Holy crap, morning doesn't have to be torture!

Oh. My. God.
I got 5 hours and 40 minutes of sleep last night. It may have been short of my 6 hour goal, but the difference in me this morning as opposed to .. well anytime recently - was freaking amazing.
First of all, I spoke sentences when I woke up. with real words. Not just angry grunts in the general direction of my family.
Secondly, I even made jokes.
And thirdly, when the munchkin did something that would usually make me scream and look for the nearest object to kill myself with so that I could end my own godawful miserable existence, I instead calmly reminded her that I don't like that behavior and that's not how it works in our house.
Then I made another joke, we laughed and there was no sulking - on either of our parts.


Alrighty, onto the food!

Breakfast: Skipped. Not deliberately - I was just really busy and by the time I looked at the time it was 11:30 and I realized I hadn't eaten. trust me, that is a very rare occurrence. POINTS: 0

Snack: EAS shake. POINTS: 2

 

Low cal, low carb protein shakes that actually don't taste like crap!

Lunch: Boca Burger on a Sara Lee Delightful bun, w/ hummus, baby spinach, and roasted pepper + 6 strawberries. POINTS: 5

 

I love Boca Burgers.

Dinner: Stupid work called me and asked me to go in, which messed up dinner. Takeout again. Chick Fil A Southwestern Salad. (This salad is huge and really tasty at least) POINTS: 10

I was in a rush and completely forgot to take a picture, but it's a takeout food that actually does look like its pictures, so here ya go.

Bits & Pieces: Milk & sugar in my coffee because I'm out of the coffee that I don't need milk with, AND out of sweetener. grrr. POINTS: 2

Exercise: 30 minutes Jenny, 125 crunches. POINTS Earned: 3

Summary:
Daily POINTS Allowed: 22 + 3 exercise POINTS = 25
Daily POINTS Used: 19/25
Weekly POINTS: 0 used so 34/35 still left.

Alright, now I know it's annoying to not know how much weight I'm trying to lose or what I look like (well, I'd find it annoying if I didn't know me anyway), so for the sake of anyone who reads this and does not personally know me, I'll put up one of those chopped off head pictures so you at least have a rough idea of whats going on here. And yeah .. there's no way in hell I'm broadcasting my weight on the internet, so that will just have to be a guess on your part. And please keep that guess to yourself. :P

No, I don't have to pee. Standing like this is just more flattering. Yes, sadly this is actually a flattering pic. :/

And now, it's time for me to finally go relax after this long day! Hope you are all well and healthy out there too! xoxo

Apparently sleep is essential for a person to function.

Well I at least now know that my supreme tiredness hasn't just been in my head - I came home from dropping the munchkin off at school this morning, had a coffee, did some computer errands (pay bills, check emails etc) and then sat down to breakfast. I was reading* while I ate, and I figured I'd allow myself to just read a few more pages before I got on with my day.
Next thing you know, it's 1pm and my husband is shaking me awake.
Now, as a rule, I don't nap. I never go back to sleep or just lay down or anything like that. No matter how tired I am, once i'm up, I'm up - which is why i absolutely hate being woken up. Seriously, don't ever wake me up unless I have to be up, or there is a strong likelihood I'll throw something at you.
Certain people know this is true.

Anyway, so I woke up, and realized that I cannot possibly keep doing this to myself. For the last week I haven't had more than 4 hours of sleep per night. Some people can function like this. I can't. In light of this realization, I'll also be posting how many hours I slept the previous night, because a new goal of mine is going to be to get a minimum of 6 hours per night.


My eating for the day was sub-par - I'm disappointed in myself. However, I did have one of those days where you just don't care and sort of want to eat all day long, and I did stop myself from doing that, so at least it wasn't a complete fail. I need to step up the game a bit though if I want the results I'm looking for both physically and mentally!

Breakfast: 2 Wasa spread with hummus and sprinkled w/ goats cheese, 3 egg whites, garlic, spinach, roasted red pepper, mushrooms. POINTS: 3

This smells so good sautéing in the morning. And it has pretty colours!

 And First Watch wants to charge me $8 or so for their bland, pale, mucus-like egg whites? Screw that! ;)

Snack: coffee & 2 oatmeal raisin cookies. Right, they seriously need to get put in the freezer.  POINTS: 2

These mofo's are goin DOWN!!! .. well. down to my thighs anyway. :/

My cookies have a new home. I felt it was best to put some distance between us.

