Shopping Trip

Today I went on a shopping trip at lunch.  One of my favorite stores to shop in is New York and Co.  I had a coupon so you can't pass that up!  Now I worked there back in the day so I've been where there clothes for sometime now so I have a good feel for how the sizes work.

Today I went in grabbed the sizes I bought last time and headed to the dressing room to try a few things on.  I DESPISE trying clothes on but with losing weight you have to.  Good thing I did because I needed to go down another size!  Size 12 baby!  I have NEVER worn a size 12 from that store ever.  It felt great. 

Later on tonight I tried everything on again since I didn't have much time at lunch.  And one of the items I purchased, a dress, is still too big!  I have to go down to a size Medium.  Oh happy day! 

I needed new clothes for my new position at work.  I have 3 presentations coming up and they are in front of important people so I figured I needed to look my best.  My current work clothes are kind of frumpy because they are too big.  Hopefully they few pieces I purchased will make me look more professional and put together. 

Day 37- Sandwich time

Since I'm on cycle 3 I can enjoy sandwiches again.  It's funny what you start to "miss" when you can't have it.  When I had my first one on Saturday it tasted so good.  Here are some of my sandwich ideas


"Bread"- you can have regular bread on cycle 3 but why not mix it up
Kangaroo pitas
Flat out wraps
Whole wheat tortillas (make sure you check the nutrition on these they are sneaky)
Rye Bread- who doesn't love some rye bread

Meat-
I found some low sodium Turkey in the deli area- Sarah Lee, comes in a few different flavors
Turkey bacon (yum yum)
Shredded Chicken


Veggies- GO OVER BOARD!
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Peppers
Banana Peppers (they aren't on the list of foods any where but they are yummy)
Sprouts
Spinach
Avacado- I don't like it but some people do



Cheese-
I use the sargento reduced fat slices the new extra thin ones are nice too just more fat

Condiments- watch these
miracle whip
mustard
light salad dressings
ranch
salsa

Now if you put this all together it is one GIANT sandwich and super yummy.  I add an apple or some carrots as a side and you have a great lunch (or dinner).

Day 35

Sorry for not being around lately things have gotten really busy.  But I'm still doing well on the diet.  After cycle 2 (which my last day was yesterday) I have lost a total of 9.5lbs (4lbs on cycle 2).  I am very happy with those results. 

This week my boss gave her notice and I was asked to step in as an interim lead for the dept.  How exciting.  So I have been working a bit more but still exercising.  It is all about balance.

I had put my exercise nights on my work calendar so I can see what I have coming.  It is a good reminder to myself that it is important as well. 

I'm just about to go to Zumba here in a few mins and then have a run planned for later if it doesn't rain.

Day 29- May Goals

May is my birthday month and this year I turn 30.  I am one of the last few of my group of friends to turn 30 so I guess if they did it I can too.  Also I am in the best shape (or what feels like) of my life.  I might have weighed a little less my JR year of college but couldn't have been too much less.  This is what I hope I can accomplish in May.

1. NO SNACKING UNLESS ITS PLANNED- the last few weeks I have found myself snitching a cookie here and there and yesterday I threw away an empty package of cookies I had bought over a week ago.  UMMM....NOT GOOD.  I'm on the 17 day diet and supposed to NOT HAVE ANYTHING THAT ISN"T LISTED.  Obviously I wasn't following it to the "t".

 2.Work in my strength training.  I was supposed to do this in April and I failed at that.  I'm going to purchase a Kelly Coffey DVD and hopefully this will motivate me.  I have added more "toning" classes at my fitness place to my schedule to encourage me to do it.  I also have decided if I do an exercise video I will be using 5lbs instead of the 3s I also grab first.  Those are going in the closet.  

3.Continue my running and better my time.  I think I'm going to run another 5k in May so I want to push myself to do a little better.  I need to keep up my time I currently have so I'm going to do my routine of 8 mins run 5 mins walk 8 min run 5 min walk and run the rest till I can do it better and get to the 5k point.  Might even push to 10 min runs.  

4. Get my exercise stuff set up.  I was going to put mystuff in the basement and maybe still can but I have to re think because of the new couch/tv/rug that will be there in the next few weeks.  I just want to be cool in the summer!

Day 26- More new things

Last night I tried Piloxing.  That is a combination of boxing, ballet/dance, and Pilates.  I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to next week.  It was a lot of balance and core work which I need to improve.

Working on my My fitness schedule I've decided to add my exercise video's back in.  I haven't been using them the last few months and I really think they bring a variety to my workouts.  I also have a goal in May to get up early 2 days a week to work out.

So far my schedule looks like this. Working on fitting in and changing up the workout videos.  I have to make a calendar to keep myself accountable.  Plus it feeds my mini OCD-ness that I get about exercise. 

                                 Pink days are my get up early days.  C25k are my run days.

I had a pretty good day today.  We have been in search of a couch for our basement tv area and I finally found and purchased one today.  It should be delivered next week and that room should be shaping up.  It will need some tables and rugs but that stuff should be easy.

Currently I am down about 7.3lbs since April 1st.  I've let myself get lax again on the diet and need to be more strict.  Back at it tomorrow!    

