Long Time No Post...

I got a little off track over the past week or so. I kind of forgot why I was doing this, and I needed to remind myself. I slipped back into eating takeout, so last week was the first week I did not meet my goal to prepare at least 4 dinners at home. I am recommiting to that now. Especially since I took a sneak peak at the scale this morning and saw the number heading in the wrong direction. I'm hoping that a couple really good days will get that number to at least stay the same.

Don't be shocked, but I finally cleaned my house. My whole house in ONE day. Of course, I have a tiny house, so it only took my about 2 hours, but did I mention that I hate cleaning. I am going to try to keep up with it better now that I have a starting point.

Lost a Little Mojo...

I have had a tough time of it this weekend. I didn't eat as well as I wanted and I have suffered with heartburn because of that. I also could feel myself slipping back into the "I don't care" attitude. I had to give myself a major pep talk this morning to remind myself what I'm doing this for.

I watched the Biggest Loser from this week, and that always gets me motivated, so as soon as it was over, I made my grocery list for the week and I packed my gym bag for the morning. I REFUSE to let myself down this time! I want those tracking numbers to keep moving in the right direction.

Euphoria... Followed by Problems

I am SO excited! I lost 4.6 pounds this week, so I know that I am doing something right. Realistically, I know that most of that weight is water weight, but it is still a motivator.

Then... I could feel my blood pressure was up. So I went to the doctor instead of going to the gym. he confirmed my blood pressure was up and put me on yet another medication. :( So frustrating! But I'm not going to let it get me down. The doctor said I could still exercise, so that is what I will do.

Tonight I made a really yummy recipe. It was a Chicken Parmesan recipe from the Food Network show Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger. It was not only easy, it was delicious. I am usually scared to cook chicken, but I think I could do it using this method again!

Short blog tonight, but I am tired and ready for bed.

Lentils, Lentils, the Magical Fruit...

And you should know how that song ends. haha. I made soup for dinner tonight. It was a recipe from the Weight Watchers cookbook called Simply the Best. The recipe was for Lentil-Spinach Soup and it was really good. I never realized how much fiber there is in lentils. And let's just say that fiber and me do NOT react well. I think I'm going to need a gas mask for me and one for my little kitty. I have a feeling she won't sleep with me tonight.

So the meal took over two hours to make. I like to "prep" everything first, so that once I start cooking, I have some down time to clean-up. Otherwise I end up with this huge stack of dishes to do after I eat, which I hate. So I cried my way through the chopping of two onions. Not sure how to stop my eyes from burning during the process. I had to keep walking away to splash water on my face. Then I had to examine and "pick through" the lentils. Not sure what I was looking for (my friend said rocks or debris), but I did it. After that, the process was just throwing everything into a pot and stirring occasionally for the next hour.

The end result was very good, and I have leftovers for another three meals since it made four servings. It was actually pretty filling, too. Depending on how I feel after today's meal, I may eat it for dinner tomorrow again since I plan on going to the gym after school and won't have to cook dinner when I come home.

Also, I found that I miscalculated how much I had to lose to get to my goal weight. I said I needed to lose 110 pounds when it was really 111. So I fixed my tracker in the sidebar. *sigh*

I do feel as though I need to clear the air about the cleaning bit. I don't want anyone to think I live in filth because I hate to clean. That's just not true. I dust, run the vacuum, mop the floors, and clean the toilet often. When I say I want to clean my house every other week, I mean spotless clean. Which I only do every once and awhile usually. I'm not counting my dusting, vacuuming, mopping, and toilet cleaning as part of that because I do that frequently.

Glad I cleared the air on that one. Now if only I could clear the air from the lentils...

Redefining *Cooking*

After much thought and advice from my friends at Sparkpeople, I've decided to redefine what I meant by "cooking" dinner at home at least four nights a week. My true goal was to actually have control over what I ate for dinner by preparing it for myself. Since I am a takeout junkie, I thought that eating dinner at home would do me some good.

So instead of a goal of "cooking" dinner at home four times a week, I will say that I will prepare dinner at home at least four nights a week. This means if I make a salad or eat a bowl of cereal, it will fit my goal requirement in the literal sense. With this change, I ate dinner at home... prepared by me... SIX times out of seven this week!

