I could drink the s**t out of some dessert tea right now.

Our night started with a BBQ where we couldn't eat anything. So we came home to do our homework (do 2 of the videos we were given on friday)! It quickly degraded into muting the video and dancing like idiots in the living room to my chicks rock playlist!!!

So we taped it, so you can all see our sugar deprived and hunger fueled dancing! Then Joanna made this awesome video!

Then we got excited about desert tea (i'm easily excited), and I ran out of the house like an idiot and locked us out! We laughed until we cried and peed ourselves (just a little bit), then laughed some more. So we wandered the streets of Capitola for an hour in search of dessert tea and warmth, until Spencer got home from work!!!

And it was the best dessert tea in the world (only it smelled better than it tasted).

The End

Why are boobs always the first to go??

Seriously! My strapless bra doesn't fit anymore! So on the eve of the halfway point, I am wearing street clothes for the first time in almost 2 weeks! While I was foraging in my closet, how could I ignore, the rack of uniform pants that don't fit me? So all alone in my house, preparing myself for the worst...listening to my "chicks rock" playlist for moral support, I tried on my pants....VICTORY!!!!!!! My pants fit!!!!!!!!!! They are still a little tight in the hips and thighs (and lets be honest, they always were) but more importantly I can zip them up!!!! and NO MUFFIN TOP!!!!!! This is a huge triumph for me cause I had more than a little breakdown about a month ago, when I had to go crying to my hubby to ask him for some of his pants to wear to work (we have the same job)! Whew!! This feels GREAT!

Thank you to all my infomercial ladies for the energy you give me at group class, it makes me keep going!

Tomorrow is day 14 (if I have calculated right) and I will be posting halfway point pictures and stats!!!

Progress Report

My shoulders look bomb.


That is all.

A Salmon Recipe! Or, I'm sick of Chicken

This recipe is modified from Cooking Light Magazine. I made it have less fat, and I added some yummy stuff like mandarin oranges, green onions and water chestnuts. Also the original uses cabbage slaw, but my hubby won't eat that, so I use broccoli slaw. I realize that you all might not have a cupboard full of Asian ingredients, and If you don't feel like investing in some, just use any low fat Asian sesame salad dressing (I think you all know my favorite brand....Kraft makes a pretty good one called Reduced Fat Asian Sesame). Leftovers make a yummy lunch wrap. flake the salmon and serve it in a low calorie tortilla (like la tortilla factory) with slaw and spinach.

Orange Salmon with Spicy Asian Slaw
Salmon:
4 (4oz) skin on salmon filets
Pepper to taste
1/2 cup Orange juice (or juice of 1 orange)
Cooking Spray

Slaw:
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp bottled minced ginger
2 tsp chili ginger sauce (like Sriatcha)
1/2 tsp honey
1 bag broccoli slaw
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup sliced green onion
1 (11oz) can mandrin oranges, rinsed and drained
1 (80z) can sliced water chestnuts, rinsed and drained

1) Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Rinse salmon and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle with pepper to taste. Spray pan with cooking spray. Place salmon skin side down in pan, cook 4 minutes. Flip salmon over, cook 3 minutes. After the 3 minutes, pour the orange juice over salmon and continue to cook until the liquid reduces. Remove pan from heat.

2) To prepare the slaw, combine first 7 ingredients in a salad bowl, whisk together. Add Broccoli slaw, cilantro, onion, oranges, and water chestnuts. Toss gently to combine.

Serving size: 1 salmon fillet with 1/4 of the Slaw
Calories: 295
Fat: 14g (from salmon, so it's good fat!!)
Protein:22g

The Infomercial Hermit

I've had blogger's block (is that a thing?) for a few days because my days are all nearly exactly the same. I sleep, I eat, I think wistfully of my next meal and how far away it is, I work out, and I (very occasionally) work. My looming weight loss deadline has made me forgo social events because so many of them center around food and alcohol. Why torment myself by surrounding myself with things I can't have? Katie mentioned that she has not worn anything but workout clothes and her EMT uniform for a week. Since my work uniform IS workout clothes (yay 24 hour fitness), I've pretty much ONLY worn workout clothes. I did get to wear jeans two, count em, two times in the last seven days. Once out for a friends 21st birthday....mmmm, water...and once out to the Greek Festival where I pretended to hate gyros and spanakopita (also known as SpankaTopia, if you're in the know.) After those two torture sessions I've pretty much decided to lay low until this is done and focus on getting my butt kicked into a firmer, cuter shape by Mindy and eating spinach. I'm very lucky that two of my friends are in this with me so that we can be social while eating spinach. As for the rest of my social network, I shall see you in three weeks. And hopefully, by the end of this, when I go out with my friends I won't even want those things that I can't have anymore.

