Heavy Bones

In my experience, when I am on top of my nutrition game -  i.e.  sticking to healthy choices, being more active, basically feeling in control - it comes down to tracking my food.  The good, bad and ugly. I have been wavering back and forth the past few months between Weight Watchers (WW) and My Fitness Pal (MFP). I do like the message of the current WW plan - more real food, less crap, figure your mental shit out - but...their online tools totally suck. Like bad. And if you decide to splurge and have something that is a bit more on the processed side or a cheat meal - the "points" associated with it seem kinda punitive and discouraging. So - I have decided to just go with MFP. It is really intuitive and easy to use. It's based on calorie in/calorie out but I do have nutrition ranges for carbs/protein/fat that I try to aim for. Anyway... the whole point of this rant is - MFP is where it's at for me right now. And.... I have been tracking all my food on there this week. All week. All weekend. YAY!

Yesterday I hopped on the scale and was encouraged by the number I saw.... it is going down :) Hoping that was not a fluke...trying not to get too hung up about a number. Although to be 100% honest, I clearly am hung up on it as I am way too embarrassed to put my weight out there. I have always weighed a lot more than people think. When I tell people what I weigh they are typically surprised and then follow up with "wow I would never think you weigh that much" or "wow, you carry your weight well". OK - thanks y'all for being polite yet confirming I need to drop some pounds.  Personally, I like to think it is because I have so much muscle mass. HA. I wish. My mom always said "we just have heavy bones". Yeah, ok Mom, thanks for trying to make me feel better but I don't think that is it. More accurately, I am 5'8", I have broad shoulders, I am extremely blessed in the chest, and I like to eat. Oh and I have heavy bones, let's not forget that part ;)

Today I am going to take "before" pics and take measurements. I won't be sharing those pics though - more just for my own reality check and motivation. At least - I won't be sharing them now.  I know it will take time to see results as it took some time to eat all the cupcakes and booze that resulted in where I am now.

One of the things that also helps me stay on track...food prep. Doing this so I don't have to at least thing about breakfast and dinner during the week is a life saver. Just grab and go as I work in an office about 80% of the time.

Here are some of my eats for the week.....

 Left is an egg white frittata with spinach, turkey sausage & a little cheese. Right is roasted sweet potatoes, broccoli & chicken breast. I will be something similar to this again this week.

 I am loving this yogurt - Oikos Triple Zero - all flavors I have had are really delicious. The consistency is very thick & smooth. I can't imagine going back to eating regular yogurt. Our dog Bebe also approves :)

This weekend - rosemary chicken salad has been my lunch staple. LOVE this stuff. It's pretty simple mix of chopped grilled chicken, green onions, almonds (i used pecans as I was out of almonds),  mixture of greek yogurt/light mayo/dijon mustard and fresh chopped rosemary. It is an older cooking light recipe and still is a favorite

 I busted out the Kitchenaid Spiralizer attachment my husband gave me for Christmas - finally! When I first opened the box.....it was a bit intimidating but, after a quick read through of the directions....it was actually really easy to use. I made noodles - zucchini noodles - for the first time. They were AMAZING!!!!

 OK I also spiralized the last half of a sweet potato I had in the fridge from this week as well :) I had to resist the urge to spiralize every veggie in the fridge.

I loved the cool shapes left over :) The dogs were happy to snack on these.

I made Zucchini Shrimp Scampi - it was FANTASTIC! The recipe was very simple - sautéed garlic and red chili flakes in a little butter, add shrimp with some chicken stock & lemon juice

I have read a lot of hype about this ice cream  - how tasty it is and healthy to boot. I admit I was skeptical. I have tried a few other brands with similar claims and they just taste....meh. I tried this for the first time last night and WOW! They need to sell this by the gallon! It was so lemony & creamy. Didn't taste like fake diet ice cream at all. Go buy this NOW. You will not regret it. Go buy all the Halo Top Ice Cream NOW. Before I beat you to it :)

 I just had 1/2 a cup and crumbled a few graham crackers over it - was heaven!

 I also had to try this coffee creamer this weekend. I am somewhat of a coffee creamer hoarder. I usually have about three bottle in my fridge at once. I have been on a "sugar free" flavored coffee creamer kick but - I started thinking about a lot of the chemicals in it and decided to go back to Coffee-mate Bliss brand - very simple ingredients. And I am a sucker for anything salted caramel. So.... not sure how much this actually makes my coffee taste like salted caramel but - it is good regardless and without all the chemical junk. I've tried to drink my coffee black but, it is one thing I just cannot let go of  so, I will make the best choice I can instead.

Yesterday was spent doing yard work and hanging with these two sillies.

Was a fantastic weekend spent by myself - well and the pups. It was a perfect weekend by myself - some exercising, made the back patio pretty again, got an overdue pedi, squeezed in a run and several walks, got some shopping in, and had time for binge watching a new tv series. Pretty awesome weekend! My husband comes home today from his trip to DC and I feel rejuvenated & focused on the week ahead.  My goal is to stay as focused as I was this past week. 

Cheers and happy Sunday!

Starting Fresh....

I have been toying around with starting another blog for a few months now....my other blog I talk about well...pretty much everything. I started it almost 9 years ago....holy wow is that possible?? Wow time flies! So much has changed and evolved since then and I wanted to start a blog to focus more on my nutrition, health, exercise.... and sometimes my lack thereof. Really this is for selfish reasons -  to help me stay motivated & accountable!

The past two years have been stressful. I won't go into everything here but between work stress, losing a pet, dealing with some personal health issues, etc etc etc... I have dealt with my stress by drinking all the wine and eating all the cupcakes. No amount of gym time can balance that diet plan out. Just recently I have come out of this sugar booze fog and realized I was medicating myself by giving myself permission to drink/eat whatever because... hey I deserve it dammit!  

Made it through that stressful business meeting? All the gooey butter cake! 

Missing my sweet dog that passed? brownies & vino for dinner - why not!?

Bad day at work? Wine...stat! 16 oz is a glass, right?

Thinking about all those years of birth control pills that apparently was not necessary?! wings & a bucket of beer anyone?

And of course the flip side of that is that I also celebrated a lot of good things over the past 2 years in the same fashion. Basically... there was no chill on the steady stream of sugar & booze. I still was squeezing in a salad or a workout or water here or there but to be honest - I have been off the nutrition track for a solid two years. And I've got the muffin top.... or really more of a jumbo cupcake with extra frosting barrel... to prove it.

So I have just felt like it is time to start fresh, get focused, clear the cupcake wine haze & get accountable.

I went with Wine to Finish Line as - I will always love a nice bottle glass of wine and running is my therapy. My mission is to enjoy these both & balance them out. And hopefully drop some weight in the process. I hope you will follow me along this journey.... I will need your support, encouragement & general harassment.