Jawbone UP24 Preliminary Review and 10 Week Endings

The day after Christmas I picked up my gift to myself--A Jawbone UP24 wristband.  It's in the same family as the FitBit where it tracks your movement and sleep and gives you back data about your day that can help you make better food/exercise choices.  Now that I've had it for almost a week, I've had the opportunity to use it in several day-to-day situations, enough to give a preliminary discussion of its mechanisms.

First, though, is a caveat.  Just like the FitBit, this is not a heart rate monitor.  The band works on movements.  It doesn't know that you're walking uphill because it doesn't know that your heart rate is higher than it would be if you were walking on a flat track.

I have not calibrated my wristband yet; I'll do that when the high school track isn't covered in 15 inches of snow...  but I'm very impressed that it does know the difference between upper body movements and walking.  I can get excited watching a Bruins game, sitting on the couch, and it doesn't log the clapping as steps.  But, a quick sock-slide to the kitchen for a glass of water doesn't always log either.  I also wore it while playing Just Dance in "Just Sweat" mode and based on my movement, both the wristband and the game gave me identical readings when I told UP that I spent that time playing a video game.

There are some functions that it is capable of that I haven't tried yet.  I have not went on a run with it yet (that's because it's either snowing, raining, or ass cold here in the Granite State here recently... more snow tomorrow).  So here we go!

WHAT DOES IT DO?

All of the data that the wristband collects can be viewed on your smartphone app.  The UP app will also allow you to cycle through the functions of the wristband.  You can also cycle through these functions without the app with the button on the device itself.  Some of these are easy (moving between day and sleep move is just holding the button down) but others are more difficult to remember so the app helps me there (press the button once, then hold it down until it vibrates to start and end the stopwatch function).  These functions include:

Day Mode:  Measuring "steps" and movement at all times.  How much "active" and "inactive" time you've spent through the day, how many calories you've burned just being alive in addition to the "active" calories you've burned (from activity you add or activity it senses).

Sleep Mode:  Measuring your sleep.  It knows when you aren't moving in your sleep.  It knows when you are moving in sleep.  It knows when you get up and go to the bathroom.

Stopwatch:  Allows you to give the wristband the exact time that you're doing an activity.  Going for a walk?  Starting your aerobic or spin routine?  Hit the stopwatch and it will take those movements you make into consideration.  End the stopwatch and you can go in and name the activity you did.  This can change your calorie burn depending on if you're doing weight lifting or running.

Power Nap:  Like sleep mode, except it has a short alarm.  It won't let you oversleep.  But if you're like me and you required a 3 and a half hour nap after an epic New Year's Eve celebration, you can ignore the alarm, turn it off when the band vibrates, and go back to sleep.

Smart Sleep Alarms:  You can set what time you must wake up on certain days of the week and the band will take where you are in your sleep pattern to decide when to wake you.  I've really enjoyed this function because it really does wake me at a good time.  The vibrating band is a silent way to wake up, so if you wake up at a different time than your bed partner, they would probably appreciate it.  Downside is I haven't found a way to "snooze," but it's waking you when you're awake enough that you shouldn't need it.

Idle Alert:  You can set times that the band will vibrate after a certain amount of inactivity to get you on your feet.  I set mine for 45 minutes from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM so that while at work at my desk job, it will remind me to get up from the desk and move around.  So far that hasn't been a problem.

It holds a charge for approximately 1 week and it charges pretty quickly.  The app will tell you approximately how many days you have left in the charge and what percentage you have left of battery life.  Charging is done by taking the cap off of one end of the device and plugging it into the USB charger that comes with it.  It has to be charged with a computer because a DC outlet is too powerful.

Those are the primary uses.  The app will also allow you to track your food and drink intake and measure what nutrients you're consuming, etc.  The UP app will also pair with other apps that you already use.  For example, I already use MyFitnessPal and do not want to stop using it.  I enter my food into MFP and the UP app imports that.  It also pairs with MapMyFitness, Runtastic, and many others. 

Below are some screen shots and explanations of the data the app gives you:

This is the data for one night's sleep.

This is a comparison of the last 7 days of sleep.  These is also a similar bar graph for steps/activity.

Trends.  You can see trends on ANYTHING.  How much fiber you've eaten.  Sleep.  Activity time.  It will compare any two things.

Another example of trends.

Your "news feed" for  your day.

Your homepage.

They call this the "Lifeline."  It's a graph of what you do every day.  Swipe from side to side to move between days.  This shows the dancing I did on NYE night!  That double arrow badge up top was an award I received for meeting a "Today I Will" goal.  You get badges for different things which I think is super fun.

One day's activity.  Here, you can see where I went for a walk at lunch time and then weight lifted in the evening.

This is what you get from adding the activity to the data the stopwatch collects.


WHAT DO I LIKE ABOUT IT?

So why bother doing this?  The main reason why I wanted one was to give myself an idea of what I do during the day.  I do have a desk job and I've always wondered if that keeps me inactive.  I've learned from the two days of work I had this week while wearing the band that this is not the case.  I am SO MUCH MORE INACTIVE on a day off.  I barely walk any steps on days off... because I'm not running right now.  The only time I even came close to the 10,000 step goal was NYE where I worked a nearly full day, then danced the night away.

Your activity and sleep goals can be set.  I went with the default of 8 hours of sleep at 10,000 steps.  I usually get 8 hours of sleep anyway, and 10,000 steps is a known recommendation.  That's approximately 5 miles of movement a day.  I can see why running helps me maintain my weight.  It's an easy way to knock off those needed miles.

I do like the alarm.   I also really appreciate that it loads my MFP data in rather than forcing me to learn to use an new app (my day-streak on MFP is 383 days).

It's comfortable.  It does NOT fall off.  This was actually what made me decide between the Jawbone and the FitBit Force.  So many reviews for the Force talked about the clasp not being sturdy enough.  This band allows you to slip in and out of the opening, but when you're working out (I've done burpees with it on) it doesn't come off at all.  Doesn't even try.

It does recommend that you remove it while bathing and while swimming, but I've read reviews where people swim with it.  I honestly like the fact that I can't take it into the shower.  I hate wearing things in the shower.  When I had my finger splint on that drove me crazy.  And I don't like wearing jewelry in the shower (I hate that I can't take some of my ear piercings out). 

WHAT WOULD I CHANGE?

There's nothing annoying about the device, but there are a few things I would change if I could.

