Day Sixty-One

Oh, boy. I'm up to my old tricks again.

I'm not going to make any excuses: claim Christmas, blame it on being at home, or any of the like. I have to be able to stay healthy in a variety of situations, and if simply coming home is enough to throw me off, I have a lot of work to do!

So it's confession time.

Confession #1: I've only exercised twice since I came home on December 13.

Confession #2: I made an Italian cream cake for our annual DeRosa/Hebrank/Krebs/Linton Christmas dinner. I licked the bowl. Both the batter bowl and the icing bowl. There was also a bowl of M&Ms on the counter while I was baking which I partook of far too frequently.

Confession #3: I had a piece of cake at dinner. A large one. I ate most of it.

Confession #4: The morning after, I ate leftover cake. And leftover mashed potatoes. And leftover M&Ms.

Confession #5: This morning I ate two spoonfuls of leftover cake icing. Thank God Mom threw the cake out.

These confessions are meant to serve the same purpose they would in a religious context. I'm stating my sins, asking for absolution, and beginning again with a clean slate.

I expected to experience a few pitfalls over the holidays, but it scares me all the same, when these old behaviors resurface. Even though I know I can't expect myself to be instantly and permanently cured of my food issues, every time I deviate just a little bit from being healthy I immediately feel like I've failed.

I think the biggest concern I have is not the fact that I ate some cake and mashed potatoes. It's the fact that I did a lot of it in secret, and experienced that familiar feeling of shame after I'd done it. The fear that someone in the house was going to notice that I'd eaten cake. The fear that they would also think I'm a failure.

Therein, I believe, lies the problem. I indulge in secret, and feel ashamed afterwards. These feelings of shame and failure lead to further secretive unhealthy eating, which will eventually result in actual failure.

So. I'm putting my sins out there for everyone to see, and I'm refusing to be ashamed. Instead, I'm going to wipe the slate clean and start again. A couple of days of cake will not ruin me! So we're going to focus on the positives:

Positive #1: While I indulged, I did not binge. In the past, had I been alone with half a leftover cake, another half of it would have been gone before the day was through. After the piece at dinner, I had a few more bites, at most. Mom ended up giving and throwing most of the cake away (the throwing away part at my request!).

Positive #2: I'm not nursing secret shame. At least, not anymore. I'm not letting it get me down. I'm not letting it lead to further bad decisions.

Positive #3: I'm using this slight downfall to facilitate further growth. I want to use this to encourage myself in the future, since I know this will not be the only downfall I'll ever experience.

Okay, so those are the only positives I can think of right now. :) But it's a start. The biggest step for me is putting all this out in the open instead of keeping it to myself and pretending it didn't happen. I know this blog has been my strength and support so far, and I intend to keep it that way!

Plan of action:

1. Get exercise today. And tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that!

2. Go back to counting calories and posting them on the blog every night.

3. Post on the blog every night!

4. Plan meals for the rest of the week. Knowing what I'm going to eat ahead of time always makes for healthier decisions!

5. Don't beat myself up if I indulge in a few treats between now and Christmas. Continue to employ moderation and restraint.

Onward and upward! I know you guys are rooting for me!!

Day Fifty-Eight

I have just been the most terrible blogger lately. I haven't had much to report this past week, as I haven't been cooking like I should, nor eating like I should. Funnily enough, when I say I'm not eating right, I mean I'm not eating enough...a very uncharacteristic position for me to be in, but I've been suffering from on and off nausea and a general upset stomach all week...nothing too serious, but enough to make me not too interested in eating. So, despite the fact that I haven't exercised since Monday (I know, it's terrible!!), I lost another three pounds between yesterday and my last weigh in. While it's always exciting to lose weight, that's not the way I want to lose it. I know my metabolism must be slowing down. But I have a feeling it will be hard for me to fully get back on track until Christmas is over. It's just way too easy to get sucked into vacation mode.

But my goal for next week is to exercise at least three times, even if it's cold, wet, etc. Exercise is truly the key to feeling better about myself. The healthy eating is also good, but the endorphins really make it happen for me. :) So if I can manage three times, I'll be satisfied.

I know I haven't been the best with keeping up with the blog, which I blame on being off my routine, but as soon as Christmas is over I'm going to try to get back to posting every day and keeping up with calories. The good news is, I have stayed very consistent with my eating, at least as far as staying away from non-South Beach things goes! I've been sticking pretty close to phase two. My biggest fight is getting veggies in! We're going back to the grocery store this weekend, so I'm going to try to stock up on a lot of different veggies so I can have some variety. I have been eating lots of spinach, as usual, but I definitely need to branch out some.

So thanks, everyone, for your continuing support! We're going to be doing a lot of cooking for a dinner tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have some great pictures to show. Love y'all!

Day Fifty-Three

Hi guys! Sorry I disappeared! I got a little swallowed by finals week, and I totally missed the fifty-day mark! Things have been going well though...I lost another 3 pounds! I've been slacking off on exercise, though. I only walked twice last week - lazy lazy lazy! I did 30 minutes of DDR today so I can start the week off right. I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of DDR this week if the weather continues to be as cold as it's been.

I've also been baking some yummy things while at home! The other night I made Kalyn's Baked Chicken Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto, Basil, and Goat Cheese which was delicious! Daddy's been scarfing up on it. Here's a picture:

We also made Grilled Spicy Tuna, though I can't take any credit, since Mom did the marinade and Dad grilled it up. It turned out really delicious...tuna is the one kind of fish I actually like. I guess it's the texture - less fishy and more steak-like. It was really good with some sauteed spinach!

I did okay with the cookies at the cookie bake...I had a few but didn't go overboard. I'm feeling pretty confident that I can make it through Christmas without totally going off track. In fact, the longer I keep at this, the more sure I am that I have the ability to stick with it for the long haul. Not every day is a good day, but as long as I get back on track the day after everything seems to work out fine. My goal over Christmas is to maintain, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep up the healthy eating for the most part.

