Confessions of a Bulk Eater

Not much is going on. I didn’t do ANYTHING last week (hence the 2lb gain!) but I am making up for it this week. I did a 2 mile run on Monday and then a 1.5 yesterday. The challenge yesterday… I DID NOT HAVE MY IPOD!! **GASP!!** I had to run sans tunes!! That is very hard for me because my mind starts to wander and I think about a million different things and pretty much lose focus. I was actually having a really good run though! I was feeling good, I was breathing good… probably could have gone further, but I knew if I had turned around and done it again, I would have lost it about 1/4 way through. I decided to quit while I was ahead!

Weighed myself this morning - up 2 lbs since last week.  GRRRRR… not surprising though.  The only day I did anything remotely active was last Monday.  And I’ve been eating like crap.  CRAP!!   I am back on track this week — after today. 

more animals

Mine? IT’S FREAKING TOO COLD TO DO ANYTHING!!!  

Really, I don’t see how you people up north do anything during the winter.  We don’t have snow, but I don’t even want to get out of bed when it’s this cold (it was in the 20’s last night in case you were wondering — THE 20’s!)  If I lived up north, I don’t think I would leave my house until the spring thaw.

I don’t have a clever title today. I’m here… things are the same. I’m still losing slowly. I had done really well last week and then BAM!!! The weekend shows up and derails everything. I still lost last week, but I gained about 1.5 from Friday to Monday morning, which really sucks, because I would have been down 3-4 lbs instead of 2. Stupid stupid weekend. I’m blaming this all on the fact that my husband came home and therefore we had to have more to eat than just cereal. Plus we spent all day Saturday in the car, so we ate a lot of fast food. Sunday was better, but I snacked. A LOT.

I’m still working on my 1000 miles. I didn’t update it very well last week, but I’ve been doing it. I’ve actually been doing more than what I’ve posted b/c I’ve met a friend twice now at lunch and we’ve done a 2 mile walk. I guess I feel it doesn’t count since I’m not running my tail off and it’s a more relaxed thing. It should still count, I guess.

Breakfast is oatbran and blueberries. Lunch will be White Bean and Garlic Stew and maybe an orange. Dinner will be Broccoli Cheese Soup. It’s going to be cold here so we are eating soup all week.

Tiny2b and I are neck and neck…
Josephine is probably kicking our ass

Anyone else on this journey with us? Bigprof? I know you were interested.

So my husband is away all week on a buisness trip. He left yesterday for training in Clearwater today though Monday, and then his team is flying from Tampa to Indianapolis on Wednesday for actual work and he will be back on Friday. This is the longest that I will be on my own with the kids. That sounds weird… like I’m scared to be with my kids. I’m not, but my kids are handfuls and it is difficult at times with 2 of us around!! I know I’m going to be in for a frustrating week. And since he is gone, that means I will need to be creative with my exercise time. I took the kids for a 3 mile walk yesterday. My son rode his scooter. The rest of the week, I’m going to go to the gym since they have a kids area. I stopped going in the evenings during the school year because number one, I really don’t feel like going AFTER work. And two, it got to be chaotic with gym time, then having to cook, and getting the kids bathed and my son’s homework done, etc etc. So I decided that I am not cooking this week!! The kids will eat cereal (because that is what they want anyway so why should I waste my time cooking) and I will eat Lean Cuisine. I hate to survive a week on processed food, but it saves time and energy.

Official weigh in today was 198.8. I went up a bit from the middle of the week, but we had a pizza fest yesterday so that was to be expected. STILL UNDER 200 THOUGH!! WOOT!! It’s all downhill from here!!!

Breakfast is oatbran with blueberries. Lunch is Chicken Taco Salad (yes, it makes a ton so I’m STILL eating it!!) with an orange and yogurt for snack sometime today. Dinner will be whichever Lean Cuisine I am in the mood for tonight.

UPDATE: Calories were 1208 (no wonder I was hungry last night). I ran a 5k on the treadmill last night. I finished in 39:20, which I was proud of because I walked quite a bit. And I almost flew off the treadmill at one point. It was a little embarrassing. Oh well.

I am dragging. I should go do something, but it’s not going to happen. I’ve already taken an hour nap. I’ve been up late every night this week. I need to go to bed early tonight.

Food was eh… breakfast was yogurt and 2 clementines. Lunch was proably half of a veggie pita sandwhich. I met a friend for lunch and got this sandwhich WITHOUT cheese (who’s got willpower?!) and it just kept falling apart. I gave up. Dinner (since I was STARVING by this time) was a Lean Cuisine panini, some lentil spinach soup, and a handful of doritos (a victory b/c not the whole bag!)

I’m still hungry. I’m probably at about 800-900 calories for today and that’s it. I need to eat a little bit more but I don’t know what I want.

