, but I thought for sure that that wasnt until June. So the question of the day is, "Is Kyle here in Cincy and if so, when do I get to meet him?" I need to round of my meeting of the entire Brizendine clan. I promise that it doesn't have to be as dramatic as when you and I met!

The multi-vit is on my Target list for this weekend. I will def be getting that on Friday. I am glad that you are proud of us, but I am having a hard time gaging how well you think we are doing. We aren't perfect or exactly where we want to be, but I think that progress has been made. I venture to say that this is the best that I have ever eaten. I am actually thinking through what I have and eating more meals than ever before. I know you are always, always honest (even when it sometimes hurts...7 anyone? Ha Ha). I want you honest opinion me and my progess.

English muffin with PB, scrambled eggs with kethup, iced tea
Lunch from Ingredients was quite possibily the best salad I ever had. It was my own combo: mixed greens, tomatoes, artichokes, mushrooms, cheese, sunflower seeds, ranch dressing, iced tea
No snack and no excuse for that
PBJ on Wheat, 1/3 of my Chipotle from last night.

The flights for LA are now offically booked! Clay, call so I can give you details on the flights. You need to book yours now too!

Vitamins and Sodium

OK ladies.

The exercise with the spreadsheet, however nerdy you want to call it, actually did its job.  We now know where there are big deficiencies and can take care of those pretty quickly.  Nat, u need the vitamin.  Ang, you need less processed foods, which contain a huge amount sodium.  And FYI, stay away from Soy sauce if you can - it's like liquid salt.

Nat, your house is important, and a leaky roof is actually a very valid excuse for not working out.  Not so much for eating poorly, but definitely for working out.

You want to know the one big thing that I'm seeing from you guys?  You're trying.  You're trying to not make excuses, you're trying to do what's right, you're trying....and that's great.  The one big negative that I'm seeing?  You're not thinking ahead enough with your food to plan for contingencies.  You know, or even don't know, that you're going to have a crazy day?  Then take your food with you where you go.  When you're at the store, and you know that you're gonna want to eat an apple, let's say, buy 4 of them so that you have them and can go to them when things get a little nuts.  Don't rely on the cafeteria because it's fast and easy (Nat, you're finding out how 'great' the cafe is).  Don't rely on Starbucks coffee to get you through a snack Ang.  You guys are great employees of a Fortune 20 company - you can certainly plan out a little what you're going to eat and prepare properly for that.

I don't have to make you guys understand how important it is to eat well and exercise.  You already know that, and so we've passed the point where I need to talk about that.  We just need to get you guys to start practicing those things with the eating and exercising that will get you into the healthy shape that you want.

My eating yesterday was same as most days, with lunch a turkey wheat wrap with tomatoes and cheese and dinner a grilled chicken kabob with onions and zucchini.  All the snacks remained the same.

You guys are pressing through the hard process of actually changing habits that have been in place for a while.  It's difficult I know.  But it's doable, and you'll be better for it in the end.

OK, I'm actually going on vacation now.  I'll write in here most likely over the next few days, but at work you will not find me.

Adios for now!

P.S.  Nat - GREAT reference to LA Gears :)  Those things were terrible!

Lets align on creating a FMOT with awesome stopping power!

I had to do the title just to get another PG saying in there. I was actually unaware that the marathon comment was PG at its core. I guess that is what being with the company for a year will do to you.

Anyways, much like is sounds like Ang's day was, it was a shit show in the eating. Not that I ate a ton of bad stuff, but I just didnt eat much at all. I could make a ton of excuses here, (primarily that my house that I have owned for less than a month is leaking water onton my new carpet), but no excuses. My health and looking good should be the priority. Especially when I hear that a certain person who could potentially live in a country north of here, is hitting the gym more than ever. Get it in gear Nat....LA Gear! (Ha ha...anyone remember those shoes?)

Food:
English muffin with butter and jelly, yogurt/granola/canalope combo, coffee with skim milk

I had 10 min to get to the cafe and eat...first round, turkey wrap from the cafe. I took one bite and it was so gross that I spit it out. Ran back to the cafe for a veggie burger on wheat bun with cheese, water

I realize at 6:30 that I hadnt eaten and I am still at work. On the way home I stopped at Chipotle. Not smart you are saying, but I tried to portion control it. I divided it out as soon as I got home into three servings. I ate one part of the burrito bowl and saved the rest for dinner tomorrow.

I need to get at this exercise.

Holy Mother of All Things Salty...

