Leavin' On A Jet Plane and a NSV

That's SCOTUS-the Supreme Court of the United States. I'm a law geek, what can I say?

That's right, I'm leaving on a jet plane tomorrow! I'm very excited to be going to visit my brother near Washington, D.C. I'm taking both of my little men and my mom. My father and his wife will be there, too. We're all going to celebrate an important milestone for my brother. It's going to be a blast! The plan is to attend the ceremony and then take the kids to the zoo. The next day we'll hit the Smithsonian (or one of them) and then head to the airport to come home. It'll be a fast trip, but so much fun. I'm psyched!

The one thing I'm worried about? Food! I know, you're shocked, right? :) Keeping my eating under control while travelling is always an issue. Keeping my eating under control around my family is an issue. Keeping my eating under control around my family and food? Well, let's just say it rarely goes well. There are already plans to go to an amazing sushi restaurant AND the pancake house, which has the MOST amazing pancakes in the world. My plan is to make good food choices, keep portions under control, and try very very hard not to let this overshadow the trip. Think I can do it? I hope so!

I also had a really small non-scale victory (NSV). Today for lunch I met several friends at a local restaurant that has the BEST onion rings. I've been craving onion rings for weeks. The "good for you" version I posted below did well for awhile, but I wanted the real thing. I told myself that I could order them and eat a few, that was a reasonable choice. In all honesty, I didn't know if I was just rationalizing so I could eat them. So, I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with no cheese and sauce on the side and O-rings. They came out, the plate was huge. This was going to be difficult. I dumped the bun, ate half the chicken breast with half the BBQ sauce, the pickle, and the tomato slice. Only THEN did I allow myself an onion ring. I ate 4. Less than half of what was on the plate. Then, I decided I was full, pushed the plate away, and was done. Victory!!!!!!! Felt full, not stuffed, and, most importantly, I felt satisfied.

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

A weigh day yay!

This morning was weigh day. I was NOT looking forward to it, but stumbled out of bed and stepped on the scale....with my eyes closed. When I peeked, I was SHOCKED to see a 2.8lb loss. There is no explanation for this. How does eating more equal a bigger loss than before?

It makes no sense, but I'll take it! :)

Fessing up and wasted time.

Hi blog friends! Here I am! I didn't fall off the face of the Earth or anything. Just plodding along. This past week has not been good. Again. Notice a pattern? I do, and it's scary. I'm not completely out of control, but I'm certainly not IN control either. It's very scary, because I feel like I'm losing my grip. Right now it's just a few bites here, a few nibbles there, but my calories are ranging from 1700-2100 a day. NOT the 1500-1800 that I shoot for. Tomorrow's weigh in may not be pretty, but it may not be awful either. I don't know. There are all sorts of questions going through my head. Why did I lose control? Can I get it back? Why can't I just DO this? What if I can't do it?

This weekend brought on a situation I hope never arises again, but it's certain to happen. My son got an invitation to a birthday party. The invite had the dreaded direction to "Wear Your Swimsuit!" This caused pretty immediate panic. There is NO way that I could let myself be seen by the preschool parents IN.A.SWIMSUIT. Not possible. Couldn't do it. Then, I thought, I've missed out on SO much because of my weight, I will not let my son miss out because of my inability to maintain control. Then I put on the suit. Then I wasn't going. Then I told myself I had to. For literally a week I obsessed about this. Finally, I decided that we'd go and I'd bring shorts and a t-shirt to swim in and face the humiliation.

We went. You know what? There wasn't even a pool. It was a sprinkler party. No adult swimming required. Another week wasted obsessing over my body, my weight, and my food choices. Another week of bad choices that I'll never get back.

I really do hesitate to post these things, I can only imagine the response it must evoke in my readers.

Fried Chicken and Onion Rings

Yum! Buttermilk fried chicken and onion rings (with salad). That's what I had for dinner last night. I'm going to own it. I ate it so I have to fess up. It really was yummy.

Good thing I came in between 1500-1600 calories for the day :) Thanks to HungryGirl's recipes, we had a very yummy dinner that was healthy! So, here's a recipe review!