Tomorrow I am driving to St. Augustine to meet my friend who moved up to Jacksonville in the beginning of the summer. Hubby is going to keep the kids at home, so it will be a girl’s day. I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to wear my pedometer so I can know how many miles I walk around the old city and count it towards my goal.

Today is the National Championship game against Okalahoma!! WOOT GO GATORS!!! There was some contention in our house b/c I am a Florida fan and my husband is a Texas fan. If Oklahoma had lost their game against Missouri, Texas would have gone to the championship and then my husband and I would have been divorced after today. So I guess it’s a good thing Oklahoma stomped Missouri and made their way to the game. And to be fair, Texas really should be there b/c they beat both those teams but whatever… IT’S MY TEAM THERE BABY AND THAT’S WHAT COUNTS!!!

Needless to say, there will be no exercise tonight. I’m okay on my mileage b/c of the 10 miles I biked yesterday, but I still wanted to do something. I was going to do some DDR, but if the game is on…. maybe I can get some DDR in before the game starts (DDR is Dance Dance Revolution, btw) Oh, and the scale said 197 this morning! WOOT WOOT!!

At least food will be okay since we aren’t going to or hosting a party for once. It’s a normal food day. Breakfast is oatbran (without the blueberries since I am out of them). Lunch is grabthebull’s Chicken Taco Salad as it has been all week, and will be for 4 more days until I run out. I’ve been warming it up a little and putting it on lettuce with tomatoes, some fat free sour cream and Chipotle Tabasco Sauce — HEAVEN!! And healthy! Dinner is up in the air b/c we though hubby would be in Indy today on business, but they aren’t going until the end of the month, so I was going to give the kids cereal and I was going to have a lean cuisine. Now I have to figure out meals for tonight and tomorrow and go to the store. Grrrr.

UPDATE: today wasn’t that great of a day. It was okay up until dinner when we decided to go out so we could get back in time for the game and also to miss the hoards of people showing up places to watch the game and drink. So we went to Tijuana Flats (I should really be banned from that place). I got 2 chicken tacos with the works. Plus chips and queso. But I feel okay about it because my calories were so low yesterday. I didn’t get to walk or run or bike today, but I did to DDR. According to it’s workout mode, I burned 465 calories. That’s higher than what I thought (it tells you how many calories you burned after each dance and then adds them up if you are in workout mode) So I was fine with that.

I did 10 miles on the stationary bike tonight. That counts, right? Right? Of course it does. I needed to give my knees a break from running so I figured I’d go to the gym and hop on the bike. I felt funny going to the gym to ride a bike when mine was sitting right there, but it has been rainy and cold here, plus I hate doing things like that in the dark. SO, off to the gym I went. 50 minutes on the bike and 10 miles later, I had burned 500 calories according to my handy dandy heart rate monitor.

Calories today is low. I am under 1000 right now. I’m hungry, but it’s 10pm and I really don’t feel like eating something right now. So I’ll deal with it and hope this will jump start weight loss a little. The good news is that by going 10 miles tonight, I can take a break tomorrow if I feel like it. I think my body is telling me to take a break. Plus the National Championship game is on tomorrow GO GATORS!!! so I won’t want to do anything tomorrow night but watch the football game.

I can’t take credit for this.  I got it from a Cooking Light book that I pull out everyonce in awhile when I need a good crock pot recipe.  I’ve used it about twice.  But this one was pretty good.  It was a little thicker than I thought it would be, so I don’t know if more water needs to me used, or if it cooked too long or what.  Hubby and kids put ketchup on theirs.  I put tabasco sauce on mine.   Also, I’m copying the recipe exactly, but I know my calories and fat weren’t quiteas high as they say because i left off the sunflower seeds.  Anyway, enjoy!

• 5 cups water
• 3 vegetable-flavored bouillon cubes
• 1 cup uncooked pearl barley
• 1 cup dried brown LENTILS                         **thank you moonfairy for bringing this to my attention!!
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 (8oz) package sliced mushrooms
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup (4oz) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese - divided
• 2 Tbsp unsalted sunflower seeds

Combine water and bouillon cubes in a saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring until cubes dissolved.  Pour into a 4 quart electric slow cooker; stir in barley and next 8 ingredients (through bay leaf).  Cover with lid, cook on low-heat setting 6 hours or until barley is tender and liquid is asbsorbed.  Discard bay leaf.  Stir in 1/2 cup cheese.  Spoon barley mixture into bowls; sprinkle with remaining cheese and sunflower seeds.  Yield 9 servings (serving sauce: 1 cup, about 2 1/2 tsp cheese, and 1 tsp sunflower seeds)

CAL 216 (19% from fat); PRO 12g; FAT 4.7g (sat 1.9g); CARB 32g; FIB 6.8g; CHOL 5mg; IRON 2.7g; SOD 671mg; CALC 135mg

Oh, and I remember something as I was writing this!!   There is NO WAY I got 9 cups out of this.  NO WAY!!!  I think I may have cooked it too long.