I. EAT. TOO. MUCH. SALT.

The exercise in recording everything I ate was tedious, but very eye opening. Today was not a typical day b/c I had to have the kids to a dentist appointment early and I did not allow enough time for breakfast. I just had coffee. So at lunch I was hungry for more than my usual sandwich. The loaded baked potato I made was LOADED with sodium! Granted, I put more FF cheese and turkey bacon on it than any human should eat in one sitting, but I'm glad I did b/c it forced me to realize that I am doubling (sometimes QUADRUPLING) the serving size indicated on the package. I had to get out the calculator to figure some of this crap out.

Oh, cheese. If will be my downfall. Also, Coke. Why do I have to love it so much? And bacon, even the turkey variety, is evil. I need more liquid...water would be good but I hate it. Yuck.

After my bad lunch, I panicked and ate a vitamin and cereal for dinner. My eating is just not good. Looking forward to hearing comments. I sent my Food Journal via email to both of you.

Everyone will be fine

OK, I have only 10 mins before I need to leave for my next meeting, but wanted to say this - everyone will survive, and everyone will be ok.  And in saying that I mean that you'll hit your goals for LA and after.  You will.  Just realize that it's going to take work.  I told Nat yesterday that 1) you guys deserve praise for skipping the cake, and 2) i'll give you guys about 1 more week before i start pushing the semi-panic button, to the point where i might be making food and working out with you guys.  If you want to get 10 and 12 lbs lighter, then the work to eat right and exercise has to be there.  You guys know this, but just putting out the not so subtle reminder :)

My eating yesterday was status quo, but dinner was 2 PBJ sandwiches.  Little off of my typical routine, but a huge calorie and protein (and fat) boost.  Workout tonight will hopefully take care of some of that.

A marathon, not a sprint, is a very P&G phrase Nat :)  But it is very true in this case.

One thing that I want to leave you guys with...what you're doing - the discipline in eating, exercise, the self-control, etc. all in an effort to look and feel better - can be an example to other people trying to do the same thing, cause as you know, it's not easy.  How many people have you met that have gone 'i wish i could lose some lbs?'  And, Ang - for you.  Think about the example that you can set for your kids with eating and exercise.  That's huge!

Hope the day goes well - off to mtgs! 

So tired I can barely see...

So I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter that PMS seems like it shouldn't be hitting me yet...it is upon me yet again. I'm exhausted from the kids, my skin is horrible, my gut is bloated and I started crying as soon as my head hit the pillow for no good reason. I also just realized that I lied yesterday b/c I did not look up my food content today as I promised. I just have to get through the next few days and I'll be all better. Since I am a glutton for punishment and I didn't follow through on my assignment, I did weigh myself. 137. I should wait until morning, but for the record, I am 3 lbs up. That means 12 lbs in 50 days. I better kick it in gear.

Food
7:30 Raisin Bran & Coffee
9:30 half peanut butter sandwich on wheat and 2 slices of apple
12:00 half of an utterly disgusting Rolly Polly turkey swiss wrap. Probably more like a quarter of a wrap by the time I was finished pulling it apart. Chocolate Chip cookie and water
3:00 3 slices of apple
4:00 NO CAKE...Natalee and I both skipped it.
6:00 Skyline 4-Way with onions and water
7:00 Glass of wine

Now I am going to bed so I can listen to the rain. I have got to get some sleep to regulate my really screwed up body.

It is a marathon and not a sprint

That is the inspiration quote of the day for you and me, Ang. You had a bad eating weekend, so you are behing a little now. But that stretch is over and the race continues on. You have 50 more days to run your best and finish strong. I weighed in this morning, and there was no change....148 it is again this week. I am living by the quote because I need to continue to make progress. 50 days to lose at least 8 pounds. I have been doing a steady jog, but I need to kick it into full gear.

My eating for the day:
Pinapple, yogurt, and granola mixture, english muffin with Promise butter (which I believe is healthier) and jelly. Water

Half an order of chips and gua (Bethany shared this with me) and a grilled chicken wrap (on wheat shell)

100 calorie pack of cookies....I opted for this instead of the beautiful cake that was in the office. (SHout out to Ang as well for passing this up). I also passed on a reese cup that my new manager had to dangle in my face. He completely disregarded the posting on my board, and when I referenced him to it, he said that if I didnt eat a daily snack with him, he wouldn't approve my travel budget for LA. What an ass! So not funny.

Iced tea

Baked potato with reduced fat sour cream, PBJ sandwhich (I need to go to the store. I have NO food in my house).

Help! I Need Help!