I cooked spaghetti tonight for dinner. It wasn't the healthiest meal, but it was a craving I couldn't resist. You can't take the Italian food away from the Italian girl, capise?

I spent most of my time today being lazy. That means I did not do my cleaning, once again. I am thinking that might be a futile goal. I am just too attached to my dust bunnies, haha.

Tracking is now in the sidebar for easy access.

How to Define *Cooking*

So I've come upon a dilemma. I said I planned on "cooking" dinner at home at least 4 nights a week. The idea behind that goal was so that I would have control over what I was eating. So do I count eating a bowl of cereal as "cooking" dinner for the night? It does meet my goal of having control over what I ate, but I did not actually COOK it. What do you think?

I did get my snow day, thus getting in my exercise for today. There was a TON of snow to clear off the driveway. It took me over an hour and I wore my heart rate monitor so I could see the end result. I was in the "zone" for 55 minutes of the time and I burned 387 calories. But I was so tired. It felt like there was an elephant sitting on my back while I was shoveling. I took a nap afterward.

Cleaning is on the agenda for tomorrow... again.

Tracking: (has been moved to the sidebar)

Back-to-School Blues

I will tell you that it's really easy to make all these plans when I'm sitting on my rear during school breaks. But my back-to-school schedule is kicking that rear. I had one little falter this week on Tuesday when I was so hungry after school that I ordered takeout for dinner. Not good takeout either.

But I had a moment listening to an interview on the Today show. One of the "Half Their Size" guests said that he had to make it through the first couple of weeks until his stomach adjusted to eating fewer calories and then it got easier. So every time I felt like I NEEDED to binge, I told myself not to give up.

Since I only really watched my eating habits for part of the last week, I lost 0.4 pounds. Nothing to really brag about, but at least the scale moved in the right direction. I also made it to the gym two times this week after school. I needed some convincing the first time... I was so tired. My 6th grade students convinced me that I should at least go for 30 minutes and then if I felt like leaving, I could. I didn't want to let them down, so I went. And the next day, that was the first thing they asked me.

Other than Tuesday, I have cooked every dinner at home. Tonight I even made something I never have before. I tried a new recipe called "Penne with Shrimp and Mushrooms" from the Weight Watchers cookbook Simply the Best. I have never cooked raw shrimp before and it was easier than I thought. Of course... not many foods tell you when they are done. haha. Even a novice like me was able to tell that the grey shrimp was done when it turned pink. I think more foods need a "tell" like that.

Anyway, the meal was good, but a little bland. And I have such an inexperienced pallate that I have no idea what to do to make it better. I'm hoping, with time, I will be able to tell those things.

The worst I have done is with cleaning. I am going to have to do three rooms this weekend to catch up with my schedule. I have just been so tired when I get home that I keep putting it off. My dust bunnies thank me. :)

Much snow here... I'm hoping for a snow day even though our superintendent is reluctant to call us off school. We even get 5 "free" snow days a year. We had about 2 inches already. We're supposed to get 2-4 overnight and another 2-4 tomorrow. If there were any day for a snow day, I think that would be it. But we'll see.

Tracking:

• Health: 0.4 pounds down; 109.6 to go
• Cooking: 6 dinners cooked; 202 to go
• Cleaning: 0 times whole house cleaned; 26 to go

Cheating Myself

For the last three days, I have been cheating myself out of cooking points. For some reason, I got it into my head that I could only count points for NEW meals or recipes that I make. Which was totally not the idea of this. The idea was to control what I ate by actually making it myself. And I've COOKED the last three nights for dinner. Now, mind you, I have not created any gourmet meals here. I just made some buttered noodles on Friday and spaghetti on Saturday. But TONIGHT... I created a meal. Yes, I did. I probably shouldn't be so proud because it took me all of 15 minutes, but I am.

As I was grocery shopping today for healthy food to put in my refrigerator and pantry, this dinner idea came to me. I bought flatbread tortillas so I could make sandwiches for lunch. And I got the bright idea to use it to make a pizza for dinner. The idea just came to me... when I read on the package that they make good pizza. haha. So I bought some pizza sauce and cheese and viola! Pizza. Easy, easy pizza. Yummy, too. I posted the recipe on Sparkrecipes.com here: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=862867

I also bought some rubber gloves so I can start my big cleaning adventure. I'm sooo excited about that! *sarcasm*  But maybe my allergies won't bother me so much if there weren't so much dust around.