I bought a medium, but I probably should have gotten a small.  I do like that it isn't tight on my wrist, but it moves too much and it's difficult in long sleeves because it isn't tight on my arm.

You can see the buttons in this picture.  The small silver bit on the top is where you cycle through functions.  The silver cap on the bottom covers the adapter to plug into the charger.

Another thing I would change is how it pulls from MFP.  I like putting in all of my food that I will eat at work while I pack my lunch.  This makes sure I have it done and if I need to weigh anything, it's more accurate than my memory.  If you do that, though, UP imports it all at once.  It doesn't import food, it imports the meal.  But then it looks like, on my timeline, that I ate 4 meals at 7 AM.

I'd love to see an easier way to track water intake.




If anyone has any specific questions, leave it in the comments here and I'll address them!  It's very easy to use and easy to catch on to.  You don't get a lot of directions, but honestly, I find that I use some things more than others.  You'll decide what you want it for and you'll be a pro in those functions in no time.  If you're in the market for a tracking wristband I'd definitely recommend it.  It doesn't fall off.  I'm finding it to be very accurate, even uncalibrated, and it's really putting my days off into perspective.  It makes me want to run.


I'm hoping that having my UP24 will help me get back in those size 4 pants (I rocked my size 6 dress on NYE despite the extra poundage and I did it with very hard triceps).  I did complete the Burn Phase of Chalean Extreme, so I'm starting 2014 on the Push Phase.  Time to lift wicked heavy!  Can't wait!  I also can't wait to run my first mile of 2014, but like I said, crazy snow coming.  I'll get there eventually.

2013 had so many firsts.  I ran my first half marathon.  Did my first obstacle race.  But 2013 also brought a lot of frustrations.  I'm hoping for this positive start to 2014 to ride on through the year.  I want to get back on track, get back in my best shape, and be happy.

2 weeks from today I'll be 29.  Gotta rock the last year of my twenties :D


Lastly, just because this is supposed to be a blog about cooking too, I finally cooked the spaghetti squash that has been chilling in my fridge for a month.  I made Spaghetti Squash Latkes!  Super simple, very tasty, and you can eat the whole batch yourself with zero guilt.  I ate them tonight with some mixed veggies and fish, so I couldn't physically eat the whole batch.  I have one left over.

1.5 cups of roasted spaghetti squash, patted dry
1 egg, beaten
1/8 cup flour
1/4 cup shredded onion

Mix everything together and fry up in a pan on medium high heat with some olive oil.  I used a fork to pull the mix onto the pan and then spread it out a little as it started cooking.  Flip and cook the other side.

Definitely has the texture of shredded potatoes.  I found many recipes for this before deciding on how to make my own.  Many had different spices.  It would probably be good with some shredded carrots as well.

This made approximately 6 patties for 180 calories.  Try it with egg whites only and I bet that would work. 


 Happy New Year everyone!  Let's make this one the best yet.

Week 5 & 6 of 10 - Christmas Treats and Feeling Defeat

I started out this 10 weeks of me getting back in shape and numbering the weeks in my blog posts in hopes that I'd be sharing actual results with you.  Not so much.  And I'm accepting it for a little while here.  I've been feeling a little blah (had some coughing fits today and I've been really lethargic).  I'm trying to eat well, but it seems like when the sun goes down, I go free-for-all.  I eat well all day and then I get home, where the rest of my food lives, and I just gorge myself.

It also hasn't helped my fitness or my ability to do anything other than crawl under the covers with the abundance of cold weather...

I haven't gotten to run in almost 2 weeks and, unfortunately, I haven't done any other kinds of workouts either.  I'm so tired.  I feel just huge and bloated and unmotivated.

I decided to take a step back and look at my body outside of food and exercise.  I've been having terrible breakouts.  Today I woke up with a crazy PMS headache.  Where I used to be able to count on my period for a quick couple-pound weight loss, now it's resulting in weight gains that I can't get rid of--I just feel so abnormal.  Went to the gyno to get my birth control pill changed.  I'm looking forward to starting it up and seeing if it will help my body feel better.  Maybe then I can get motivated again.

Another plan I have to get motivated is a Christmas present that I bought for myself.  On Monday, I should be picking up my Jawbone UP24.  It's one of those fitness/sleep tracker bracelets that I've been in the market for for a while now.  It was between the new Jawbone and the FitBit Force.  I decided to go with the Jawbone mainly because it looks more like a bracelet (so I don't have to hear "what's that around your wrist?" at work) and I liked the way the app looked and the data it seemed to give.

Jawbone also syncs up with my MyFitnessPal.  Which reminds me...  I really shouldn't get myself down about gaining 10 pounds.  I've accepted it.  I even made sure my gains are reflected in MFP and over the past weekend, I met the one-year of logging in milestone.  Even when I went camping up in the middle of nowhere Northern New Hampshire over the summer, I still made sure to log in every day.

I just need to hold on.  I'll get there.  Just need to keep a positive attitude, keep moving, and keep trying to eat right.


Speaking of eating right...  I just got finished making a bunch of Christmas treats for my coworkers.  So here's some recipes for some sugary, fatty goodness!

Apologies that I forgot to take pictures of my Cookies and Creme White Chocolate Bark.  But here's the recipe...

18 Peppermint Oreos (or your favorite flavor)
1 package of white chocolate chips

Prepare Oreos by breaking into smaller pieces.  Hold aside 1/2 cup of Oreo pieces for the top of the bark.

In a double boiler, melt white chocolate chips until smooth.  Remove from heat and mix in Oreo pieces.  The peppermint Oreos have red filling, so the red made the white chocolate red also.

Pour into a 9x9 pan lined with aluminum foil.  Spread evenly.  Top with reserved Oreo pieces and press in gently to secure.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Next up, I made a Cake Batter Chocolate Bark.  For that I used...

1 large package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 package of white chocolate chips
1/4 cup yellow cake mix
colored sprinkles

In a double boiler, melt semi-sweet chocolate until smooth.  Remove from heat and mix in 1/3 of your colored sprinkles.  Pour into a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Place in refrigerator for 15 minutes, then begin preparing the top layer.

In a double boiler, melt white chocolate chips and yellow cake mix together until smooth.  Remove from heat and add another 1/3 of the sprinkles.  Pour on top of existing semi-sweet chocolate.  Spread as evenly as possible.  Top with the final 1/3 of the sprinkles, pressing in gently to secure.  Refrigerate for at least another 30 minutes.  Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

These were 13-year old girl approved...









