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.

One snack at a time

As I sit here watching Deric eating lime tortilla chips and salsa I realize that today has been the hardest day so far. It is the first day that I've felt run down from the exercise (we had the toughest workout so far this morning) and the lack of food. Though I was by far my hungriest on Day 2 I still felt good. Definitely really hungry, but good. In fact the past three days I've had a ton of energy and the hunger, though really irritating, was just a reminder that I was challenging myself and succeeding. Today it's just a recipe for crankiness and snack envy. I would give anything for a gummi bear or a lime chip or some french bread with artichoke dip (drool.) Just hook the carbs to my veins. But I know if I start snacking now, I'll never stop and it's only day four. So I'll power through and just keep my mouth closed for fear that something other than a grape will fall into it. Tomorrow is another day.

"I Don't Cook" OR "Day 1"

Things I learned today:
How to bake a chicken breast ( I know, I know...but it's a pretty big deal for me)
I really don't like scrambled eggs
I also don't like greek yogurt

Things I still need to learn:
How to NOT grab things straight out of the oven with my bare hands
How to make an over-medium egg
How to live off of a LOT less food than I'm used to

I'm sooooo hungry. Right about now I'd be toasting up myself a couple pieces of bread and lathering on the peanut butter and honey as a bedtime snack. Alas, that is not in the diet plan and I followed the meal plan today like a champ so I can't give up now.

Breakfast was nothing short of gross. As stated above I don't like scrambled eggs and adding a bunch of spinach that just, as Katie described it, gave me "squeaky" teeth did NOT help. On the next egg day I shall try something different. Also, eating an egg and a half and half a banana just made me more hungry, and I'm not even a fan of breakfast.

I spent the next hour and a half learning how to and then baking a chicken breast for my next two meals and then made myself go to Spin at 24 to give myself something to think about other than food. The moment I restrict my eating, I start obsessing over all things food related. But I guess if every time I get fixated on how hungry I am I go to the gym then I'll kick exta ass at the final weigh in.


Lunch was a much, much better. My first attempt at chicken was a success. It wasn't too dry and I wasn't starving for at least a half hour after I finished. Yay me!!



Then there was the wait to go to the first workout where I drank more water than maybe ever before just to make my stomach feel a little more full (the half a cup of strawberries, though delicious, not really filling.) Temptations were few until Deric brought home a tantalizing gyro but fortunately I was on my way out the door to go get my ass kicked by Mindy. And boy did she. Lunges, squats, more squats and then a few more just for good measure. Bending down to pick up the babies at work tomorrow might be a bit tough but so far there is minimal soreness. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, even if that means I have to lumber around Mindy's deck tomorrow plieing (probably not a word) like a wounded ostrich. Yes we start the ballet portion tomorrow. Yes I'm glad there will be no cameras.

Anyway, dinner was also delicious (salad doesn't count as cooking for me) and filling for at least 15 minutes. I skipped "desert" because greek yogurt just isn't doing it for me. Maybe I'll get used to it but it tastes a bit like whipped up feta. Deric tried to convince me to cheat by having regular good old fashioned cows milk yogurt but I thought it would be bad juju to cheat on the very first day. I can start that nonsense tomorrow.

Rae's stats!! and one day in!

I went to take my before pictures and have my measurements done and I was pleasantly surprised! (with the experience, not my measurements, I gained weight this week!! ;D ) On my way up there I had visions of "shake for breakfast and shake for lunch" and of being uncomfortable with having my picture taken without the many layers of clothes I use to hide my body. But I got there and the energy was great and so was the food!! I walked into a room filled with women laughing, drinking wine and bonding over this crazy experience we are about to embark on together! Everyone was encouraging especially our trainer Mindy! We got our pictures taken, wearing sports bras and shorts, on a white backdrop with glaringly bright lights by a cute photographer, (just to add insult to injury!) which should have been horribly embarrassing but ended up just being funny. Then the food food was divided up and it was great!! It was all food I would buy for myself normally!! Greek yogurt, great fruit like pineapple and strawberries, different vegetables, pasta, whole wheat bread, peanut butter, chicken and ground turkey, I could go on and on! We are eating good food! The only thing is that for the first week the portions are very small but the plan is set up to where you eat every couple of hours to keep your blood sugar from dropping and to help keep you full. I feel pretty good so far today, I'm a little hungry but I had gotten used to eating way too much so that's to be expected!

We do our first workout tonight and get to learn more about the exercise product and routine we are testing. We'll let you know how it goes!

Rae's Stats:

Height: 5'4
Weight: 161 (I was at 156, what was I thinking labor day weekend!)
Waist (belly button): 40.5
Hip (at hip bones): 43
Thigh (largest part): 25
Arm: 13