I blew this weekend...completely. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I am starving and am eating the wrong food. I didn't even have time to do the weekend assignment (for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because we had all 5 kids and were on the go quite a bit), so I will have to do it tomorrow. Here's a summary of my intake...oh the pain and embarrassment.

Saturday:
8:30 Raisin Bran
9:00 Coffee w/Cream
12:00 Openface tuna melt on sourdough bread
5:00 Half of a 12 inch Home-made pizza w pepperoni, cheese, green olives, banana peppers
Saturday was our street sale, so we were outside all afternoon playing with the kids and talking with neighbors...over the course of the afternoon, I had 4 bottles of beer. (2 Bud Select and 2 Corona Light)

Sunday:
9:00 Large bowl (TOO MUCH) Honey Nut Cheerios & Coffee
11:00 Turkey on sourdough with provolone, mustard and low-fat mayo, about one cup of Lay's BBQ Chips & coffee
1:00 One package of the Swiss Cake rolls I bought for Gabe (wanted to see what the all the hype is about!)
3:00 2 slices of green apple, 10 pieces of turkey pepperoni
5:30 Mett with mustard and kraut on wheat bun, baked potato with butter, cheddar and sour cream
6:30 Glass of wine
8:00 can of Coke

OK people. What is going on???? How did I get so off-track? My portions are crazy. My food choices are bad. I am stuffing myself and am still wanting to go to the kitchen to get more. Maybe PMS? Don't know. I lost all track of time during the surgery escapade.

The good news is that tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to eat healthy. We are having a grill-out on Friday for all the people who helped us move into our house last year, and I want to eat well the rest of the week so I don't feel guilty eating all of the snacks I have planned for Friday.

Briz- I have to thank you for the Abraham Lincoln timeline of failures. I have read that before, but it serves as a good remeinder as I try to get back on track.

O I forgot....

I forgot to mention that I was super good and went running this morning. My new neighborhood is great to run in....sidewalks, not a ton of cars. I ran/walked to downtown Maderia and went all the way down the other end of my street. I need to drive this to calculate the mileage on this one. I listened to my great playlist given to me by our very own Clay!

Sunday

Happy Sunday! My eating for the day is as follows:

Breakfast:
Spinach and artichoke egg souffle from Panera
Fruit cup
Iced tea

Lunch: I ended up going to the Reds game (on a date!) I tried my best, but know that it wasn't healthy at all.
Hotdog with a white bun
Draft Miller Lite - I am guessing that this was two servings worth

Dinner:
Tossed salad with ranch dressing
PBJ Sandwich on wheat

So typing this makes me realize that I didnt do very well on my # of eating times per day.

This was of course all recorded in the spreadsheet that Clay created. I just sent that to you guys, and am excited to see the total results as well as Clay's perspective. I learned a lot from the exercise and in true P&G fashion, I wanted to summarize my key learnings.

• I get a lot of sodium during the day. I was surprised at how much sodium was in certain things. Not good I am guessing. I am thinking that sodium not only leads to high cholesterol, but probably makes you retain more water or something along that line. More water = more weight, which = bad.
• Lite beer is surprisingly not bad. Of course, I am smart enough to realize that this doesnt mean I should drink it all day, but still, not as bad as I would have thought.
• You can find the diet facts of about anything online. Restaurants also have all the info of their food listed. This will be helpful in thinking through some of the choices that I make prior to eating.
• I thought that the egg souffle would be a better choice than a bagel with cream cheese. Holy heck, I was wrong! I will never look at one of those souffles the same way again. Who knew....really?!?!? The point above is well taken on this one.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day...look for the post with the weight in the evening tomorrow.

Good morning #2

Hey guys -hope all is well.

Eating for yesterday for me was pretty good:

• 7:30 AM: Cereal with fresh strawberries
• 9:00 AM: EAS bar
• 9:45 AM: Banana
• 1 PM: Rotisserie chicken, Baked Lays, Swiss cake rolls
• 3:00 PM: Apple
• 7:00 PM: Steak, corn
• 8:30 PM: Veggies with little ranch dip
• plenty of water

Hope you guys have a fantastic Sunday!

Good morning

Hey guys!

Ang - great to see you back on here!  It's been a while...glad to have you back :)

This will be quick - I need to shower and then get going with some errands for the day.  Eating yesterday wasn't bad, until I tried to bake fish for the first time ever...didn't go over so hot.  I have the other half for tonight and am hoping that it goes a little bit better.  You guys prolly saw most of my eating yesterday in that spreadsheet...and while it may be nerdy as hell, it's also the only way I know for you to realize what you're putting in your body.