The last bark I made was a Trail Mix Chocolate Bark.  Of course you could put anything you like in it... but I chose to use:

1 large package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanuts
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup pretzel pieces

Prepare pretzels by breaking into small pieces.  Combine pretzel pieces, peanuts, and cranberries into a bowl.  Set aside.

In a double boiler, melt semi-sweet chocolate until smooth.  Remove from heat and mix in 2/3 of the combined mix ins, reserving 1/3 for the top.  Mix well and pour into a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Spread evenly.  Top with remaining mix ins and press gently to secure.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.


Have you had enough sugar?  No?  Well, that's good... I have one more...

Of course I got a lot of these ideas off of Pinterest but this one is by far my favorite.  I'm not sure about you, but I love Rice Krispies treats... and I HATE MAKING RICE KRISPIES TREATS!!!  They are messy and sticky and I can never manage to NOT touch them so I get marshmallow goop all congealed on the ends of my fingers.

These are Lumps of Coal Rice Krispies Treats that are a melding of a few recipes I found on Pinterest.  I chose to use:

1/4 cup butter (half of a stick)
10.5 oz bag of mini marshmallows
black food coloring (not gel)
5 cups rice cereal
18 Oreo cookies, cream removed and turned to powder in the food processor

In a non-stick pot (trust me, it makes it easier), melt butter under medium-low to low heat.  Once nearly melted, add mini marshmallows and the cream from your Oreos.  Melt down and add in black food coloring.  When color that you want is achieved, add crumbled Oreos and combine well.  Lastly, remove from heat and add rice cereal.

And mix.

And mix.

And you might need to put the heat back on it so you can actually get it all mixed in.

And mix.

Once all combined, drop in odd shapes onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet.  Let cool.  These look fantastic and it was fun, though challenging to get them off of the spoon onto the parchment.  I'd recommend using a silicone spatula to mix everything.  It won't damage your pot and it can withstand the heat.

Luckily all of these tasty treats are for my coworkers, so I didn't actually eat any.  I do have the ingredients to make a Oreo Cheesecake Brownie to take over to the handsome gentleman's house for Christmas Eve...  I'll probably end up eating plenty of that.


I'm technically in the middle of Week 6... so I might postpone blog posting again until after Christmas.  I've got some extra days off, so hopefully I'll be able to stay on track and get more active.  I'm sitting here exhausted with a huge headache...

There were a couple of observations I've made over the last two weeks that I wanted to share.  I've been eating a lot more salads... and I wanted everyone to see what a "serving" of croutons looks like...

Depressing.  I know.

Then there's the things that make me happy and keep me going through the day.  I've been mixing my protein shakes in iced coffee... and chasing that with my normal iced tea...

I'd rather drink this than eat candy...

I know my change is coming soon.

Are You Eating Enough?

We're going to start today off by talking about food. I know, you're super excited. Calm yourself.

No matter what stage you are at in your journey to eat healthier or lose weight, I want you to contemplate this question: are you eating enough? It's a strange question for me too because I'm more than capable of eating everyone's share of the chips and salsa at the table, but I've really been trying to focus on getting enough food in with all of the fitness that I've been doing. Getting enough food is super important to your body's functions but sometimes when you're eating so many low calorie, “whole” foods, it's seriously difficult.

I've lost approximately 5 pounds over the course of the last three months, three months full of Jillian Michaels and running, and I've noticed that since I starting doing this one, seemingly obsessive thing, I've been able to lose the bulk of that weight. I think about this thing I do and I almost feel like I'm going overboard... but it's not that I'm doing it to make sure I'm not eating too much, I'm doing it to give myself all the food that I should be eating. I weigh fruit.

I'll give the example in “My Fitness Pal” language, which if you aren't already using something to track your food and exercise, I would highly recommend MFP to you. I've lost 38 pounds using it. Anyway, when you track eating let's say, an orange, you have several choices. You can track “1 cup” of orange sections, a small orange, a medium orange, a large orange, a 2-3/8 inch diameter orange... you get the idea. You hold the orange in your hand. Is this a small orange? Is it a medium orange? And you think, Katie, why do we care? It's an orange. It's good for you. It's low in calories.

But it matters.

It's the difference between 100 calories for a “large” navel orange or 69 calories for a “medium” orange and if you weigh your peeled orange sections, you might find that the “large” orange you're holding is really only 125 grams and that's actually 50 calories. So you're shorting yourself 50 calories by tracking 100 calories for that item. And I hear you thinking, but isn't that a good thing? We're trying to burn more than we eat, so shorting ourselves 50 calories can help us do that without even trying, right? But if you're doing it on that orange, imagine what else you might be shorting yourself. And you could be doing it and not giving yourself enough to eat. Then you won't lose weight. You won't lose weight and you're missing out on a bunch of food... that's a depressing combination.

Here's how I've started tracking fruit: I find an entry that actually gives a weight in grams for a serving. So in the serving section, it either describes the weight of the large orange (280 g) or it gives you the stats for 100 g of orange. Then you have to do a little math, but seriously, if I can do this math, so can you. You weigh your orange sections. It comes out to 128 g. Either divide 128/280 and enter the decimal amount into MFP or you enter 1.28 servings for the 100 g of orange.

And you would want to do this for your recipes too. The zucchini you used two weeks ago to make the recipe may have been larger or smaller than the zucchini you're using right now.

The philosophy of eating enough is why I eat 5 small meals a day. I try to keep each of the 5 meals under 300 calories and this keeps me constantly fueled and never overfull. Being overfull is always my downfall. It makes me want to eat more. Knowing at 1:30 that I'm going to get another meal at 3:00 helps me to keep away the bored-eating cravings.

I didn't do very much cooking this week, but I did finally try a food that I've been wanting to try for a while. Quinoa!! I know, I'm late in doing this, but living in the world of Pinterest and seeing so many quinoa recipes around, I had to try it.

If you're like me and you've never eaten it before, I'd describe the texture as if barley and rice had a baby. The nice thing about quinoa is it has protein in it as well as carbs, so you get a little more bang for your buck. Always remember, the more nutrition you're getting from a given food, the less of the next food you have to eat. And that's how we take in less calories than we exert in order to lose weight.