Day 23

I'm all recovered from my run, even went to Zumba tonight.  I resume running tomorrow.  Actually looking forward to it. 

The recipe I'm going to share tonight is for cycle 2 (lunch because it has rice)

Vegetable "Fried" Rice 4 servings (1/4 cup rice 1/4th recipe veggies)
Adapted from: Eatingwell.com

• 1 cup Trader Joe's Basmatic Brown Rice
• 2 cups water

The above is to make the rice....I followed the directions on the package.  Good to make this first because it simmers for 40 mins.

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 2 cups broccoli
• 1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced into 1-inch pieces
• 1 med green bell pepper, thinly sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 1 med orange pepper, thinly sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 1 med onion thinly sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 8 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• Hot red pepper sauce, to taste

*Because I doubled the veggies I doubled the "Sauce", still needed some more flavor*

1. While the rice is cooling, coat a large nonstick wok or skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Pour in eggs and cook, stirring gently, until just set, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer to a small bowl.

 2. Heat canola oil in the pan over medium-high; add broccoli  and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add bell peppers, onion, garlic and ginger; cook, stirring, until the vegetables are just tender, about 2 minutes (mine took about 8 mins). Add the cooked rice, soy sauce and vinegar to the pan; cook until the liquid is absorbed, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Fold in the cooked eggs. Remove from the heat; stir in sesame oil and hot sauce.

I added some little strips of steak to mine to get some protein

 Nutritional Values: (does not include meat)
 Calories: 294 Carbs: 48 Fat: 7 Sodium: 202 Protein: 10  Sugar: 6

Day 21 Forecast: cold, windy, with a chance of tatas

What else do you want to do on a Saturday morning when its 44, cloudy and windy? Get up and do a breast cancer 5k. 

This morning was my first official 5k.  My boss and I did the Susan G Komen Race for the cure in Indianapolis.  Woke up this morning to 42 degrees, windy and some rain drops.  Not exactly ideal weather.  I put on my 5 layers of clothing, ear headband, and pink shoes and went for it.

We left the house at about 730 am (that was harsh on a Saturday), got down town a little after 8am.  Found the port a potties, which were pink and walked around a bit.  We had a warm up of zumba at 840 which got you warm and your blood flowing.  Which by that time we were getting a little chilly so it was a nice warm up. 

The race started at 9:10am (non competitive 5k walk/run).  Now all I saw up to the starting line was a mass of people.  We had it planed out, we were going to walk for the first 5 min and then start our run.  I was thinking we're going to be walking forever at this pace.  It was a very nonchalant kind of jaunt.  Not the fast walking I'm used to.

We did manage to make it 5 mins exactly walking, kind of pushing our way through the crowd, going on the side walk/grass to pass people etc.  My plan was

5 min walk
8 min run
5-6 min walk
8 min run
see where we are at..... wanted to run across the finish line

We made it, our first mile was about 13 mins which I felt was good since 5 mins of it was walking.  We pushed through and followed our schedule, ended up running the last whole half mile and it turned out to be our best mile time 10:58 seconds! 

We finished the 5k in 37 min 03 sec!!!

Very proud of this time.  The last few feet of the race I kicked it into high gear and sailed across the finish line!

I feel very accomplished to have done this (before my 30th birthday) with such a good time.  I'll be looking for another one mid summer and then fall to see how my time improves.  For now I'll continue my c25k training and push through it.

Tonight I made the Dr Mike Power Cookies for cycle 2,3 of the 17 day Diet.  I underlined what I changed from the original recipe

Dr Mike Power Cookies

INGREDIENTS
* 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce * makes them moister
* 2 tablespoons almond paste (hard to find and expensive, I found it by the pie fillings)
* 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil
* 10 packets of Truvia
* ¼ cup agave nectar
* 1 large egg
* ½ teaspoon vanilla
* ¾ cup whole wheat flour
* ½ teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* ½ teaspoon salt
* ¼ teaspoon black pepper
* ½ cup vanilla whey powder
* 2 cups oats
* 1 cup dried cherries (soak these in some warm water before adding to the recipe to plump them up)
* ½ cup sliced almonds
DIRECTIONS

Cookies before baking

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together applesauce, almond paste, flaxseed oil, Truvia and agave nectar. (Beat this really well, I noticed when taking the cookies out of the oven one of them had some chunks of almond paste in them.)Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, pepper and whey powder. Beat thoroughly. Stir in oats, cherries and almonds. Mix well. Drop the batter by large tablespoons onto a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with vegetable cooking spray. Divide dough so that you have 18 cookies. Flatten each cookie with the back of the spoon. Bake (I baked about 12-4 min)16 to 18 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven. Cool and store in a plastic container. Each cookie supplies 128 calories and can be enjoyed on the Activate, Achieve and Arrive Cycles for breakfast or as a snack. Each cookie counts as 1 protein and 1 natural starch.

Cookies after baking, need to work on uniform sizes!

My cookies turned out with the following nutrition value (MFP calculated)
Calories: 166 Carbs: 28 Fat: 4 Sodium: 104 Protein: 6 Sugar:11

Can't wait to try one in the morning!