Lunch: 3 Wasa, avocado, tomato, chicken, lemon juice. POINTS: 6

Snack: 1 Wasa, hummus. POINTS: 1.5

I really need to become a representative for Wasa.

Dinner: Takeout from Larrys Subs, where I got a turkey/ham sub with lettuce and tomato. I also had a diet Dr Pepper, which is the first soda I've had in ages. POINTS: 7.5

No plates = no dishes. Win!

Dessert: 1 apple cinnamon muffin. POINTS: 2

I'm very easily led astray.

Bits & Pieces: Milk in my coffee today - POINTS: 1

Exercise: None. Again. I really need to get my s#!t together in the exercise department, because I'm starting to have a bit of self loathing, which is hindering my goals to improve myself and be happy with me.

Summary:
Daily POINTS Allowed: 22
Daily POINTS Used: 23/22
Weekly POINTS Used: 1/35 = 34 Weekly POINTS left.
Exercise POINTS: 0

*I'm currently reading The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin. It's a wonderful book, and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. :)

Weigh In Day

5.2 pounds down for the week - BUT, that's not a real loss, because last week I had a 4 pound gain due to bad food and water retention and all of that. It's probably "officially" a pound lost - the 4 pound gain is gone, plus another real pound gone. So yay, because this wasn't a great week - the exercise effort was just.. dismal.

I'll tell you right now, I wanted to lie to you all  today. And I nearly did. I don't want you all to know that instead of practicing moderation, I succumbed to temptation. But if I lie, what's the point of this, and what kind of person does that make me?

Breakfast: 1 EAS shake, and 2 oatmeal raisin cookies. (I need to freeze those damn cookies!!) - again, not a good breakfast at ALL, I was in a maaddd rush today and had nothing prepared that I could just grab and have in the car. POINTS: 4

The breakfast of champions.

Lunch: 3 Wasa, chicken, avocado, tomato. POINTS: 6

I told you you'd be seeing these a lot. But they are just SO. DAMN. GOOD. Seriously, try them.

Dinner: In a rush because of being called into work and just threw this on a plate so I could eat. spinach, chicken, crumbled bacon, asagio, 1 wasa cracker. POINTS: 8

Snack: mocha. POINTS: 3

Exercise: none.
Ok, now I really really had exercise on the agenda for today, but I got called into work quickly and unexpectedly. Yet another reason to dislike having to work. If you know anyone rich that would like to adopt a grown woman who acts like a child, then send 'em my info.





Summary:
Previous Week POINTS summary: Ended the week with 30 Weekly POINTS left, and stayed within POINTS for the week.
Daily POINTS Allowed: 22
Daily POINTS Used: 21/22
Exercise POINTS Earned: 0
Weekly POINTS Used: 0/35

Pepperoni is definitely not good porn.

Breakfast: Grilled cheese sandwich. 2 pieces bread, plastic cheese, tomato, onion and a touch of sun-dried tomato pesto. Not my usual breakfast (plastic, lacking a good protein source, etc) but I felt really really queasy this morning. Probably because of my cookie binge last night. POINTS: 3

Awesome low cal hangover food.

Lunch: 1 banana, and 1.5 oatmeal raisin cookies. Um.. I got nothing. I didn't make lunch because I couldn't be bothered - was still feeling gross and tired and sick. POINTS: 3

I did not take a picture of my banana and cookie, so this random internet picture will have to do. Please enjoy seeing someone else's banana and cookie.

Snack: 1 Wasa cracker & 4 slices of pepperoni. I have no excuse. Was making something for the lion, who called in sick to work and stayed home today, and I just ate some pepperoni, and then had a wasa cracker for the hell of it. POINTS: 2

Pepperoni is the side-burned, hairy, gold chain wearing, 70's dude of porn. *shudders*

Dinner: Salad made with baby spinach, 1/2 a roasted chicken breast, a diced roma tomato, dressed with a tangy homemade avocado dressing, sprinkled with asagio and served with 2 Wasa crackers. POINTS: 6

This was surprisingly delicious.