I call this my Veggie Quinoa Skillet and I legitimately just whipped this up in my kitchen with no direction other than how long to cook the quinoa from the side of the box. Of course, if you have different veggies in the house, feel free to use whatever you have on hand or whatever you like.  Here's what I used and I split this recipe into 3 servings:

2 servings of quinoa, cooked per package directions (you'll need to half the direction requirements)

1 portabello cap, chopped into bite-sized pieces

½ serving of baby spinach

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 tsp olive oil

Start your quinoa cooking. It will only take about 10-15 minutes and it's super easy to cook. While that cooks, heat up your oil slightly and throw in your pepper and mushroom. Cook the vegetables to your liking and then spread out the veggies on the bottom of your skillet. Add the spinach on top. This will allow the spinach to wilt without sticking right away.

When your quinoa is finished, stir the spinach in with the other vegetables, then pour the veggie contents into the pot with your quinoa. Stir well, incorporating everything together.

1/3 of this recipe is 160 calories, 4 grams of fat, 6 grams of protein and it is delicious. The first night I made it I had an avocado that I needed to eat, which was the rationale behind splitting the recipe three ways, so I could add avocado to the mix and not be over on calories.

I had my second serving with some salmon and then I had the last serving with some boiled eggs and a cheese stick. It all went together very well.

I've been getting a little burnt out on salad recently, mainly the cutting up of the lettuce, since buying heads of romaine over the bagged stuff helps it last longer. But I had a delicious salad made with baby spinach, romaine, salmon and orange sections.

In the world of fitness I've been sort of taking it easy this week. Monday and Tuesday I came home from work and did Level 1 of Jillian's Yoga Meltdown. I hadn't done that video since before doing Ripped in 30 back in January/February and my flexibility has vastly improved! I've never been able to get back into Camel Pose. I think it's because I'm fairly short waisted, so there's not too much space to bend between my shoulders and my waist. But I can do it now! Maybe my recent abilities in Wheel Pose have helped that out.

I'm also pushing along well in my Push-up Challenge. I'm really enjoying starting the day off with some activity and push-ups are quick and fun to do before I jump in the shower. This morning I was able to do 21 push-ups before failure. I was at 20 earlier in the week. I did a total of 35 push-ups today. By the 31^st, I'll be doing 50 and I'm hoping that I'll be able to do half of those before failure.

I'm heading to Kentucky for a quick trip next weekend, so my blog post may be a little late next week. April 1^st my graduate school classes begin online and I'm going to start on ChaLEAN Extreme. Pretty pumped to start a new routine and since this one is 90 days, I'll have a lot to keep me occupied.

Lastly, not sure if you know this, but you can now follow Autonomous Eats on Facebook. I'll share random stuff that I eat and notice during the week that might not make it into the blog posts. Just search for Autonomous Eats and “Like” the page!!

What You Want

Every other week at the office I've been facilitating “healthy lifestyle support group meetings.” Though the people that have been attending are all interested in losing weight, the purpose isn't necessarily to do that, but rather to adapt our lives to treating ourselves better and practicing healthy habits. The last few meetings I've tried to come up with a topic to talk about because there's only so much you can say about what you're doing to try to stay healthy. This coming week, I'm going to talk about excuses.

In an attempt to not sound mean... which it might come off as mean but really it just is “stern” or “determined” when I say that I'm so tired of hearing excuses. And we have excuses for everything we don't really want to do. It reminds me of one of my favorite pins on Pinterest... the quote that says, “Don't be disappointed by the results you didn't get from the work you didn't do.” It comes down to deciding what you want.

What do you want? If you want pizza, I'm sure there's nothing stopping you there. But maybe you want to lose weight or you want to exercise more or you want to feel great and confident in tank tops this summer. But do you really want it? You MUST want it. You have to want it. Otherwise, there's nothing that's going to keep you from making an excuse to not get it.

Some excuses for not eating healthy and exercising. Just to name a few...

It's too expensive to eat healthy.

I don't have time to exercise.

I'm tired after work and don't feel like exercising.

Food planning and packing lunches is hard work.

I can't think of anything to cook.

Pardon my frankness, but each of these things and probably anything you could come up with for me is complete bullshit. I went to the grocery for the week and spent $41 for myself... last week I got 433 minutes of activity, which represents a whopping 4% of the minutes in my week. I work 25% of the minutes in the week. You don't think I'm tired after a day at work? But I come home and I exercise anyway because it's important to me. Because I want to. Food planning is fun. I love food. I look forward to snack time because I know what I have coming to me. And if you're still reading my blog and you can't think of anything to cook, well, I'm not doing a very good job, am I?

Do you want to get to the point where all of this, all the work, it's just second nature? Do you really want it? It takes work. It takes thought and awareness. It takes your attention. And it's worth it.

There's a flip side to this. And it's something that I struggle with because now that I'm where I want to be I find myself terrified that something is going to happen that is going to make me having to start all over again (hopefully that's not likely). It's okay not to want this. It's okay to be content with how things are. If you don't want it, no one is twisting your arm (except maybe your doctor). But if you feel like you're trying and you feel like you want it, chances are you do. You're just scared or overwhelmed or the things that need to change aren't changing fast enough for you and you're getting discouraged. That isn't the time to make excuses. That's the time to evaluate what you're doing and find something else that works for you. Change what you're eating. Drink more water. Change the type of exercise you're doing. Don't sabotage yourself with excuses.

I think this time last year I talked about trigger foods. About the foods you can't trust yourself with. Today I try and think of a list of trigger foods and I don't have any. I laughingly think to myself that I'm cured of my carb cravings. I can't remember the last time I had a REAL sandwich... with bread. The last time I had real potato chips. And if I did have them it was on a plate, not out of a bag. I have day dreams about apples and peanut butter. I used to make myself two servings of pasta. I could clean my plate at the Olive Garden. I haven't been to the Olive Garden in a year and a half.

I run those healthy lifestyle meetings and I do this blog to remind you that it's possible. Not only to tell you that it's possible, but to tell me that I'm not dreaming. I stay accountable for myself. I stay accountable for you, reading these words now. I stay accountable for my coworkers that come in to work, step on a scale, and talk to me about eating well.

In the spirit of not making any more excuses, I'm happy to report that I've done something non-weight related that I'm really proud of and really excited to get started with. I've been accepted to Graduate School and I'm going to start working toward an MA in English and Creative Writing in Poetry. I've been making excuses for years.

At the end of the last semester of my undergrad, I held in my hand a letter telling me that I was not accepted to graduate school. It had two sentences. It gave me nothing other than telling me that I wasn't what they wanted. I wanted to be a teacher. Maybe I didn't, maybe I didn't really want to be a teacher. I had just been in school for so long, being at teacher felt like an extension of school. It was extension of the comfortable. I knew school. I had 16 years of it under my built. I knew how hallways and class bells and lockers worked. I was used to being around students and teachers. And I loved learning. So it seemed like that was what I should do.

I feel like the whole experience of applying and preparing for this thing that I didn't get to do, it all seems so surreal now. I took the GRE and PRAXIS exams for no good reason. I got good scores. And ever since I held that letter telling me that I wasn't what they wanted, I started to reevaluate what it was that I wanted. I'd fantasized about an MFA in Poetry. Most of those programs, including the one that I found here in New Hampshire, always involve sequestering yourself. Like I have to take a journey to Walden Pond and live off the land until I create this epic opus of my work that stands for something. Made out of my sinew, etched in my bones. No one has time for that. Not someone who has a mortgage and lives on her own and works full time. We don't get to move into Robert Frost's house and write by the flickering firelight.

Then last year, when I was going through the little bit of therapy that I allowed myself, she asked me why I didn't go back to school if I wanted to. My excuse to her was the money. My undergrad is paid off, thanks to the fastidiousness of an ex-husband terrified of debt, so I just felt like creating debt for myself wasn't in the cards. I barely have enough money to pay the bills I have. So what was the use of adding on more bills for a Master's degree I don't need.

She told me it was okay to go back to school.

Then I wondered about the program. Do I really want a Master's in English? What good is it? My excuse then became, well, should I do something that I love or should I do something that will make sense for what I do? Shouldn't I get an MBA or something with organizational leadership. Something that will make me a better office worker? And I thought about it and thought about it. And the excuse is my indecision.

On President's Day, I'm sitting on the couch, drinking my first breakfast, watching the news and there's a commercial for Southern New Hampshire University's online Master's programs, so I flipped through the website to see what they had. And there it was. MA in Creative Writing. All online. No flippant exodus into solitude required. And I'd end the program with a thesis consisting of my poems and with not only a deeper understanding of the thing that I love most but I think of myself too.

When you peel away all the excuses and you see what you really want, the decision is easy.

I put together 6 pages of poems. I write a statement of purpose. I filled out an application and I did a FAFSA for the first time in 7 years (which by the way, is so super easy when you do it with your own tax information and not that of your parent's). And I got an e-mail from my admission counselor that I had been accepted into the program. I'm registered for my first two classes and I've got most of my books already. I start April 1. I'm so excited. I'm proud of myself for getting something that I want. I should really be used to it by now, but the more I focus, the more I achieve and the more I give away my fear of failure... it's becoming second nature and like I should wonder why I ever settled on what I didn't really want.

I doubt it's going to take up that much of my time. I do have a terribly large amount of free time. Bowling will be over on the 18^th, so I'm just going to take a break from organized sports for a while. Besides, softball season is starting soon and I do so enjoy watching my handsome gentleman play his games. I'll just need to make much more time for reading and writing (oh darn). My goal is to get good grades and not give up on my exercising.

Another goal I have to tackle involves emptying out my drawers and closet of clothes that just don't fit anymore and writing down a list of what I need to replace.  I have no shorts or capris to wear this coming spring/summer because they're all huge.  Size 10 doesn't fit anymore... so everything I had to buy last summer is void.  Can't fake this stuff.

This week in review... I'm starting to learn how my body reacts to this new pill and oh boy do I get the munchies like a crazy woman in the final two weeks of the pack. Not the last week as much, but it's essentially like I can eat my weight in anything. Anything that can sit still long enough to be bitten off and chewed and swallowed. That Papa John's pizza that I ordered with that god forsaken half off coupon they sent me went down so easy. But do you know what I didn't do? I didn't order the cinnapie to go with it. Tally mark on the “victory” column. Here's what I ate this week:

Monday

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake (Almond milk and strawberries with Vanilla protein)

2^nd Breakfast: Peanut Butter and Banana Oatmeal

Lunch: Salmon and Mango Salad

Dinner: Peanut Butter Protein Shake

Snacks: Peach Yogurt and Candy (caaaandy)

Tuesday

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake (Milk and Cinnamon)

2^nd Breakfast: Peanut Butter and Banana Oatmeal

Lunch: Amy's Medium Organic Chili and Sweet Potato

Dinner: The rest of the Papa John's pizza

Snacks: Candy and a Protein Bar (i.e. candy with protein in it)

Wednesday

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake (Almond Milk and Chai)

2^nd Breakfast: Vita Top and Banana

Lunch: Lean Cuisine Southwest Chicken Salad Additions

Dinner: Salmon and Sweet Potato

Snacks: Cottage Cheese, Strawberries, and a Deep Chocolate Vitamuffin

Thursday

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake (Almond Milk and Strawberries)

2^nd Breakfast: Vitabun (English Muffin), Peanut Butter and Banana

Lunch: Veggie Sushi Roll

Dinner: Pork Tenderloin with Shiitake Mushrooms and Broccoli

Snacks: Fiber One Chocolate Cereal and Milk

Friday

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake

2^nd Breakfast: Vitatop, Peanut Butter and Banana

Lunch: Spinach/Romaine Salad with Blood Orange

Dinner: Leftovers of Pork Tenderloin and Veggies

Snacks: Cookies and Cream Cake (it was a small piece... that I deserved...)

Saturday

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake

2^nd Breakfast: Vitatop with Peanut Butter

Lunch: Salmon and Peas and Carrots

Dinner: Side Salad, Small piece of garlic bread and veggie lasagna

Snacks: Shake made of strawberry yogurt, almond milk and frozen banana. Also some almonds.

Sunday

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake (milk and chai)

2^nd Breakfast: Vitabun (English Muffin), Egg and ½ Avocado

Lunch:

Dinner:

Snacks:

Let's go over a few of those things. I'm trying to get as adventurous as I can with my protein shakes because I need to keep them not boring. Sometimes it's just easier to mix up my protein in milk and drink it while doing my hair in the morning and be done with it. But I've taken to breaking out the Magic Bullet in the morning and throwing some fruit in there. I bought a box of straws a couple weeks ago and that has made shakes so much more delicious. It's amazing what a straw can do.

I've also taken to the afternoon snack in such a way that I'm considering changing my meal names on MyFitnessPal to reflect the absolute necessity that the 3:00 PM meal has in my life at the moment. I tried to make them pretty this week.

Second breakfast this morning was a delicious breakfast sandwich. I had a free shipping coupon for Vitalicious so I stocked up on Vitatops, got some Vitamuffins for the first time (the Deep Chocolate legit “muffin” is so soft and delicious), and I also got a couple packages of the Vitabuns to throw in the freezer. They're really good and I feel like they're just more sturdy than your typical english muffin. It's also 100 calories.

Spent the morning at the grocery and I've found that shopping the perimeter of the store does in fact give you the most healthy options. I've also found that I've become that snooty person who buys organic food. It's really not on purpose, I just have in my mind what I want and there isn't a non-organic option at the store. I can buy organic food and still keep to my $40 per week budget. Give me another excuse that you can't afford to eat healthy. I eat a ton of food for $40.

Yesterday's afternoon snack was the bomb. There should always be a frozen banana in your freezer for instances of milk shake. Yesterday I blended ½ of almond milk with a 6 oz container of Stoneyfield Farms Strawberry Blends yogurt and a frozen banana. Don't forget the straw. Oh man. So freaking good.

Luckily the bit of candy obsession that I had this week (and the large pizza) didn't keep me from getting down a little more.  Lost .2 lbs this MONTH.  Yea.  It goes by months now.

That's how I fueled. How did I burn?

Monday: 30 Day Shred, Level 2, Day 6, Bowling and 12 Push-ups

Tuesday: Run to work, 2.75 miles and 15 Push-ups

Wednesday: 30 Day Shred, Level 3, Day 1 and 15 Push-ups

Thursday: 30 Day Shred, Level 3, Day 1 and 15 Push-ups

Friday: REST and 17 Push-ups

Saturday: Run 3.1 miles, beat my PR for mile time with a 8:51 minute mile, and 17 Push-ups

Sunday: 30 Day Shred, Level 3, Day 3 and 20 Push-ups

I really didn't like Level 2 of 30 Day Shred. There were too many reps. It seemed like overkill. It doesn't have the same layout as Ripped in 30 where she does maybe 3 strength exercises and you do them all an equal amount of time. In 30 Day Shred, you start with the first strength exercise in the circuit, do that for 30 seconds, then the second exercise is done for 1 minute. Doing rows for 3 minutes straight is just... irritating. But I made it through and got to Level 3 this week. Only 3 more exercises left in 30 Day Shred. I'm so proud of how I've kept up with exercising this year. I give myself one rest day a week and it's been that way since January 7^th. That's 2 months. Wowza. I've never exercised like this and I love the way I'm changing and I love the way I feel.

On Tuesday I ran to work... which was mostly out of utility because my car was in the shop, but it was nice to get some activity in before work. Unfortunately, the temperatures were colder than I usually run and the sidewalks were really dangerous. I made terrible time and it was an overall bad run. But that's okay. A bad run is better than no run at all and I still burned calories. Yesterday's run made up for it because I ROCKED the HOUSE! I broke my record speed for a mile not once, but technically twice. My first mile and my second mile were both faster than my previous record, first mile clocking in at 8:51 and my second at 9:16. Finished a 5k length in 29:37. I think that's the fastest I've ever done that in a training run. I have a 5k this coming Saturday and I'm so excited to see how fast I go.

A little aside about my running and what I've noticed. I have never been “trained” when it comes to running. I've done my apps and I've read articles and I try to learn what I can about form and ways to train, but I've never done anything organized. I'm finding that the more core strength I have, my runs are becoming easier and faster. I run not only with my legs but with my lower abs and obliques. I can feel them tighten when I speed up. I feel that my breath is stronger and better controlled. My leg strength has really helped too. I feel that I can push off of the ground better and my legs don't get tired. Running 3.1 is now just something I do.

Go out this week and do something that you really want. Find what you want and make it happen for yourself. Success breeds confidence and that breeds more success. Don't settle and don't make excuses. You're worth the hard work.

Advice and How to Overcome My Sinus Headache

I haven't found much to write about the last few weeks because I haven't exactly cooked or done anything interesting. Going through that lull where I just try to eat the food in the fridge and the pantry, very low key, very few left overs.

Of course that leads to a lot of eating out (or at least wanting to go out to eat only to try to satisfy that urge with canned chili or bacon and eggs).

I've been having about a 4 lb struggle here recently, gaining it and losing it. But 4 pounds is nothing against 80 pounds so I've got no qualms unless my pants start to get tight. Right now, after a weekend of detox and good behavior (despite a slight cold) I'm just a pound shy of back to normal. Let's talk about the last week or so.

Now that I'm healthier, fitter, thinner... sickness comes in a confusing mist. It creeps in slowly. And then when I finally figure out that I'm sick it's not the same. I'm not completely out of commission. Just confused and uncomfortable and stuffy. Slight sinus pressure. I think I'd rather be out of commission because at least then there'd be a good reason why I'm fatigued and lazy. When I have the feeling that I'm able to do more, I'm more prone to trick myself into exercising. Instead I force myself to relax and I feel like I'm wasting valuable calorie burning time.

Last weekend I had two days that I could have ran. I ran 2 miles during lunch last Thursday and then Saturday was snowy and rainy and gross, so I decided that I'd put it off until Sunday (spent Saturday doing marathon Christmas shopping instead). Sunday I got up, went to the grocery, and the wet cold in the air dragged me down and I couldn't bring myself to go outside in it. Then the dark... I came up with so many excuses and missed an entire weekend of running for the first time in a long while.

Bowling on Monday nights, so I couldn't run after work. Had a nice evening Tuesday night making dinner with my handsome gentleman, who is back home sans venison. Wednesday night I didn't go to dance class because I literally had no clothes to wear to work the next day (I also fell asleep before 9). That's the day I ordered pizza. Domino's new Pan Pizza is delicious. So was the entire order of Cinna Stix that I ate. It took me 3 sittings to finish a medium pizza, so I didn't give myself too much grief about that. But Thursday morning I had a touch of a sore throat.

By the end of the day Thursday I'd attended a luncheon for work that had this delightful cheesecake-like cake with powered sugar... of which I had a piece. I had three rolls because I never get rolls. Friday I had to run an errand for work, now ¾ of a full blown sore throat, so I got a big cinnamon roll at Panera. Luckily the rest of the day I behaved myself.

But today I got in a 2 mile run. Didn't want to do too much because it'd been over a week since I'd ran last. Last night I tried something new, an app for my phone called Sworkit. Recommended by a Friend as well as something I'd seen on Pinterest... it's pretty fun. You pick how many minutes you want to do a circuit workout and then you pick the part of your body you want to work. God knows why I picked upper body since that's my weakest part (maybe... my core isn't terribly strong either...) but I went back and forth between push ups, diamond push ups, wall push ups, jumping jacks, triceps dips, laying triceps lifts, overhead presses... you get the idea. 30 seconds per exercise and you get a 30 second break every few exercises. It was fun! Only did it for 15 minutes, since I technically was sick. But I burned 95 calories for the 15 minutes and that helped me stay within my 1220 for the day. Looking forward to trying it again and seeing what all else it has to throw at me.

I'm a little afraid that I will cheat with it. My Jillian videos I tend to push hard because she's yelling and motivating and yea, I find myself apologizing to her out loud when I have to stop for a second and catch my breath. I finally got to try her Killer Buns and Thighs workout and holy crap. I also decided to try Level 2 of Yoga Meltdown and I almost like it better. Except for “Crow.” I fell on my face for that one. That hurts when you wear glasses.

I think I'm finally back to normal. Except for this splitting sinus headache.

Have a few things coming up soon that should be enjoyable. Baby shower tomorrow (mental note to stay away from the cake no matter how much it titillates me). Office “holiday” party on Friday (mental note to stay away from cookies and various other awesome things. Sounds like my gentleman will be accompanying me, so I'll just feed them to him and steal a bite). Christmas comes soon and with that a couple days out of the office so hopefully that'll be some good time to work out. Have a 5k on New Year's day that I'm pretty psyched about.

As an aside: I also haven't posted in a while because I had this grandiose idea of doing a post all about reintroduction. But then I realized that I'd have to go back and reread my first post; read my introduction. And I just couldn't do it. I've grown past it. I get embarrassed when I fess up that I've lost 80 pounds. I am proud of myself, don't get me wrong... but when I'm home in my sweats and sports bra, rocking out planks in my living room and the skin from my stomach hangs in the middle of my abdomen, the rest of me firm but that bit of me hanging, scarred with stretch marks; that's enough of a reminder. I don't need to read about it.

So I guess what I can say is, if you've never read my blog before, I'm a 27 (nearly 28! almost my bday!) woman living on her own in New Hampshire. For a little over a year now I've been chatting here about my weight loss, life changes, and food that I enjoy eating in order to stay on track with my healthy lifestyle. I've lost 80 pounds since 2008. I'm in the most liberating and interesting relationship of my life. I like to run. I like to dance. I'd never participated in a team sport until this year. Before 2012 I'd never run a mile, let alone three of them. I'd never eaten avocado. Never ridden on a motorcycle.

And now this life I live daily, though it's hard... I love every moment of it. So many things could improve. But there's so much that I like just the way they are.

I give advice sometimes. And now that I'm an old pro at this eating healthy, exercising thing... I think about what I want to tell people. So many just aren't ready. It's gradual. It's hard to let go of the things you think you want or need. But if you're looking to get started or you need some new motivation, here's some tips I try to fill my own head with.

1. Your journey starts at the grocery store. Look at the nutrition facts. If you can't have ONE serving of this item at a time, don't buy it. Example: the store I go to most keeps their protein/nutritional needs in the bread aisle (bastards). They've stopped carrying my whey protein in the big containers so I was contemplating trying a new kind... also eying the protein bars to see if anything looked interesting. Saw some Balance Mini Bars that looked good (only 100 calories) but I couldn't justify the sugar. Anyway, along with the bread in this aisle, there's donuts. I LOVE powdered sugar donuts. Love them with a big glass of milk. I'm sure a serving of those is 1 donut. And it's not that I couldn't eat just one... but because I live alone, if I eat one and then the box sits open a couple days, they're going to go bad. So is it worth buying them to throw them all away? Or is it worth buying them to risk eating them all, justified by the fact that they're going to go stale so I should just eat them all now. Don't bring things into your home. If you're prepared with good food, you're going to eat good food.

2. Don't accept excuses. There's an excuse I hear a lot that I can't exactly sympathize with but I think excuses can be abolished with a positive attitude no matter what they are. That excuse is that you have to have junk food in the house because you have kids. Now, I don't have kids... but what kinds of favors are you doing for your kids and for yourself by having junk food in the house? Honestly, you're giving those kids a future like my past and present. They're going to learn to eat the wrong things and then they're going to have to find a way to overcome it. Other excuses tend to revolve around other people. Someone's partner or spouse doesn't like vegetables. Your significant other can't live without junk in the house so you have to live with it. But there are ways to overcome it. My boyfriend's fit and eats well, but he's got a cabinet full of no-no food. I just don't go in there. If your husband can't live without Oreo cookies and that's your trigger food, he can take them to work and leave them there. Do what you need to do to be strong. The eating is the hard part. When you can lose weight and overcome habits... the exercise is easy.

3. Don't be afraid to not clean your plate. ESPECIALLY at restaurants. If you need to put half the plate in a box before you start eating, do it. Do what you need to do to be strong. To be successful. Because no one is going to notice but you. And once these things become habits and they become second nature you'll wonder why you didn't do it in the first place.

4. Stop drinking soda. I haven't had a soda since September 20^th. I know because I track my food like a crazy person and I flipped through all of my records to find the last time I had it. And the last time I had a Coke, it was one of those tiny little 90 calorie Cokes. And back to excuses, don't use diet soda as an excuse to have it. Ever watch Mythbusters? When they tried to figure out why the Mentos did the reaction with the diet soda, they split up the ingredients inside the soda to see which ingredients had the reaction. You don't need to drink chemicals. Now, black coffee... drink up if you need the caffeine. Water's good for you. Drink it.

5. Write it down. If you have a Smartphone try My Fitness Pal. If you don't, write it down on paper. Then you'll know what you've eaten, you'll know what you have left to eat.

I could go on. But I know that advice falls on deaf ears. You don't know how much strength it takes for me not to go crazy lady in the grocery when I see the things people put in their carts. This morning an obese woman was walking past me and she had a frozen red velvet cake in her cart and I just want to shake her and say, “you're worth so much more than that!” But that's the kind of behavior that gets you kicked out of stores.

The last piece of advice is do what you have to do to find that part of yourself that knows you're worth the work and you're worth the trouble. It's the hardest thing you'll ever do. How awesome will it feel to survive the hardest thing you'll ever do? After that, you can do anything.

Eating Right

Let's back up for just a minute.

I really shouldn't have been blogging yesterday. I really shouldn't have let myself interact with other human beings at all. Because honestly... I don't know what I was thinking. This is an open, public blog. This isn't livejournal (one million cool points for each person that knows what livejournal is).

