So, it’s been awhile! Life has been really hectic lately and of course, I fell of the wagon. :(  I almost made it to my Halloween challenge goal of 140, but stress from school and boy troubles triggered emotional eating. I’ve been working to get a handle on the emotional eating, but lately I’ve just been too discouraged to care. I’ve been eating whatever I like for the last 2 weeks, but luckily my consistency with swimming 3-4 times a week has helped me maintain my weight. I’ve been stuck at 145 for awhile now, but I’m just relieved it hasn’t gone up more than that.

With 9 weeks til New Years Eve, I’m going to join that challenge and aim to lose 10 lbs. I’m really hoping to be in the early 130’s by then.  My ultimate goal is to be 120 (or less) by mid-February when I’m planning on going on a reading week trip down south.  It’s certainly an attainable goal, only I’ve been having trouble controlling my eating. I can’t stand the idea of ‘depriving’ myself, so I don’t. Instead I’ve been going on mini binges, especially after Halloween with all the mini chocolates around. I’ll have 4 or 5 of them in a row for dessert, but that’s like 500 or so calories!!

I also completely stopped tracking my calories or recording what I’m eating, so I need to get back into the habit of doing that. I’ve discovered that oatmeal chocolate chip cookies satisfy my sweet craving and at 150 calories, I think I’ll try them this week to ease myself out of this sugar haze.

Plan for this week:

Breakfast - I’m making a frittata tomorrow partly following this recipe for a Spinach and Potato Frittata. I’m also going to add button mushrooms (my must-have veggie!). I’ve got a carton of eggbeaters that needs to be used up because I’ve mostly been having Green monsters for breakfast. This way b-fast/brunch/lunch is covered all week.

Lunch - Leftover frittata or my new fave salad go-to–Broccoli slaw!

Shopping has gotten much easier lately because all I buy is a box of baby spinach, chocolate almond breeze, low-fat cheese, chicken/fish, and broccoli slaw (my parents buy their own groceries and I’ll sometimes steal some their staples like mushrooms, onions, bananas and tomatoes). This definitely helps save fridge space. In the past I was buying spinach and kale for green monsters and mixed greens for salads, those bags/boxes took up a ton of space in the fridge with all of my parents foods too.

Anyway, I prefer raw broccoli (and cauliflower) to their cooked counterparts, so the slaw is perfect for me. I’ll have a cup or 2 with a chicken breast or fish (mostly salmon lately), no salad dressing required since the juices from the protein are enough for me.

Dinner - My mom made a large batch of her chicken and veggie soup, so I’ll be eating that or my broccoli slaw salad.

Dessert/snacks - Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (2 mini cookies = 150 cal), SF jello cup (15 cal), Liberte mini mix chocolate nuggets in vanilla yogurt cups (229 cal)

I’ll be trying to stick to these items only this week. We’ll see how it goes.

Exercise:

M - 30 min jog/walk (C25K week 3/4)
Tu - 30-40 min swim (1 km)
W - 30 min jog/walk
Th - 30-40 min swim
F - 30 min jog/walk
Sa - 30 min jog/walk; 1 hr pilates; 30-40 min swim
Sun - 30-40 min swim

I will undoubtedly stick to my swims, they’ve completely become part of my routine, but we’ll have to see how I do with the running. I’m aiming for 3 times this week. I’d also like to get weight training back into my routine, so I’ll try to get back into the 30 day shred again.

Okay, I’d better get some studying in before bed. I’ve got a midterm on Tuesday and I still have 5 chapters to read for it!! :S