 

Snack: Doctored mocha. POINTS: 2

Exercise: None - I really was feeling dreadful though.


Summary:
Daily POINTS Allowed: 22
Daily POINTS Used: 16/22*
Exercise POINTS Earned: 0
Weekly POINTS: 0/30 - 30 left.

So, this is actually the last day of my weightwatchers week, and the new one clicks over tomorrow, which means weigh in day. I don't feel as though I've done very well at all this week, so I'm not terribly enthusiastic, but we'll see what happens in the morning!



*A tidbit about POINTS: Going under your daily points on a consistent basis is a great way to completely halt your weight loss - I know this from experience. They actually tell you that your Daily POINTS Allowance is your target for the day - as in aim to eat all of them - but I tend to like to be one or two points lower, just in case my points calculations for the day weren't perfect or something.

Alright, now to see if I can sleep off some pounds!

Lesson Learned: Baking & Dieting, do not go hand in hand.

Breakfast: The rest of my fritatta, a piece of toast, and a piece of fat free plastic cheese. POINTS: 6

I hid the plastic cheese underneath the fritatta. I was ashamed of being associated with it.

Lunch: 3 Wasa's, with tomato, chicken, avocado, lemon juice & salt and pepper. If you want a better picture, go back to my first day posting my food log. POINTS: 6

Yeahhh.. I'm probably going to recycle pictures when I have the exact same food, cause there wasn't much else I could do for this.

Snack: 1 Wasa, w/ spinach and artichoke cream cheese. POINTS: 2

Crackers & Dip. Can't go wrong.

Dinner: "pizza" made with Artisan flatbread rounds, a white sauce, baby spinach, roasted red pepper, mushrooms, roasted chicken breast, a little shredded mozzarella, asagio and red pepper flakes. delicious. POINTS: 6

I'm an avid fan of most things in miniature. Pizza is no exception. I would just prefer 10 mini pizzas.

I should leave it there really. That all isn't too bad after all. A lovely healthy day! A bit comfort-foody, but nevertheless, a good makeover of comfort foods, still natural and made from scratch … and actually… so was the rest.. it was just.. well.. oh fine. I'll tell you.

Only cause I promised not to lie.
*sighs*

I made these. See those few cookies in the foreground? Now see the pile of cookies, sitting by another pile of muffins in the background? yeaaahhhhhhhh.

Dessert:  4 oatmeal raisin cookies, 1 apple cinnamon muffin, tastes of batter. POINTS: 7

By the way - while not much to look at, those cookies are awesome, and made with whole wheat flour, steel cut oats, raisins, brown sugar, organic applesauce, and actually very good in regards to nutritional content. For example, each of those cookies is 74 calories. You're just not supposed to eat four of them in the same evening. The muffins I was also proud of - apple cinnamon, made with whole wheat flour, apples, applesauce, agave nectar, brown sugar, organic greek yogurt, and random other stuff like baking powder and baking soda, but yeah, again, on the whole, quite low in calories and high in healthy sugars and fruit and crap like that. ( I suck at baking in general, so these two things were something of an achievement for me).

The side of food porn no one wants you to see: Asphyxiation

 

Summary:

Daily POINTS Allowed: 22 

Daily POINTS Used: 22 + 5 Weeklies.

Exercise POINTS Earned: 0 

Weekly POINTS Used: 5/35 = 30 Weekly POINTS left.

Foodporndaily.com is my new love. Also, the hot guy that came into my work today. But mostly food porn.

This is what I feel like right now.

Breakfast: 2 toasted sandwich thins, PB2, banana, drizzled with honey. POINTS: 4

A not-so-guilty pleasure.

Lunch: 1 cup leftover penne, leftover bolognese sauce, a bit of mozzarella, and an egg white (to help bind). I just mixed it all together, threw it in a little oven safe dish, and baked it. POINTS: 7

It's not lasagna, but damn it was good. A tidbit about me - Garfield is my hero.

Dinner: Fritatta made with 1 egg,  3 egg whites, 2 very small potatoes, 2 slices of canadian bacon, grated zucchini (leftover from my zucchini ribbons from last nights dinner, sliced mushrooms, roasted red peppers (capsicum), and baby spinach leaves. I made enough for two meals for me (the lion hates fritatta), so expect to see this at my breakfast tomorrow! Had it with 2 pieces of whole wheat bread. POINTS: 7

Yes, I go through a ton of eggs.

Snacks: 1 hot chai tea latte (skim milk of course), and 1 iced chai latte. I worked for 10 hours today, I needed something! POINTS: 4

Exercise: 30 minutes Jenny. I hate that bitch. Screw her and her damn peppiness. (I'm lying. I love you Jenny. *hugs*) POINTS Earned: 2


Summary
POINTS Allowed: 22 + 2 Exercise POINTS = 24
POINTS Used: 22
Weekly POINTS used: 0/35

K, that's it. Over & out, munchkins. I need sleep.

Jour Deux (If I write it in French, it makes me sound classy and stuff)

 Oh yeah. I'm rockin' this shiz.


Breakfast: 1 whole egg, 1 egg white, crushed tomatoes, onion, garlic, spinach, mushrooms, and 1 piece of whole wheat toast. This is an adaptation of a way that my Nonna makes eggs - her version has champignons, garlic, her sauce, whole eggs, and lashings of olive oil with toasted italian bread. POINTS: 4

Something I've learned - eggs do not photograph well. Regardless, I have long appreciated eggs for their more important qualities. Like the fact that they taste awesome.

Snack: Organic Greek caramel yogurt w/ 1 banana, 1 strawberry, sprinkled with cinnamon. POINTS: 4

Mmmm.. cinnamonny.

Lunch: 2 Wasa crackers w/ roasted butternut, sliced chicken breast, baby spinach, and diced roma tomatoes.  Served with some leftover cauliflower bake. POINTS: 5

Leftovers. 

Snack: 1 Wasa cracker w/ spinach and avocado cream cheese spread. POINTS: 3

Another example of aesthetic qualities falling well short of depicting the true tastegasms one goes through when munching on this.

Dinner: Sauteed zucchini ribbons w/ garlic, served with bolognese sauce (97% lean ground beef, garlic, onions, grated carrot, parsley, & chopped baby spinach), topped with parmesan, and a touch of garlic chili oil. which is fabulous and I highly recommend. ;) POINTS: 6

This was heaven. I've had pasta with zucchini ribbons many times, but this tasted like something my Nonna made. Pure tastebud delight.

If you see this, buy it.

Exercise: 30 minutes of Jenny, 115 crunches. POINTS Earned: 3

This is Jenny. Say Hi to Jenny everyone, or she will point out all of your flaws and then prove she's better than you by making her virtual self do things that you can't.

Summary:
POINTS allowed: 22 + 3 Exercise Points = 25
POINTS used: 22
Weekly POINTS used: 0/35

My food is so sexy I just want to eat it. So I did.

Woohoo!!! Time to log Day 1 of my Flog! It's actually day 3 of Week 9 since I started officially logging food intake and attempting to change my diet, but Day 1 of announcing it to the world that ends up here.

Oh and there are a couple of other things you should know -
1. The Lion and I are in the midst of a weight-loss competition that started 8 weeks and three days ago. He is currently winning.
2. The Munchkin, the Lion and I are in the midst of a family-wide healthy daily goals competition.
3. I have recently committed to a terrifying looking run where I'm somehow supposed to jump over fire and crawl through mud underneath barbed wire, among other things.

You can see that I probably need to be doing this right now, or I will lose 2 competitions with highly competitive people, and end up burned/maimed/dead.

Alright so let's get down to the nitty gritty.
I currently get 22 Points per day to use. Exercise can garner me more points, but those ones have to be used in the same day. I also get an extra 35 Points per week that can be used or not used however I see fit. In general, I try not to use those points.

Breakfast: 3 egg whites  beaten with chopped fresh parsley, turmeric, paprika, seasoned salt, & ground black pepper, then scrambled with sautéed diced mushrooms, chopped roasted red peppers, chopped baby spinach leaves, and a clove of freshly minced garlic. Served with 2 Wasa Multigrain crackers that were spread with a thin layer of homemade roasted red pepper hummus and sprinkled with some goats cheese. POINTS: 3

Yum.

Lunch: 3 Wasa Crackers, topped with 1/4 of an avocado, half a sliced roast chicken breast, a whole sliced roma tomato, and seasoned with a dash of salt, liberal amounts of pepper and the juice of 1/4 of a lemon squeezed on top. 1 Liter of water. POINTS: 6

Pure, addictive bliss. This is better than chips and salsa, and if I wasn't counting points, I could easily eat 6 of these delicious things and tell myself that it was okay because its healthy! ;)

Snack: 5 strawberries. POINTS: 1

Anniversary Dinner: 1 roasted chicken breast, butternut squash roasted with garlic & onion, cauliflower bake (made with cream cheese, mushrooms, a touch of crumbled bacon, spring onions and various seasonings), steamed asparagus, and spinach salad dressed with a sprinkle of goats cheese, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. (I had far more salad than that, but the bowl in the picture wouldn't have looked as nice.)  1 Liter Water. POINTS: 9

Dessert: Icecream. Points: 2

It is my anniversary..

And there we have it people. I decided I like the idea of a photo food log, because I always want to see what recipes/dishes actually look like - I don't even buy cookbooks or cook recipes that have no picture. 

I have ended my day of eating using 21 of my 22 Daily Points, and having done no exercise. Which is partly my own fault, and partly circumstance - right as I was about to workout, my phone rang and I needed to go pick up the munchkin from the nurses office at school. After that it was a flurry of making it to the Dr, picking up the prescription, meeting some people who had an interest in one of my little friends, getting to the post office, and finally walking in the door at 5:30pm.. However, if I'd exercised first thing in the morning, it wouldn't have been a problem... let's hope that that lesson is learned. ;) 

Overall, a mostly successful first day!

It Begins... well, actually it already began, but this is sort of the next step.

So this is possibly private or not private, read or unread, either way it doesn't really matter. :)
This is going to be my accountability page, because apparently feeling good and having more energy and being happier in general when I'm doing well nutritionally is not enough to keep me accountable! I'm hoping that having to log something like "Caved. Ate half a block of cheese and a package of wheat thins - as a snack. Points: 10,280. Also, only exercise was raising my hand to my mouth repeatedly" out here in InternetLand will be somewhat of a deterrent.

I promise I won't lie.

Here I plan to log my food, fitness, & feelings. Goals are as follows:

1. Lose weight

2. Exercise - regularly. not sporadically. (im awesome at sporadic exercise already. unfortunately three weeks straight and then nothing for 6 months is not the way "being healthy" seems to work. )  and ultimately learn to ENJOY exercise

3. Eat HEALTHY - that's an important one. Not saying I won't have anything fat free or with artificial sugar, but majority of the time, I want to be eating whole, unprocessed foods. Ingredient lists on food should be relatively simple and contain ingredients I've heard of. I want to minimize the chemicals and toxins in my body and get my nutrients and energy from good, wholesome food and old fashioned exercise. NO FADS.

4. Stick to my "points"* - this is because I hate counting calories and know most points i need to know off by heart, so it's simply easier. I need to have some sort of guideline like points to follow because I want to lose weight. Sadly this is very hard to do if you don't know how much you're eating.  :(  ( it is sad. I like food, and dislike limits. in general.)

5. Limit the dinner carbs - not because of Atkins or anything else, but only because I've learned that my body doesn't like carbs too late. I get hungrier, bloated and tend to feel more sluggish the next morning.

6. Minimal, if any, alcohol consumption - I can make alcohol points/calories fit, yeah, but the hangovers and lack of energy, not to mention the complete lack of any nutritional value, mean that I would just prefer to not put any into my body at this stage. Once I feel as though my new changes are habits that come relatively effortlessly, then alcohol and I can become friends again.

So that's pretty much it for now. Each day I will post what I've eaten, any exercise I've done, and if I feel like it, any feelings about my health/exercise/progress/"mistakes".

Oh, also, I'm pulling a TB here and requesting that if for some reason you happen to comment, then please don't write my name, because it's too searchable, and I'd prefer not to have random people who look me up when I go for job interviews or something find my stupid diet page! ;)


*Points are used in the Weight Watchers program. I've lost weight using this program before, but a) regained it and b) didn't REALLY do it the right way. eg; fat free cheese, anything low point regardless of whatever it was actually made of, playing around with my points to fit in junk food or having chemically altered versions of junk food. you know. that kinda thing.