Beginning Phase 2

[DCLissa17]

I cannot even imagine cooking in that large of a scale. Yeah, there are often lots of "bad" treats and candy around on night shifts.....and often too much time to end up snacking in! I've done really really well this time around....I think this is my 5th week? I didn't keep track real well. But I've definitely done pretty well. Haven't had ANY Valentine's candy though I have had little candy cheats about every other day or so. Since I'm not on this diet for weight loss purposes I cut myself a bit of slack in the cheat department. I mostly want to keep to this WOE in the longterm for healthiness and weight gain prevention so I don't worry too much about a bit of 'bad" here and there, I just want to make sure it doesn't get out of control.

I've been doing very well on the drinking front. Today I went out on a pseudo-date/hangout and we went to a Vietnamese restaurant. I am not very adventureous especially with other cuisines so I stuck to vegetarian spring rolls. they were ok, but the wrapper was not the traditional fried whatever. It was this weird clear stretchy chewy THING. Gross to chew and eat. Usually I love spring/egg rolls. Took a while to eat them since the wrapper was so unappetizing. Then we went to a sports bar and i had 2 rum/diet cokes. Resisted the cheesecake though!

I am irritated with my personal trainer. I don't feel like I am getting my money's worth plus she is actually making me feel depressed because she keeps harping on my 'negativity' and trying to give me pep talks. I try to tell her I am a cynical and sarcastic person and THAT IS MY PERSONALITY. I have actually been quite determined and committed about this exercise thing and her focusing on my perceived negative attitude is making me feel like I can't get through to her and that she doesn't understand me and it is really MAKING me view my meetings with her in a negative light. I have one more session with her next Monday and if it continues in this vein I will have to 'fire' her and either go to the other trainer in the gym (there are only two so it's a bit of a feelings/political thing) or just go without a trainer. The sad thing is that I really feel that I need a trainer to keep up with this and to make progress so I am torn.

[bec]

I totally get the personality conflict. I have learned to just keep my mouth shut and grin and bear it when it comes to trainers and the like. Or, I might say something like, "Complaining helps!" or some such smartass remark and ignore anything they have to say that isn't about actual fitness.

[bec]

Ok, so, eating is going well. I'm getting to the point where it is feeling very natural, and I can go with the flow, make good choices on the fly and without stress. I am not having to meal plan the hell out of my day. That's nice.

I had a pretty intense spin workout today for tri class. It was a speed interval workout, but we had to maintain a fast endurance pace for the recovery. Tough stuff.

And, I just signed up for a half ironman today!!! The race isn't until July, but I had a little bit of a freakout right after sending the registration!

[DCLissa17]

So what's in an ironman? I'm pretty sure it's insane....lol we have a lot of major bikers/runners/kayakers/skiers at my work and it's alwasy fascinating to hear about their lives. Soooo different from mine!

Yeah, I'm definitely feeling like I'm in the swing of it with SB now. Much more so than the last couple of times I did the diet. I honestly feel like I will be able to pretty much stick with a solid P3 this time around. Last time I struggled with cheats and feeling like I was failing for weeks before I just gave up entirely. This time I'm not feeling that way. I feel really strong about my options and choices and I just don't feel the need to "cheat". I have an occasional piece of candy but that's about it as far as off plan eating. I've only had one day where I just went a little crazy with binging. The alcohol intake is still a work in progress but I'm feeling pretty good about all in all. And I am VERY happy that I've managed to maintain my exercising this time around....a whole month now!

Had my last session with my trainer yesterday. It went better, she actually had a notebook and a plan for the session which went well. Maybe some of this has just been us getting used to each other and her learning what I need from her. I hope so because I really want this all to work. I'm going to sign up for another round of session, probably just 30min ones. I'll do warm-up and stretches before meeting with her, so we can focus on specific core training or strength building exercises. I'm going to have her put together some routines so that I can have a plan for what to do when I come in on my own. i'm not good at picking from a million different machines/reps/other exercises and putting it together to really benefit me and not just get lazy and do cardio for 1/2 hour and call it good.

[bec]

Yeah, I have to have any strength routine planned out and written before getting to the gym if I expect it to work! It's such a great feeling to get into a routine.

Ironman is the name of a triathlon. A full Ironman is a 2 mile swim, 110 mile bike, and a full marathon (26.2 miles). A half Ironman is 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and half marathon (13.1 miles). I'm doing a half. Kind of crazy! I expect the swim to take me about 35-45 minutes, the bike to take upwards of 3+ hours, and the same for the run.

[DCLissa17]

Wow that IS insane! Go you!

I have somehow managed to squeeze 5 "days" (or sets of being awake) into my 4 days off this week. Often I only manage 3 so I really feel like I've been away from work awhile! Haven't DONE much, but I am feeling pretty zen about the world, which is good enough for me. Did my shopping, went dancing on Sunday, went to the gym a couple times (will go again tonight at some point). Did some chores, made a couple of meals for next week. I am currently looking for a good lentil soup recipe to make for dinner and lunches for the week......

[bec]

Haha! I lost another pound! I'm at almost 14 pounds gone!

[DCLissa17]

Yay bec!

I am not sure how much I have lost because I didn't officially weigh or measure when I started. I mean, I would occasionally jump on the big scale (for dogs) at work but I had all my work clothes and stuff in pockets and whatnot. Before starting I was weighing up around 120-121 most days, which is a trend up from the 112-115 I usually sit at (again, at work) when I am eating well. Definitely could feel it in the fit of some of my snugger scrub pants and in my jeans. I told myself 2 years ago when I did SB the 1st time that I would NOT go up a size in jeans! Now I weigh when I am at the gym because I am wearing consistent clothing and I last weighed 112.8. So.....not sure exactly what I've lost, maybe 4-5 pounds total in the last 6-7 weeks! Which considering that I didn't have much to lose, is pretty good. I think that when I get fully in shape and toned down I will probably end up around 110-111ish. I know that muscle weighs more than fat but I'm not looking to gain a lot of muscle mass, more just tone and have better overall fitness so I'm not sure how that will trade out weight-wise with fat loss.

[bec]

Just checking in! Everything is going well. I have managed a couple of very busy weekends successfully, where there was a lot of eating out, away from home, and other stressful situations. My husband had shoulder surgery, so that has been tough. But, all is starting to settle down. My weight loss comes in spurts. I will lose a pound, then be up a pound, down a pound and a half, then up a pound. If you look over at the trend, though, it is going down! Today, I am sitting at 15.2 pounds lost! This is a loss two days in a row, so I expect I will go up a little for a few days in a little bit. I've learned this about my body, though, so I am patient. I will be excited to get out of the 180's (less than 3 pounds to go!).

[DCLissa17]

Yay! It is nice when you are able to get used to how your own body works and so not have to feel so caught up in the day to day numbers. I hope your hubby is feeling ok, I know that it can sometimes be a long road with physical therapy with some of those surgeries.

I am doing pretty well. I have relaxed into P2 this time around and it is feeling pretty natural which I am happy about. This last week I mostly ate an African peanut soup (carrots, onion, garlic, ginger, bell pepper, sweet potato, PB, tomato sauce pureeed) and a tofu veggie stirfry over brown rice for my lunch/dinners. Snack choices and breakfast are super easy me on SB. Eating a little candy each day and some Doritos but overall very "good". My biggest struggle right now is trying to maintain my gym workouts, I am past the early enthusiasm and now into that stage of trying to make it a routine and habit, which is where I tend to mess up. Hopefully I will manage to push through, I am definitely feeling much better since I've started. On Tuesday when I was at the gym I weighed and the scale said: 109.6!!! crazy! I don't know the last time I was under 110. I had not eaten much the day before though. Overall it's trended down, I figure I've probably lost around 6-8 pounds in the 2 months I've been on SB. I'm pretty excited with that. Now I just need to tone and strengthen and keep it all up.

I also decided this week to work towards buying a house. I've been rolling the idea around for awhile but thought that saving for a downpayment would be too much effort and time involved. I ran some numbers and did some research and turns out that it should be totally doable without putting in an unreasonable amount of extra work shifts in about a 6-12 month timeframe so I am starting the saving and looking process. Yay! Very exciting

[bec]

That is very exciting!! That soup sounds amazing! I would love the recipe.

Yesterday and today were a bit challenging. It is my oldest child's birthday. She turned 11, and had 4 girlfriends over for a sleepover. I feel like I did all right. Instead of the traditional pizza, we did chicken skewers baked in the oven! I made a yogurt sauce that none of the kids liked, but DH and I did! and I grilled some bell peppers. Stuffed it all in a whole wheat pita and called it good. The part I didn't do so well on was the couple of Hawaiin bread rolls I had (doesn't approach anything resembling SB approval), the piece of cookie cake and small bit of ice cream I had. Oh, and the whiskey I had after they had all been sent to chatter themselves to sleep was likely too much! This morning, I made them french toast, but it was from whole grain bread, and I kept the portion reasonable. So, while not perfect, I feel like I made some good compromises. I do wish I had skipped the cookie cake and ice cream. It wasn't like some amazing, fabulous cookie. If I was going to cheat with a cookie, I would have preferred it be a girl scout cookie!

Anyway, speaking of cookies, I have a Girl Scout cookie site sale, so some of the cookies that are taking over my basement should leave my house!

[DCLissa17]

lol to the Girl Scout cookies. They are always taking orders in January when my resistance is at an all time high so I don't order any. Then they show up in March when my new year's enthusiasm is waning and tempt me. I LOVE Tagalongs. Haven't had any this year! Not that I haven't eaten any Valentine's conversation hearts, Reese's eggs, gummy raspberries, etc..........cuz I have. I just try to stick to one or two little things a day and make good choices otherwise.

Here's the recipe for the soup. It is pretty good. I'm pretty sensitive to spiciness so I think next time I'll only use a 1/2 pepper but really it is very mild. Note that since there isn't much PB in it, there really isn't any protein so you definitely shouldn't have this as an entree. It makes a very nice 1st course or a good accompaniment to a salad w/ protein or a sandwich. Also is a nice snack or breakfast choice.

African Peanut Soup
Makes 4 to 6 Servings

1 tablespoon EVOO
½-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped or use ground
2 medium to large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
½ medium white or yellow onion, chopped
1 medium garnet sweet potato or yam, peeled and chopped
3 cups vegetable stock
½ cup creamy peanut butter
One 8-ounce can tomato sauce
½ cup chopped roasted peanuts

Warm the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the ginger, carrots, bell pepper, garlic, and onion. Sauté for 5 minutes, then stir in the sweet potato and stock. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Transfer the soup to a blender, add the peanut butter, and purée until smooth. Return the purée to the saucepan and stir in the tomato sauce. Cook until warmed through. Transfer to servings bowls and top with the peanuts.

[bec]

Mmmmm, that sounds yum! I could always add some tofu or even some chicken to it as a protein. I am going to try that soon!

The site sale was a huge success, and I am hopeful that we will get rid of most of the rest of them by the weekend. People are still asking at my husband's work, and we have another site sale on Sunday.