It sort of went in a chain of events. I had to do something Saturday afternoon that upset me. Then Sunday came and where the last two years I've treated that as sort of my Victory Day, I was just... well, hormonal. Let's be frank.

Today I was STILL upset. Crying. I nearly stayed home from work but I'm so glad that I didn't.

I get downstairs to lunch. I'm warming up the recipe that I will share with you shortly, and boom. I flip over the plate... it runs down my pants... and the plate breaks on the floor. And I just started bawling.

Until I realized that I was crying for absolutely no reason. I didn't even really feel bad. I just felt like crying, so I did. My eyes were swollen and hurting for nothing.

I thought about the things I said yesterday. I won't delete it; sometimes it's true. It really is a shame to be so young and be divorced. There are younger people than me, though. I had a guy in my physics class Freshman year of college that was 19 and divorced. It seems more and more likely. It's absolutely due to social pressures. I think the economy has a lot to do with it too. We have this stigma that couples can't live together without being married, but it's really hard to be young and live by yourself when things cost what they do. Why I say being young is not many of us jump out of college and into a large salaried job. Some people do. But not me.

The more I think about it though it was really just my self-absorbed hormones talking. You know what? Love honor and cherish is kind of a two way thing; if you won't do those things for me I'm not obligated to do those things for you. Some people might disagree, but I didn't want to live my life miserable since I only get the one. So screw it! Seriously! Now let's look at everything I've accomplished since. Let's do that:

I bought a freaking house.

I moved 1000 miles away from home, found a JOB and bought a freaking house.

I'm not sure what he can say for himself, but in three years that's not really a bad stack of accomplishments there.

Not to mention all the weight I've lost.

Which brings us to the topic at hand. FOOD!!!! We love food, don't we?

I had mentioned before that I give myself a $40 a week grocery budget. I almost never go over that. The only time I do is when I need to stock up on cleaning supplies or something, which technically isn't food, but they do sell it at the same store. I try to buy those things separately, but it's just sort of a convenience thing. This week I used coupons and I've noticed that when I use coupons I buy much more than I necessarily need. I bought 2 boxes of cereal (okay, that will get eaten) and I got two boxes of Chewy Fiber One bars for my morning snacks at work. The coupons stipulated two of each of those. I would say when living alone, and buying for one, nix the coupons. They'll only make you want things you don't need. But even with the coupons I only spent $35. Met my budget, per usual!

I tried a few new products this week. I'd been addicted to the Special K Chocolate and Pretzel bars, but I found that if I left it out in my car for the duration of my trip to the gym, I would come back and it would be hard as a rock. Not very fun to chew. So I had the Fiber One coupon and I'm usually pretty pleased with Fiber One stuff. I got a Chocolatey Pretzel one and a Peanut Butter and Chocolate one. Both were DELIGHTFUL. And both were only 90 calories. Both are probably the reason why I have too much sugar in my diet, but I digress.

Another thing I tried this week was the Lean Cuisine Fajita Spring Rolls. You get two-200 calorie servings in one box. I just finished eating the second one. It comes with one of those crisper sleeves like the ones that Hot Pockets come with, so you do have a little crispier of an experience. They're really good. I was surprised. The chicken inside was actually pretty tasty. And they were a little greasy. Greasy enough to let you feel like you're being bad, but really the only thing you're doing bad is eating something out of the freezer. But ssssshhhh. That'll be our little secret.

Let's get on with the fresh food:

Yesterday I made a casserole that I saw on Pinterest but I was absolutely appalled by how many calories a serving of that stuff had. Something like 531 according to my calculations. My version, at 6 servings, came out to 262 calories per serving. They called it a “Chicken Florentine Artichoke Bake.” Here's what went down...

8 oz bowtie pasta (or, if you're like me, and didn't have 8 oz of the same pasta, mix and match!)

1 small onion, chopped

2 eggs

1 ¼ c skim milk

1 tsp italian seasoning

½ tsp crushed red pepper

2 c. cooked chicken breast, chopped

4 oz. colby jack cheese

10 oz frozen spinach, thawed

8 oz can of quartered artichoke hearts in water, chopped

can of diced tomatoes

Preheat your oven to 350. You might consider cooking this at 375. After 30 minutes it still wasn't “done” with the eggs and milk being part of it. Cook the pasta according to package directions.

In a medium skillet, cook your onion until tender. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a bowl, whisk eggs. Add milk and seasonings and whisk that together. Stir in your chicken, 3 oz of your cheese, artichokes, spinach, tomatoes, cooked pasta and onion. Make sure things are cooled down. You are throwing them into a bowl of eggs and milk. Transfer this bowl of goodies to a 13x9 dish.

Bake covered for 20 minutes. Sprinkle the last oz of cheese on top and bake for an additional 10 minutes uncovered.

I ended up cooking this for an additional 12 minutes covered after that. It just wasn't setting. Once I gave it the extra time, it was fine. I had some for lunch yesterday and today so I can safely say it was tasty. Unfortunately, this was the dish that I had to scrub off of my work pants while standing without pants in the bathroom at work... so my lunch buddy that usually benefits from my kitchen experimentation ran to Wendy's. And she brought me back a Junior Frosty, since I had tears. And that was 200 calories. And I tracked it.

The other recipe I'll be making this week I won't actually post here, but I'll link you to it, because it's not nice to steal! I really enjoy checking out a blog called GreenLiteBites. I saw this and just wanted to eat it right off of the screen. I've got the stuff to make her Chick Pea and Cucumber Salad with Dried Cherries and Cheese. I'm going to just put this together at work tomorrow. Can't wait! Of course I'll take some casserole in for my lunch buddy so she can give that a try first.

I like updating on Monday because I can tell you that I lost .8 this week on the official weigh in. I'm very happy with that. Because now MyFitnessPal tells me this:

MyFitnessPal - Free Weight Loss Tools

Now if anyone is just tuning in, I know that it looks sort of snobbish... “Oh! She's only lost 15 pounds... why on earth should I listen to her advice about eating!” That's 15 pounds since I started using MyFitnessPal (which I love). Let's be reminded that that's 62 lifetime pounds gone. 48 pounds since August of 2010. WHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOO!!!!! I'm excited. I hope you are too.

I'm excited too that I'm about to head out to my dance class tonight! This will be my first time going. I'm looking forward to it and looking forward to telling you how it goes! Yay for different ways of exercising.

Damn, am I feeling better or what? Stupid hormones.