I tracked my food today and even did day 1 of the Sparkpeople bootcamp. It was hard because I'm so out of shape, but I did it and I'm taking credit for it. I packed my lunch for tomorrow and a change of clothes for the gym for after school. All good intentions...

Tracking:

• Health: 0 pounds down; 110 to go
• Cooking: 3 dinners cooked; 205 to go
• Cleaning: 0 times whole house cleaned; 26 to go

Maybe we'll have a snow day off of school tomorrow...

The Non-Hangover Headache

I never wished more for a hangover than I did yesterday. I spent more than half of the day in bed with a migraine. At least with a hangover headache, you know that there is an end in sight. But with a migraine, it can last for HOURS. And mine did. I had good intentions to exercise and make a grocery list, but that was not meant to be.

Today, I did get up and make a grocery list. I looked through some recipes and found the four I am going to cook during the week next week. I also planned my lunches to pack and cleaned out the pantry. I had some things in there that expired back when poofy sleeves were in style... if they ever really were. The pantry seems a little bare right now, but that will be resolved soon.

I made a list of cleaning supplies so I can start the house cleansing. I have a game plan for that as well. Since Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are my scheduled gym days, I will clean a room on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

I feel good about the plans I have made, and today is still young.

Tracking:

• Health: 0 pounds down; 110 to go
• Cooking: 0 dinners cooked; 208 to go
• Cleaning: 0 times whole house cleaned; 26 to go

The Project Specifics

The Project: Strive to be the "Best Me" that I can over the next year

The Specifics:

• Health - Lose 110 pounds through exercise, healthy eating, and stress management (although I think it is unrealistic to lose 110 pounds in a year... I want to make a healthy dent in that amount)
• Cooking - Learn to tolerate cooking by ACTUALLY cooking
• House Management - Make cleaning and organizing my house a priority

So, yes, I did watch Julie & Julia this past week, and I got inspiration from Julie Powell's blog. The problem is... I'm not much of a writer. I don't enjoy it, and I have to force myself to do it. What's ironic is that I teach language arts, which includes writing.

What prompted me to tackle this project is my reflection on 2009. I don't think I accomplished ONE of the goals I set out to last year. I even GAINED 20 pounds over the past year. I stink at managing stress, so takeout food and ice cream comfort me. After a stressful day at school, I forgo cooking to get a quick fix. That needs to stop. I need to begin cooking meals for myself so I can control my nutrition and habits. I plan to cook at least 4 dinners at home very week.

I need to get back on the exercise bandwagon... or elliptical, as it were. I have a gym membership that I've been paying for since April and I have been to the gym ZERO times in the last three months. Yep, you heard me... NO exercise at all. Unless you count shoveling the driveway every day for the last week. So I will be heading back to the gym with all the newbies and fighting for my time on the equipment. I am going to go right after school, and hopefully I will be able to beat the rush to the gym. I want to begin going at least three times a week.

I need to find a way to better manage my stress. My first reaction is to eat it. And my body gives me some wonderful stress reactions, including IBS and heart palpitations. I don't really care for either of those things, so I would like to find ways to deal with it. I've never been a "feel-like-stress-eating-go-for-a-walk" type of girl. But I need other outlets for stress. I enjoy reading and listening to music, so maybe I'll give that a shot. I'll keep you posted.

I also hate, Hate, HATE cleaning. I have even given my little dust bunnies names. And how will my little friends feel if I swept them up in a vacuum cleaner? What a betrayal. But, alas, they must go. I need to begin a cleaning regimen that I can stick to. I want my whole house to be cleaned at least every other week. I have 6 rooms, so that means.... (straining my brain trying to do the math). That means I need to clean ONE room every other day or so.

So I've laid out my plan. I know I can't accomplish everything all at once. And I know that, even though it's my intention, I wont blog every day. I'll give it a go, but I hate writing. Did I mention that?

Here is the tracking... (testing those math skills again):

• Health: 0 pounds down; 110 to go
• Cooking: 0 dinners cooked; 208 to go
• Cleaning: 0 times whole house cleaned; 26 to go

Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted!