It's another Weigh innnnn

So I would like to point out that this past week I ate a lot. Some of it didn't get written down. Most of it did.

This week I had:

-Roast beef burritos with refried beans, Mexican rice, chips and salsa from my all time favorite restaurant. Oh and I had it delivered. Bad Christie, no soup for you!
-Approximately 2 dozen cookies
-Nachos BellGrande
-Restaurant spaghetti
-Homemade spaghetti
-Chicken with mac n cheese/or rice
-Smoothies
-Diet sodas
-Lots of coffee
-Lots of yogurt/string cheese
-Handfuls of bittersweet chocolate chips/marshmallows. Lots and lots of handfuls. In fact, Brian and I took turns eating out of the bag. That's messed up.

Yeah, I failed pretty much at life this week. I also ended up going over my weekly allowance by 12 points. I also ate all of my activity points too. Not that I earned many. I earned 3. Pitiful.

I am not going to lie, its a BIG weight change. I could whine or cry, or make excuses. But you know what? Truth of the matter is: I ate what I wanted, how much I wanted, and I paid for it by having a weight gain. I used hormones as excuses. I ate and ate and ate. I am not ashamed of my inner (and outer) fatass. I am responsible for my progress, forward or backward. Still, its not exactly pleasant seeing this big of a jump. I gained just a little over 2 lbs this week. 2.2 to be more accurate

I did not once step on that scale during those 7 days- a grievous error on my part. Most people when they step on the scale, it does their head in. They freak out about their lack of progress, or get false hope. Me? I gained nearly 60 lbs in a year because I did not step on a scale. I did not own a scale. When I lived at home, I weighed myself once every single day!

Stupid Christmas. I was like, oh I will make cookie jars for everyone! Wait, I need to try out the recipe to see if its any good <----LIES!! (its a fantastic recipe, by the way)

Redeeming moments: 

Last night, I ate a clementine. Or rather, I tried a clementine. Turns out, I love the taste, not the texture. At least I keep trying fruit, right? Thats the important thing. Lucky me, Brian loves them and gobbled the rest of it down for me.  I also found an apple in the crisper that had been sitting there for probably 2 months. I sliced it open, sniffed it, and then ate it. It was perfectly fine. And delicious! Brian was hesitant, so I made him try it too. He promptly stole half my apple. Hey! That's miiiiine!! 

I took a multivitamin yesterday. Nearly choked on the gargantuan pill, but still took it. I drank all of my water too. I had fruit! It was almost a good day! 

Here's the game plan this week. Or at least today.

-No coffee. I seriously drink all my points in coffee if left to my own devices.
-Breakfast was 6 oz of fat free vanilla yogurt with 1 small sliced honeycrisp apple, for a total of 3 points and 16 oz of water.
-Lunch is going to be 6 oz of fat free fruit flavored yogurt with 1 cup of mixed berries (pureed and deseeded, of course) and maybe one sliced apple as well, as a smoothie.
-Snack: 30 chocolate chips for 2 points
-Dinner is awesome homemade spaghetti. Recipe below.

And that looks like a very well rounded day. I even get almost all my fruits and veggies in, if you can believe it!

My homemade meat sauce consists of 2 cups tomato sauce (16 ounce can), 2 cups diced tomatoes (16 ounce can- I get "petite diced") , 1 cup of frozen spinach (thawed and pureed) and 1/2 c of frozen carrots (also thawed and pureed) as well as 1/4 cup each of diced onion and green bell pepper. Add to this 20 oz of ground turkey (93/7) and garlic powder, seasoned salt, ground black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and red wine vinegar (all to taste) and this is one hearty sauce, this is served over whole grain spaghetti noodles or whole grain penne rigate, depending on what I have in my cupboard. I watched this video that you should let your meat sauce simmer for a few hours. I am considering doing that, just to see how it would taste.

I've finally decided to permanently make the switch from ground beef to ground turkey. First off, its moister. Secondly, its usually cheaper. If I get 90/10 ground beef, I can expect to pay $4.49 a pound. If I get ground turkey, I can expect to pay $3.99 for 20 ounces. That's getting .25 lbs more for .50 less!!

I am going to ride my stationary today. Stella has been neglected for far too long. I also have my last test for my training at work today, there is an extra amount of stress. I would hate to FAIL the last day of training and lose my job :( I am going to do Couch to 5K day 1 and pedal my heart out to some music, sweat a little, earn some APs and then go and ace this test. Tomorrow is my first day of on the job training (not just classroom training) and taking live phone calls. Wish me luck! I am nervous but very excited.

Positive Thinking

I know for me, keeping positive about something is very hard. I'm easily excitable, however, but maintaining motivation and positive thoughts is something very difficult for me. I suppose it's partly because I am an only child and so used to having things fall into my lap.

Anyway, last week, I had a discussion with my husband. While I was riding Stella, I struggled to make it past 5 minutes of continuous riding. Hubby asked if I was going to finish out half an hour. I think I glared at that point and told him to shut his mouth, he isn't fat he doesn't know how hard it is.

After that little blow up (not that it was a fight, but I probably shouldn't have snarled) I started thinking about it and I came to the conclusion that I only stopped because I didn't *think* I could go on. Hmm...

This week one of my personal goals was to ride Stella in increasing increments, until I managed 15 minutes. I also said I wanted to be able to ride 3 miles in one session.

I officially blew both of those goals out of the water today. Not only was it my third consecutive session with Stella going at least 15 minutes, but I did one better, I went 18 minutes AND went 3.00 miles! WOW!

There were moments I wanted to quit. Basically any moment after I looked at the display and it said that I had a mile and a half to go, or it was 12 minutes on the clock. It was very difficult to talk myself through those moments.

But like always, I cranked up my Lady GaGa and soldiered on. I thought of everyone else I know or read about, who have completed their journeys or made a significant difference. It's hard to believe that it was only 7 days ago that I could barely do this much.

I have also noticed one small improvement: My bum sits just a little bit higher. Hardly noticeable, except to me. I spent most of yesterday grabbing my own ass to feel my tiny change. I spent the rest of it double checking with my husband. "Does it look any different? It feels different but I can't tell. Is it different?" lol

Here's pics for proof!

Me before Stella


18 minutes!


3 miles!



270 calories!


Me post session:



And there you have it!