Sweet Tooth Satisfied

Last night when I got home from work I realized that I'd only eaten 550 calories for the day.  Not nearly enough for being 6 pm!  Luckily I already had dinner made and all I needed to do was heat it up.  I made chili in the crockpot over the weekend so I heated that up with some spaghetti squash I made the night before, I also added a tablespoon of non-fat greek yogurt.  That filled me right up!  Chris asked me how many calories I had left for the day and I told him around 400.  We had some running around to do and Chris suggested as a treat on the way home that we get some frozen yogurt.  Ummmm, OK :)

After our errands we were driving home and realized the only ice cream places by us were Baskin Robbins and Dairy Queen, neither of which have frozen yogurt.  I suggested we go to Jewel and just pick out something to take home, that way we have the ability to manage what we get calorie/fat wise.  We spent probably about 10 minutes analyzing the ice cream section.  Chris said "no wonder we are all fat, look at the quantity of the ice cream aisle as compared to the other sections."  True, very true!  Anyway, the lowest calorie frozen yogurt I found was 90 calories for 1/2 of a cup.  Now I don't know about you, but 1/2 a cup of ice cream to me is about 2 bites :)  Then I saw a box of italian ice.  100 calories and 0 fat for a 6oz cup, that's already pre-packaged!  That's key to me.  If I had to measure out my own ice cream, I know an extra spoon full probably would have made it's way into my bowl.  This way it's all done for me.  I got the package that has 3 strawberry and 3 watermelon.  Chris was then able to get whatever ice cream he wanted since he doesn't really need to worry about calorie content.  He was willing to get the lower calorie ones for me though :)

We got home and both had our treats.  Now don't get me wrong, the italian ice will never be the same as having ice cream, however it was perfect for a little sweet evening treat.  Who goes out to get ice cream when it's -10 degrees and snowing?  We do :)

Back By Popular Demand

By "popular demand" I mean the encouragement of Chris :)  Sooooooooooo, did I start 2014 saying "That IS me", nope.  Did I loose weight, nope - in fact I'm heavier now than at this time last year.  Did I stop using excuses, nope.  Did I stick with my "lifestyle change, not a diet" attitude, nope.  Does that mean that I've given up, NOPE.

So many things have happened since my last blog.  The most exciting thing is that Chris and I bought a house!  I am so in love with it and it's finally starting to feel like home.  We hosted 40 people on Christmas Eve and another 20 people a few days later.  It was the best Christmas ever!  Chris's blood pressure has finally stabilized which I am SO thankful for.  It was the main driver behind us getting the house.

I had a treadmill in my condo that we moved into the house.  There was a lot of debate as to where it should go.  I wanted to hide it away in a bedroom or the basement because it didn't "look nice" in certain areas, Chris's thought was to put it in the area that we would be most likely to use it.  It took me awhile to come around to the idea, but he's right.  So the treadmill sits in our family room.  I've started using it, I try to walk an hour every night.  I'm not always successful, or sometimes it will be a different activity (like Zumba on the Wii or going to the gym) but as Chris just pointed out I have worked out 13 of the past 16 days.

I've started tracking my food again, I've been doing so everyday since 1/6.  I'm not going to lie and say that I haven't gotten crabby or that this is easy, it sucks at times, but I can't keep letting myself spiral out of control.  So here I am.............again.  At least I can say that I am trying!

Pumpkin!

Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin..............how many times can you say pumpkin in one post (or commercial, that one's for you dear!)  I'm pretty obsessed with all things pumpkin.  Drinks, food, lotions, etc.  I saw on Pinterest a few weeks ago that someone added pumpkin to their oatmeal to give it a little something extra, well I am a fan!  I got some Libby's 100% pure pumpkin (40 calories for a 1/2 a cup) and I add about 1/4 cup to my oatmeal.  It's not super sweet, does not make it taste like a pie, but it does give it a bit extra flavor.  I won't post a picture because it does not look all that appetizing, kind of like baby food, but I like it!

So instead of baby food pumpkin oatmeal, I leave you with a picture of Chris and I from the pumpkin patch the other day :)

My Next 5K

I decided that having a goal, like a 5K, keeps me focused.  One of Chris's friends wives asked us to participate in a Turkey Trot 5K coming up in November so that's what I'm setting my sights on.  I know this one will be on pavement so I'm going to set a goal to complete it with as little walking as possible.  I have 5 weeks and 2 days to train.

The Return of Biggest Loser and Me

There are no excuses here, 100% honesty, I've fallen off the wagon.  I've been lazy, stressed out, lazy, busy, lazy, lazy, lazy.  I was on such a good kick with the 5K and as soon as that was over it was downhill from there.  Eating poorly, not working out, making excuses, etc.  I decided I wasn't going to "wait until Monday" again and just do it.  Two weeks ago Chris and I did a 5K with my aunt, sister-in-law and my nephews, that's kind of where it started.  It felt good to be outside, walking around, getting a bit of exercise.  Then over the weekend one of my friends asked me to go workout with her.  I didn't want to, but I went anyway and was so glad I did.  On Tuesday I worked from home and decided to start the 5K training over from the beginning.  Chris and I also bought FitBit's.  They track the amount of steps we've taken in a day, how many calories we've burned, it integrates with My Fitness Pal for calorie intake and also shows us how we slept at night.  So that encouraged me to start tracking my food again.  I haven't stepped on the scale yet, I don't want to because I know how my clothes fit and I'm not ready for that yet, but I am ready to tackle this again.

It was a pleasant coincidence that The Biggest Loser started again last night.  I'm excited to see the transformations and all of the hard work that is put in.  I always feel so motivated by the show.  This years theme is "2nd chances".  I feel like I'm on my 1 millionth chance (or try I guess) but I haven't given up yet and I don't plan to.

  

A Bit Behind

I'm a little behind in my posting!  The weekend was a lot of fun.  Eric and Ann were in town and we went bowling, shopping, hung out, etc.  We always have so much fun when they are around.  On Monday I woke up with a pretty bad headache so I ended up staying home and Chris and did double doctor duty!  We went to the chiropractor in the morning and followed that up with the acupuncturist.  This time I got the cupping procedure done on my back, HOLY MOLY that is kind of uncomfortable.  She also did this scraping technique and afterwards it looked like I'd been through a war.

Last night we got together with my mom and her new husband (Joe) to celebrate their marriage!  We got to meet Joe's kids and also got to see my brother/sister-in-law, aunts/uncles and grandpa.  It was a nice party to honor them.  I get double family time this week because my cousin Mike's engagement party is on Saturday!  Love being with my family.

Tonight we go back to the acupuncturist, tomorrow we have a couples baby shower and on Friday we get to see Ann who is in town again for another class.  It's a busy week for us, but it's also a very fun one!  

Not Much Today

Don't really have any stories or things to talk about today so I'll just post my food.