First, the Buttermilk Fried Chicken:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup reduced-fat buttermilk

1/8 tsp. paprika
12 oz. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast tenders (about 10 pieces)

1/3 cup Fiber One bran cereal (original)

1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs (like the kind by Progresso)

1 tbsp. dry onion soup mix
Optional: salt, to taste

Directions:In a large sealable container or plastic bag, combine buttermilk with paprika and mix well. Add chicken and coat completely. Seal and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a large baking sheet by spraying it with nonstick spray. Set aside.Using a blender or food processor, grind Fiber One cereal to a breadcrumb-like consistency. Pour crumbs into a large bowl. Add panko breadcrumbs and onion soup mix. If you like, add a dash or two of salt. Mix thoroughly. One at a time, remove each piece of chicken from container/bag, give it a shake (to get rid of excess buttermilk), coat it evenly with the crumb mixture, and lay it flat on the baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Flip carefully (tongs work well!), and then bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until outsides are crispy and chicken is cooked through. CRUNCH time!MAKES 2 SERVINGS

Serving Size: 1/2 of recipe, about 5 piecesCalories: 315
Fat: 5g
Sodium: 586mg
Carbs: 25.5g
Fiber: 5g
Sugars: 3g Protein: 43g POINTS® value 6*


I didn't have the soup mix on hand, so I just mixed in some onion and garlic powder into the breading. This was really yummy. Seriously yummy. Even my super picky children loved it! They requested it for their lunch boxes today. It's really filling too, with all the fiber. I didn't end up eating a whole serving.

Now for the onion rings!

Lord of the Onion Rings 2.0

Ingredients:
1 large onion
1/2 cup Fiber One bran cereal (original)
1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder, or more to taste
1/8 tsp. onion powder, or more to taste
1/8 tsp. salt, or more to taste
Black pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.Slice the ends off the onion and remove its outer layer. Cut onion into 1/2-inch-wide slices, and separate into rings. Set aside.Using a blender or food processor, grind Fiber One to a breadcrumb-like consistency. Season the crumbs with spices and transfer to a plate. Fill a small bowl with egg substitute. Prepare a baking sheet (or two, if you have a lot of rings) by spraying with nonstick spray. Set aside.Pop-Up Tip! For this next step, try using tongs or a fork to dip the rings into the egg substitute and cereal crumbs -- it'll keep your fingers from getting eggy & crumb-covered. (Don't pierce the rings with the fork; just balance them on it.)One at a time, dunk each ring in egg substitute, give it a shake to remove any excess, and then coat it in the seasoned crumbs. Evenly place rings on the baking sheet(s).Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes, carefully flipping rings over about halfway through. Enjoy! MAKES 1 SERVING

PER SERVING (entire recipe): 155 calories, 1g fat, 515mg sodium, 41g carbs, 16g fiber, 7g sugars, 9g protein -- POINTS® value 2*

I didn't have egg beaters on hand, so I had to use real eggs, which I think may have messed these up. They were a tad disappointing. Onion rings are my FAV and I wanted a crispy, crunchy onion ring. These were not all that crispy, and the breading was a little dry. That being said, they were tasty and great for dunking in ketchup. I'll definitely make them again because they are a good swap to kill a craving and avoid eating the real things. Maybe they'll be better with egg beaters. My husband liked them, too.

Both recipes came from Hungrygirl.com, which is an amazing site! Her emails are great.

Hi all

It's been awhile since I've had a meaningful post. I apologize. Things have been downright crazy in my life, but hopefully we're settling down! I was doing ok eating-wise.

What's that? You noticed that I said "was," huh? Well, I was :) That is, until this weekend. Unfortunately, everything that could go wrong DID go wrong this weekend. The details aren't important (well, they are important, but not publicly publishable). Long story short, I got my feelings hurt a LOT this weekend. On several different occassions and by people who are closest to me. It all boils down to the fact that all weekend I felt as if everyone was putting me and my needs last.

So what did I do? Lost it eating wise. I am SUCH an emotional eater and when I'm hurting, I just seem to do more damage to myself by throwing caution to the wind. It wasn't pretty, the calorie counts weren't good. In fact, I haven't even entered yesterday's counts because I don't want to face it. I'm going to today, though, because I have to own it.

The good news is, I'm learning and I'm growing. Although my control was obliterated this weekend, I didn't go completely off the deep end. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, I was able to recognize what was happening and to stop myself from letting it go completely out of control. Also, I'm not kicking myself or talking negatively. I'm just picking myself up and moving on. These are steps in the right direction....right?

Hope everyone is doing fabulously!

Giveaway Winner!!

***Drumroll*****

Weight Watcher Wannabe!

Send me an email with your address and I'll get it right out to you! Congrats!

Discouraged.

Right now I'm discouraged. And mad. At myself. Just putting it out there.

Well, no wonder I'm confused!

Thanks, all, for your comments on the Reality Bites post. Blogging is so great because there are such great people out there like you guys for support. After reading your comments and thinking about the calorie needs some more, I decided to look at various calorie calculators online to see if I was on target with my daily intake. Well, no wonder I'm confused, look at the various results I got from the different websites for the number of calories that I should be eating per day to lose 2 pounds per week:

livestrong.com: 1873

fatsecret.com: 2300

Loseit!: 1700

fitday.com: 2184

sparkpeople.com: 1520-1870

healthyweightforum.org: 1186

calorieneedscalculator.com: 1561-2061

freedieting.com: 2047 (for fat loss) and 1912 (for extreme fat loss)

I wanted to try myfooddiary.com, but it's a paid website and I am pretty sure DH would flip if I added yet another weight loss related expense to our budget :)

So, according to the various calculators, I need to be eating anywhere from 1186 to 2300 calories per day. I'd almost certainly fail if I shot for 1186 because I'd be hungry all the time. Anything below about 1350 and I start feeling deprived which only leads to one result, and I don't want to go there. 2300 sounds outrageously high, that sounds like the type of number that got me where I am today.

The one cool thing I found was a "zig zag" plan from freedieting.com. It offered different caloric intakes for each day of the week in order to "trick" the body into faster weight loss or in order to break plateaus. I've heard of calorie cycling before. Do any of you do this? I think I probably do this naturally, just not to the extreme that the website suggested. Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?

****Remember to enter the giveaway below! Post about it on your blog for additional entries!***

Giveaway clarification :)

Hey all!

Remember the giveaway, it's fab!

Just to clarify, if you post about it on your blog, facebook, twitter, or all three (and I hope you do!) Leave me additional comments with the links, that will be your additional entries.

Good luck!

Giveaway!!

Hey bloggie buddies! I promised another giveaway and here it is. For awhile now I've been wanting to try Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred workout. It's about a 25 minute workout with a warmup and then three circuits of: 3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, 1 minute abs. A friend at work did it and really saw a huge difference in her body. There are three levels of workouts, and, since I've been a slug as of late, I started with level 1. Day 1 was May 1.

Wow. I really expected it to be super easy, it was only about 25 minutes after all, but it was not super easy. It made my whole body hurt. On Day 1 I was feeling pretty good, but sore. Day 2 I thought every part of my body hurt. It became obvious I was wrong because by Day 3 even more hurt. Today is Day 4. I hopped (or coaxed myself) out of bed at 5:30 and finished the workout. It's amazing! I had more endurance today and I don't hurt nearly as much. I'm really surprised that 4 days is enough to feel a difference. I don't plan on making it my only exercise, but it's an awesome jumpstart for the day.

The workout was available "on demand" with my cable provider, but, as of today, it's gone. I knew it was ending yesterday, so I went out and bought the video, which has all three workouts and I picked up an extra for a giveaway! Yay! Here's the amazon link if you want to learn more about it: http://www.amazon.com/Jillian-Michaels-30-Day-Shred/dp/B00127RAJY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1272977171&sr=8-1

So, want to win a copy of the DVD with all three workouts? It's easy peasy! Same as last time, leave me a comment on this post if you'd like to enter. One comment per person, please. If you'd like extra chances to win, post about the giveaway on your blog (or twitter or facebook, or all three for one more entry each). I'd really appreciate it if you shared the giveaway with your readers! Hey, it helps me and ups your chances of winning! I'm going to run the giveaway until Monday, May 10.

Good luck!

Reality bites.

Sometimes it's amazing to me how much I can lie to myself. This past week I've been chugging along, stepping on the scale less, and I even exercised! Yes! Exercised!! So, I am absolutely going to post a loss this week, right? Of course! I'm working hard, doing great, making great choices!!!! Whoohoo!

So, yesterday, I decided to hop right on that bad boy scale and see just how much of a loss I was looking at. I stepped on, looked at the number, said, "huh?" A gain? It must be wrong, let's try again. Stepped off then back on, same number. This makes no sense.

For a few hours I ranted and raved, both internally and to DH who is uber-tired of hearing about the whole weight loss deal. Over and over again I said, I'm working so hard! I even said it in a whiny voice, one that I thought only my 5 year old could do. Then, I thought, let's review your calories over the past week.

As the little one would say, DUH! Of COURSE I gained weight this week. I averaged about 1800 calories per day, about 300 MORE than I had been. Now, I've allowed myself a few extras this week, and I even logged them in sparkpeople, but I didn't *get* it. I didn't face the reality that I was inching back toward my old habits. Well, I'm facing that reality and, you know what? Reality bites.

The good news is, I'm really NOT beating myself up over it. I realized my mistakes, let myself get a little sloppy, but that's ok. I'm human, it happens. The awesome part about it is, I know how to fix it. Get back into control, log EVERY bite, stay within my calorie limits, and exercise. I can do this, we can all do this!

The one thing I don't feel totally sure of is my calorie goals. I try to stick between 1400-1800 a day. Do you all think this is a good number? Too high? What are your calorie goals?

In other news, I have a cool giveaway planned in the near future that has to do with my new exercise endeavor. It's a little bit of a selfish giveaway since I want someone else to be embarking on this journey with me. :) Stay tuned.

(P.S. I just re-read this, it's annoyingly cheerleader-y. Sorry.)