• 7:30 AM: Cereal
• 9:00 AM: EAS bar
• 10:00 AM: Yogurt
• Noon: PBJ, Baked Lays, Swiss cake rolls
• 2:30 PM: Oatmeal bar
• 4:45 PM: Chicken noodle soup
• 8:30 PM: Baked fish, baked beans (odd combo, but that's what i had here)

Today's off to a decent start.  Woke up at 7:15, cut up strawberries, ate cereal, worked out, now back in the apt.  All by 9.  Liking it.

Hope you guys have a great day - Nat, I'll see you later tonight at Karlie's thing, but I may only make my appearance for 30 mins or so and then bolt - we'll have to see.  And I'll let you know about tomorrow's Reds game too.

Spend some time outside guys!  It's good for the soul ;)

Oh - almost forgot.  This is on a Successories poster about Abraham Lincoln - one of my favorites:

He failed in business in '31. He was defeated for state legislator in '32. He tried another business in '33. It failed. His fiancee died in '35. He had a nervous breakdown in '36. In '43 he ran for congress and was defeated. He tried again in '48 and was defeated again. He tried running for the Senate in '55. He lost.The next year he ran for Vice President and lost. In '59 he ran for the Senate again and was defeated. In 1860, the man who signed his name A. Lincoln, was elected the 16th President of the United States. The difference between history's boldest accomplishments and its most staggering failures is often, simply, the diligent will to persevere.

Keep persevering guys.  We'll get there.

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back

In the words of the great Ohio State fight song, "Hail, Hail the gangs all here...!" Finally, my fellow bloggers are back, and I can't tell you how happy I am to have us all on again.

You will get back on track Ang. We talked before about not making excuses, but I think that your boob situation (yes, I just said boob situation) is an actual, legidimate excuse. Thanks for the words of encouragement. I am glad that you think I am hot....i just need to start believing it more.

Clay - Thanks for the label clarity. My goal is to do Sunday's eating. This should be interesting because Ireally dont pay attention to anything other than calories and fat. I will be shocked I am sure on where all my nutrients fall out. But to be clear, you and your spreadsheet are totally nerdy. It cracks me up just thinking about it.

I was off track today, and how no excuse for it. I am refusing my efforts tomorrow and need you guys to keep me on track. I need to look good in a bathying suit (to compete with certain people who perhaps used to be a personal trainer)

Eggs with kethup and a hot tea (one sugar)
Small Ceasar salad, half a chicken salad sandwhich, water
Coronia and a few chips with guc (not what Clay had in mind I think we he told us we need to have snacks....though it was much better than WDP training. So glad that Chris and I skipped the second half)
Garden salad with ranch, one roll, ice tea, half a chicken pot pie (yes that is two days in a row)

I just finished unpacking all my kitchen stuff. The only boxes that are still full are in the office. So things are starting to come together at the house, though I am realizing how much more stuff I need/want to change.

Back at it tomorrow. I need to get a run in here.

West Side in the HIZZZZZOOOUUUUUSSS

Yes, I'm back. Just caught up on all the blogs I missed out on. I am off track for sure, but you guys are truly inspirational.

Briz- I'll do your assignment, albeit grudgingly. I hate tracking stuff, but I will totally do it. I was cracking up at your nutitritionsl label example. You foiled my plan to pretend that I didn't know how to read one. This is especially going to be hard in the cheese area. I live in the land of cheese-fat denial and I like it here. Another wake up call is coming and I HATE that...but I'll like the results. Also difficult is the fact that simple walking is painful. Even with a sports bra, the girls tend to bounce and HOLY CRAP that hurts! Also, lifting is off limits for another week, so I have to start back up slowly. Thanks for coming to visit me yesterday! It is so good to be back at work. I also wanted to tell you that Gabe asked for Little Debbie chocolate rolls for his lunch...I'm guessing he meant Swiss Cake Rolls, so they are on the grocery list.

Natty- I can't tell how proud I am of you for posting your weight...especially in my honor! It means nothing more than a starting point, so stop stressing out. As long as we stay on track, you won't see that number again. You are young, hot, and we have more than just 54 days to turn it around. It's not like we are 50 lbs overweight. We aren't that far from our goals...we just need to be consistant. We have a lot of work to do before LA, but this will go beyond that. Once we get it down, we'll be golden! As far as weight, I have to be honest. I was a bad girl after surgery and instead of losing weight like most normal humans, I managed to pack on 2 lbs. I was 134 before surgery and 136 this morning. I have to get back on track...as evidence, check out my food intake today:

8:30 Raisin bran
10:00 Coffee
11:30 Veggie burger on wheat with pepper jack cheese and a diet pepsi (I forgot my packed lunch!)
2:30 Leftover Krispy Cream Donut
7:30 Buffalo Chicken strip and baked seasoned fries with melted fat free cheddar dipped in regular ranch
9:00 Glass of Pinot Noir

Wow. That is hard to admit. The disaster dinner is due to the fact that we have not been to the grocery store since before my surgery and had to dig into the recesses of the freezer to find something for dinner. Joe is actully at K-Roger right now stocking up on healthy essentials so tomorrow should be better. I also have to get the portion control back under control. Right now I'm struggling.

For the record, here are my 2 favorite quotes:

Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're probably right. (don't know who said it)

Those who mind don't matter and those who matter won't mind. -Dr Seuss

Let's kick some ass! Help me get back on track, my people!!!!

No Label?

Guys,

For those things that don't have labels, the internet is the best place to turn.  For example, most fresh fruit don't have labels, but you can easily find a 'label' online at chiquita or dole.com.  Things that come from the cafeteria you almost have to guess on - which is a good reason why I stay away from things in the cafeteria.  Anything that I can't count with any certainty I don't like to eat.  However, if you were to get something like a turkey wrap with tomatoes and mayo (one of only 2 things that I'll get from the cafe for lunch), you can make some good estimates about what's in there.  A salad, though, may be a little difficult, and things like chicken pot pie or a chinese or a hamburger might even be more difficult.  But if that's what you guys choose to eat, then we'll figure out a way to show you what exactly you're eating.  That's a promise. 

Its all about the Ang!

Please let me echo Mr. Briendine's sediments about Mrs. Lang. I too am more than thrilled that my partner in crime is back and healthy. I have been lost without her at work, and to have her back, and better than ever is beyond exciting. Ang, sorry I wasn't there in the office today for your return. I will be in tomorrow and am looking forward to the "Beer and Healthy Boobs Happy Hour!" Clay, you should definetly come.

I am all aligned with the nutrional label exercise. Clayton, you are right about the 2 months till LA count. It is coming up quickly and I need to continue to step up my game. It is all about looking good and feeling confident that I am hot. My concern with the label exercise is this: 95% of the things that I eat in a day don't come with labels. I eat breakfast in the cafe, lunch in the cafe or out, and dinner at home. I can calculate my snacks and dinner (most of the time), but how do I handle counting the other things that I eat. Let me know your perspective on this, and I will get right on it.

My eating for the day as alright....
English Muffin with jelly, half a yogurt with granola (the ITC cafe creaps me out, so I was hesitent to eat), iced tea
Chicken pot pie with water
Apple
Low-fat smoothie while getting my nails done
Subway turkey sandwich, cheese, pickels, black olives, tomatoes, light mayo and Sun chips.

I too am a lover of all cool quotes. I have been saving good ones since High School. I have seen the MJ commerical on tv, and loved it.

I look forward to having everyone back at it. BLOG ON!

Back on track everyone?

It's been what seems like a long time...but I'm finally posting something again :)  Hope that we can keep the 1 post per day string going for a while from here on out.

If my calculations have it right, the trip to LA on July 9 is 55 days away.  That's 55 days to get into the jeans/dresses/bathing suits that you want to wear...55 days to eat right and exercise to shed any extra pounds that you want to shed...55 days to become a healthier you.  All sounds good doesn't it?  And 55 days is a long time - almost 2 months.  Imagine what you guys can accomplish in 2 months if you really put your minds and bodies to it?  A ton!

So honestly, the best part of my day was seeing Ang back in the office.  Ang, whether you had Krispy Kreems or not, I still would have come up to see you!  Everything about you being back - u being there, the tests being negative, the soreness fading (although you still have to hug people with your ass pointed out as far as possible ;) - is fantastic.

OK, so we all want to get back on track right?  Ang is allowed a day or two of getting her taste buds back, but otherwise we all need to get back into the swing of things.  Nat, you're in the house - awesome!!!  The unpacking might seem like it might never end, but it will, and you'll have to start stocking that fridge with those things that will get you down to where you want to be.

OK ladies - to help you get back on track, here's the assignment: take 1 day between now and Sunday, and while keeping track of your meals, I want you to take the nutrition labels of each and either write down what you had or cut out the nutrition label for whatever you ate.  I want you to total everything: calories, calories from fat, cholesterol, sodium, etc.  I know that this sounds tedious, but it's also necessary.  Keeping track of your weight is one thing, but making sure you get there in a healthy manner is another.  AND, by doing this, it will be a little reality check on what your intake for the day actually was.  We can tell ourselves that mac and cheese is fine because it's 'pasta,' but it also has 1/5 of your sodium intake for the day.  Now that's ok if you take in very little the rest of the day, but if you don't watch what else you have, you could be getting more than your daily allowance.  Remember too that all nutrition labels are based off of a 2000 calorie a day diet.  If your goal is to take in 1600, then your sodium intake would be 1/4, not 1/5, of your daily intake.  Remember to adjust.  And just in case you guys forgot what a nutrition label looked like, I put one below ;)

After you write all of your labels down and total it up, I want you to use that as a benchmark. Too low?  We'll figure out what else to add.  Too high?  We'll figure out what to yank from the day.  There's a lot that we can do with these, but just looking at it for one day can make a huge difference.

The other thing that I want to stress is portion control.  Ang, I know you love this one, but it is HUGE.  I watched a video on the Today show the other day of a woman who did three things and lost 176 pounds: A) exercised regularly, B) ate better than she did before, and C) realized what portion control could do for her.  By allowing her body to work off the food she just ate BEFORE putting more in there, she was burning pounds and calories without doing much of anything else.  Now I know that you two aren't exactly the audience for portion control, but it's just a reminder. 

OK, so how have I been doing lately?  Kind of poor if you ask me.  My mornings have turned into working out my legs with the foam roller (due to knee injury, and I wasn't doing this before like I should have) and doing 50 pushups and 30 situps.  Sounds OK, but I'm not doing anything else, and it's killing me.  The lack of exercise is something I'd swore that I'd never do, but it's amazing how emotional drama can sap the body of energy (another long story here).  The eating hasn't slacked too much, but it's slacked some:

• 7:15 AM: Cereal
  
• 10:00 AM: Banana
  
• 10:10 AM (I think): Krispy Kreme donut
  
• 11:00 AM: EAS Bar
  
• 12:15 PM: Rotisserie Chicken, BBQ sauce, Baked Lays, Swiss Cake Rolls
  
• 6:15 PM: Small pepperoni pizza from Fresh market, Yoplait yogurt
  
• OK on water
  

As you can see, no afternoon snack.  And it hurt.  For those that don't have this sensation yet...after months of eating like this, if I don't eat at least every 4 hours, my stomach will hurt.  Like cramp up.  That's when you know you've been eating throughout the day :)

OK, you have your assignments.  The last thing that I'll say on this - I'm a huge motivational person.  Love quotes, sayings, marketing campaigns...whatever.  Anything that will get me going.  My favorite is "No excuses," the wallpaper on my desktop that reminds me not to make excuses when I want to.  The video I put below is about failing...and succeeding.  Enjoy, and I'll check-in with you guys tomorrow.

Michael Jordan "Failure" Nike Commercial: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc

Taking a break from moving

This whole packing and moving thing is counting as my exercise today. I took all my hanging clothes over to my house tonight. It took 9 trips at each house to get all the stuff up and down the stairs from the closets. I already miss my walk-in closet. Why did I buy a house that didn't have one?!?!? Anyways, I am now in the process of boxing up all my stuff. I need to be ready by 8 am when the movers get here. I can not wait to be done with this whole stupid process. It makes me wish that I never move again.

I felt like my eating was very good today. Given my 2 pound lose (which I am contributing to this hard work and dedication!) I felt energized to keep at it.

The food:
yogurt with granola, a piece of raisin toast with jelly, a big water
Mediteranin sandwhich on wheat - hummus, cumbers, cheese, tomatoes and half a bag of baked lays.
100 calorie cookie pack
Whole grain bagel with reduced fat cream cheese, apple, small ceasar salad, iced tea

Back to packing...

I'm here

So I'm totally shocked I didn't have emails from you guys saying 'why didn't you post?  where are you?  bad trainer....baaaad trainer.'

I have been bad, so my apologies.  

Ang, I really hope that ur doing better.  I saw your facebook profile update that said that you were still in pain, but I hope that starts to dwindle some soon.  I know it's not the kind of vacation that you wanted to take from work, that's for sure, but hoping that being away from it for a little bit is helping.  That always helps me :)

Nat, I knew at some point that you'd pass up cake, but never knew when that would be, and I know it had to be hard especially when it seemed to be there so often for the taking.  That's good willpower and definitely proud of that.  Also proud of the loss of 2 pounds for you!!!!  Again, I promise you that what we're trying to do will work.  I'm not sure if the 2 pounds was from anything that we did, but even if it's not, you'll start seeing more results soon!

As for me, there's no way I remember all the food that I ate this weekend.  I strayed a little from the normal menu, but nothing extreme.  Finally made it to the grocery store on Sat with the girls and got what we needed.  Today's, anyway, has been about right:

• 7:45 AM: Cereal
• 9:00 AM: Banana
• 10:15 AM: EAS Bar
• 12:30 PM: PBJ, baked lays, swiss cake rolls
• 2:00 PM: Apple
• 3:45 PM: Oatmeal bar
• 30 ozs of water

Water's been a little low, but that should get back up there around dinner.  Dinner will be a protein boost - big burger at Arthur's in Hyde Park :)  Love that place.

OK, gonna finish up the work for the day.  Talk to you guys soon!

A recap of the last few days

I have been a bad blogger this week. Unlike my other two bloggers, I dont have a good excuse. I hope you are feeling better Ang. We certainly missed having you out with us on Friday night. It has been decided that we are doing an Ang Raincheck event as soon as you feel up to it. It just wasnt the same without you there, so we will do another one! I mean, the Febreze brand can ever have too much partying. Clay, I hope that you are having a fun weekend with the girls. Tell them that Miss Natalee said hi and I can't wait to paint their nails and do their hair!

Below is a recap of my eating the last few days. I am doing my best to remember all that was consumed. I will also be doing another weigh in tomorrow morning, so be on the lookout for that post. You might want to check in to make sure that I am still alive and conscious.

Thursday:
Eggs with kethup, yogurt with granola and iced tea
Veggie burger on a wheat bun with cheese(i checked with Clay on adding the cheese, and he gave me a thumbs up) side salad with ranch dressing
I thought I had an excellent first half of the day, but then the evening was a train wreck. Ata was in town and we celecrated too hard. In the course of the evening, this is what I consumed. 4 glasses of white wine, 2 miller lites, two shrimp from a shrimp cocktail, a cheeseburger with mushrooms (Ata had to have an American cheeseburger and Sabbia had to take him to the best cheeseburger place in town. This is truthfully, the first time I have had a real cheeseburger in years. If I wasn't drunk, it would have never happened.) A small french fry. Not good.

Friday:
Yogurt with granola and a huge iced tea.
One small cookie ( I am talking bite size here)
A veggie gyro, greek salad and water
150 calorie teddy grams
Again, another night out, though I think I did much better with the moderation this night. 3 glasses of white wine, one small slice of bread without butter, a Ceasar side salad, and roasted chicken penne with fresh vegs. I so wanted the fish and chips, but I thought that this would be a healthier option. It was actually really good too!

Saturday:
I got up way too early in the morning to drive the 3 and 1/2 hours to my house.
Tim Hortons is amazing. I dont know why we dont have any of these in Cincinnati. I guess I will need to move to Canada to ensure that I am always close to one of these. I know that you are all thinking I had donuts, but oooo you are so wrong. I had a small blue berry muffin, a fruit and yogurt, and a med coffee with one cream and one sugar. I did eat this while driving in the car which is prob not the smartest thing to do.
At my friend Hilary's bridal shower, there was a lot of food temptation. I think I did failry well as I turned down cake no less than 15 times. People were asking me if I was ok as they know that I live for some cake. I instead had 4 crackers with spinach dip, 2 pieces of veggie pizza, a spoonful of pasta salad, a small chicken salad sandwhich and a bunch of fresh fruit. Ice tea to drink of course!
I slept through dinner (must have been the late nights leading up to the weekend). I had PBJ on whole wheat when I woke up and fluff (It has a technical name I am sure, but my mom always makes it for me).
Snack was a Cheerios version of Rice Crispy treats.

Can't wait to hear about all your fun this week and weekend~

And the # is.....

Hey All,

Ang...I am glad that the pre-op went well today. I was thinking about you a ton, and hoping the everything was going smoothly. I personally think that your eating is going fine. Given the situation, not bad at all. You are doing the portion control thing well, which in my opinion in really more than half the battle. Dont worry about the eating tomorrow. I remember when I had my surgery years ago, the thought of eating was the last thing on my mind. Best wishes for tomorrow. You are such a tough (but adorably cute) girl, that I know you will kick some booty tomorrow. And if anyone can make a front strapping bra sexy, it is you my dear! I will be thinking about you. Please let Clay and I know if you need anything. I love ya!

On to my day. Clay is right, the weigh-in was a bit tramatic for me. My immedidate thought after stepping off the scale was Holy 'uck! Not good...not good at all. I had made up my mind that I wasn't going to post the weight. The thought that of that, and what people will think when they hear it, makes me want to cry. Now that I think back, I did actually cry. But in thinking about Angie and how tough she is being with anyevery thing, I decided to post it. Please view this Ang as my show of support. Don't judge me, trust me, I am doing enough judging of myself. I Natalee Christine Regel, age 23, 5 feet 81/2 inches tall weigh 151 pounds. Ugh....i just gaged as I was typing that. Given that a mere 5 years ago I weighed about 120, it have grown quit a bit. In my mind, I want to weigh 120 again. Though I am not sure that is healthy or realistic. I am trying to think through what is a more realistic and healthy weight to be. Not sure what this is yet, but my thoughts are flowing. Would love perspective on this....

Apparently the weigh in was too much for me, because I went home from work early today (which you know is something that I never do). I had such a horrible headache that I couldnt focus on anything. I got home at 4:30 and thought I would lay down for an hour. 3 hours later, I woke up, and was sooo confused. I thought it was the morning and I had overslept. I checked my BB to see what time I my first meeting only to realize that it was 730PM. I guess I needed the sleep.

My eating:
English muffin with PB, half a yogurt with granola and strawberries. I got the fat-free vanilla yogurt that the cafe has, and it was terrible. There was no way I was getting that whole thing down.
Turkey sandwhich with cheese, lettuce, tomoato, and a little mayo. A peach yogurt.
I snacked on fruit during the afternoon. There was leftovers from a meeting and the strawberries were amazing.
I ate dinner late given the long nap and the fact that as soon as I got up I went to the house to finish my painting. When I got back I had a baked potato with recuded fat sour cream and a PBJ sandwhich. I am finishing my a Frostie Float with Diet Coke as we speak. I should have probably skipped that.

Just a few more hours to go :)

I had another less than stellar day with my eating. I know the scale has to be moving backward but I've totally lost my routine b/c of all this crazy crap. Pre-op went well so it's ON.

Briz - I've been putting off addressing your comments about my coffee as a meal, but I have to be honest. Breakfast is such a stretch for me that I'm just not hungry in between breakfast and lunch. Thinking about eating something during that period is gag-inducing to me. I've tried to think of what might taste/sound good between 9 and 10 and I just can't think of anything. I hate yogurt and fruit is so freaking sweet...ick. I have to get over this fruit and vegetable aversion, but it's a slow go. Maybe I need to buy some power bar type things and see if I can get a half of one down.

Regardless, I know this. Tomorrow's eating is going to be all effed up. I can't eat or drink a thing after midnight tonight and surgery isn't until 11:00. Surgery should take an hour plus another hour in recovery. Add at least another half hour to get to the car and get home and I'm already at 1:30 or 2:00. Even then, I may not feel up to eating. The last time I had drugs like this, I only ate crackers and Coke for 2 days. Believe me when I say that is not me. As I've previously mentioned, I eat my way through pretty much everything that comes along, so we'll see. I will most likely not post tomorrow but hopefully I will feel up to it by Friday.

Nat - Don't let your weight freak you out...let it remind you where you want to be. From here on out, just remember that every healthy bite of food taken and every sugary bite refused will propel you to your goal. As Briz said, it's just a beginning. Good to take action now then freak out about it later.

Food today:
9:30 Raisin Bran
10:30 Coffee
12:30 Cup of O'Charley's potato soup, 2 rolls with butter, 1/4 of a chicken tender salad with ranch (the good stuff) and (brace yourself) 1 and a half bottles of Bud Select. I was going to leave that out, but it's true and I'm all about truth. Beer with a girlfriend (who went with me to the pre-op) at O'Charley's right in the middle of the day. It was fun and we were laughing, so I just don't feel guilty even though I totally should.
6:00 Leftover half of my Chipotle burrito from yesterday and a Coke

Obviously, not a good eating day. I have one setback and I turn to food for comfort. I sure failed that test. Despite that, I am still impressed with myself for cutting down on portions. Pre-blog, I would have had an entire bowl of soup, the entire salad and as many rolls as I could shove in. Not sure what dinner would have been b/c I would have eaten the entire burrito last night along with some chips and salsa. You get the idea. I'm making progress, just not at the pace I would like. It will come.

OK. I'm signing off for a bit, but not leaving. I will be back. Not just a promise...it's a commitment!