Almost a week in!

and the first week is always the hardest!! I've worked out now for 6 days in a row, which I can safely say I have never done in my life!! It's not as hard as I thought it would be. I mean, each workout is hard and I have to push myself through it but getting myself there everyday is not as hard as I thought it would be. I have never done it before because I've always psyched myself out before I even go and then find excuses. But now that I've made the commitment to go whether I want to or not, I find that it's not as daunting as I always imagined. It's just part of my routine and I feel so much better after doing it! I feel like I'm finally starting to learn how to live healthy.

I've been following the diet really well all week but I found the weekend a lot harder. Not so much because I was tempted by bad food as I was just running around all weekend and that makes it a lot harder to plan meals. My cousin came into town and we were all over the place and I didn't have much time to stick to the planned diet exactly. So i stuck to some of the meals and then with the others I just tried to stay within my calorie range and be mindful of what I was eating. It was harder than I thought it would be. I'm trying to put it behind me and not beat myself up for not being perfect! I don't want to be so hard on myself that I lose motivation!! Focus on the positive and be proud of myself for what I've accomplished and what I'm doing!! Almost a quarter of the way toward my goal!!

And tonight is my Advanced Baking class!! from 5:00-10:00! I will make sure I bring my dinner so I'm not so hungry that I can't resist all the desserts!! This is the true test!! ;)

Determination

Mindy gave me one of her workout videos to do at work, when I can't make it to the group session. Here I am, thinking SWEET! free workout video, I love those! I do videos at work all the time, I use my little 5lb weights, grab my yoga mat for the ab section, and break a light sweat on my upper lip...no shower needed! I previewed Mindy's video last night, just to get an idea of what kind of equipment I'd need and what kind of space (my quarters at work is no bigger than my dorm room in college...). I was tired just watching it!

I'm still pretty run down from being up all night on Friday and getting held over for 2 hours and 45 minutes! but I'm SO proud of myself for making it to the Saturday AM group workout. It was lots of running! and I was exhausted! but just 1 week ago, I totally would have used being up all night as an excuse to not work out, and laze around the house all day. I was definitely lazy on Saturday, but it was after 45 minutes of a Mindy workout! again I'm SO PROUD of myself!!!!

So today i'm back at work, and we had a rough morning, I didn't get to eat Breakfast until 11:30...and I woke up at 4:45....yeah, most of the time I LOVE my job, but these last 2 shifts have totally sucked. So old me would have just quit, and not worked out....but instead, I took a nap...a 4 hour nap :) (again with the loving my job!) and got up and did Mindy's video....HOLY CRAP, it was every bit as hard as it looked last night, and then some! I was sweating, out of breath, and praying to the EMS gods that I wouldn't get a call and have to put my uniform on!!!! But it was worth it! I feel great right now! SO SORE, but great!

I don't think i've ever dedicated myself to anything like this, I'm totally a quitter! but i've stuck to the diet (with some adjustments, i'm sorry but i'm just not eating Ramen noodles), and worked out every day even though i'm sore, and tired, and HUNGRY! but it's paying off! i've lost 5lbs and I feel great! I think this thing might just work!

Little Victories

So it is day 5 and had I been attempting this journey on my own this is right about where I would give up, have some ice cream and sleep through my morning workout.

The Real Me: "Wow, Day 5 and no emerging six pack? Eff this. Pass the (insert simple sugar food item here.)"

The Realistic Me: "It's only Day 5, stupid."

The Real Me: "What? I can't hear you over these delicious...mmm...slurp...chocolate covered gummy bears topping my ice cream sundae."

The Realistic Me: "Dumbass."

It's only day 5...of course my body isn't drastically different. Yet that would usually be enough to kill my momentum. Unrealistic expectations have constantly been my downfall. But no more! Since our thought of the day is "everything is a gift" I am choosing to notice the positive (which is something I need to practice more of no matter what I'm trying to accomplish) and celebrate a little victory.

So though I may not have a six pack yet, when I do it will be much more noticeable because after only 5 days my posture is noticeably better. We have done a lot of sculpting and strengthening of our back muscles and my shoulders are starting to pull back. It's glorious! As a massage therapist I lost count of how many people came in with upper back pain. Most of them were surprised when I told them that what they actually needed was to strengthen their back muscles and relax their pectorals (and for many, of course, to lose weight.) "Wow, that makes a lot of sense! Now, can you spend all the time on my upper back." Sigh. But even with this knowledge, I suffered the same issues and did almost nothing about it and it showed in my posture and my muscle tension patterns. But now, only 5 days in, with a little hard work I'm starting to correct years of bad habits and poor self care. Eff yeah.