I don't have my calorie count together today, but I'll start back with that tomorrow. Thanks everyone, I love you guys!

Day Forty-Six

I'm going to go ahead and admit it.

I want a cookie.

I really want a cookie.

It doesn't help that Karlee has a batch of them sitting on the counter. Or that she made cupcakes today, of all things! And they're just sitting there. Temptingly.

Ugh. But I've been doing really well with resisting...that little voice in my head keeps urging me to just try a little bite of cookie, or take just a little swipe of icing. But my healthy eating voice has been louder so far! I took out some of my cookie frustrations on pounding almonds up for the tilapia I made for dinner, which helped. Cooking something tasty for dinner makes me less anxious for satisfaction through sweets. I also redirected with fat free whipped cream and a kashi bar, which helped a lot. It's a fight though. Guess that's the point, right?

But so far so good. I just keep telling myself that now is good practice for Christmas, when the sweets will be much more tempting!

Besides resisting cookies, I also took my 30 minute walk today, despite the temptation to skip it. It was freezing, and I had other stuff I preferred to be doing, and I had pretty much decided I wasn't going to go. Then I stopped myself, thought "Just take the dang walk, Campbell," and got out there. It was COLD. I wore mittens and a fleece jacket but my arms and thighs were still pretty numb by the time I got back. But it still felt really good to get it done. Especially considering how much I didn't want to! Victory #2.

I made Almond and Parmesan Baked Tilapia for dinner (from Kalyn's Kitchen...what would I do without her?), which was delicious. This means a lot coming from me, as I'm definitely not a fan of fish. I was supposed to use almond meal, but because I didn't have any, I just ground up some almonds I had in the pantry, which worked out fine. Here's a picture:

I also made a variation of Kalyn's South Beach-Friendly Tartar Sauce, but I didn't have any plain Greek yogurt, so I used reduced fat sour cream instead. It was delish!

So that was a treat! I would say, in all, the day went well. I didn't have any pressing homework, I got to take a little break, which was nice. One more week until I'm officially done with the semester!

Today's food:

Breakfast

Egg Mcmuffin - 300 (I know, not my best choice. But I was out of milk and desperate)

Lunch

Scrambled eggs w/ spinach and goat cheese - 233

Veggie sausage links - 80

Dinner

Almond and Parmesan baked tilapia - 230 (approx.)

Grape tomatoes - 9

Sauce - 70

Snacks

Leftover meatballs - 165

Kashi fruit and grain bar - 120

Fat-free whipped cream - 50

Snow cream pop - 45

Cup skim milk - 86 

Total: 1388

Day Forty-Five

So I finally have food pictures! I got to the grocery store and so I finally got some cooking done. I'm also getting schoolwork done piece by piece. Finished the Shakespeare revision, so now I'm onto the Colonial Lit revision!

Here's what I had for dinner yesterday:

Garbanzo bean soup and Swedish meatballs! Both from Kalyn's Kitchen. It was yummy, but I think I did something wrong with the soup, because it was more like hummus...really thick. But the meatballs turned out great! I used lean everything and put a little cinnamon in which added a nice little something.

Tonight I had baked pesto chicken (also from Kalyn's Kitchen) with asparagus. It was really good, even though I used pesto out of a jar and defrosted the chicken in the microwave. :) But it was so easy to do! You just cover the bottom of the pan with pesto, slap the chicken down, cover the chicken with pesto, and throw it in the oven. Then sprinkle a little mozzerella, broil, and you're done! I'll definitely be able to keep that one memorized.

Only thing is, as you can see below, I made way too much. Guess I'm going to have to bring the leftovers home with me! Or make chicken salad.

Oh yeah! I weighed this morning and I'm down another pound. I didn't do as well with exercise this week as I could have, so I'm going to have to get back on track next week. It's harder to get out now that it's getting colder, but I just have to make myself!

Here's today's food:

Breakfast

Spinach and goat cheese omelette - 226

Veggie sausage links - 80

Coffee - 60

Lunch

Leftover meatballs - 265

Sweet potato fries - 182

Dinner
Baked pesto chicken - 189
Lemon Asparagus - 25

Snacks
1 snow cream stick - 45
2 tbsp fat free whipped cream - 25

Total: 1097 (That's nuts, I felt like I ate a ton today!)

You guys are the coolest! Love y'all!

Day Forty-Three

It's Friday! Only 10 more days of the semester and I can actually start my Christmas season! I meant to weigh in this morning, but totally forgot...somehow I got on my Tuesday/Thursday schedule this morning and ended up walking into class 2 minutes late, which never happens to me. I'm always at least 20 minutes early. I swear I'm losing my mind. I've also put open cans of wet cat food in the pantry instead of the fridge twice in the past two days. And I keep leaving out random words when I'm writing. And I keep dropping stuff all over the place. Either this diet is messing with my head, I have a brain tumor, or it's finals season. :) Maybe some combination of the above.

Okay, so back to weight loss related things! I took a 25 minute walk today in between my last class and the writing workshop I went to, which ended up being really interesting. But I didn't make it to the grocery store. So that's happening first thing tomorrow. I think once I get food in the house and get cooking again I'll get the boost I need. I'm especially going to need it with all the Christmas sweets that I'll be surrounded with for the next month or so!

I'm also on the lookout for healthy cookie recipes! Because what's Christmas without cookies? But I'm hoping I can find some low-sugar recipes so I don't feel like I'm overindulging. So we'll see how that works out.

Today's food:

Breakfast
Multigrain cheerios w/ skim milk - 225

Lunch
Nature Valley bar (I know, not the best. But I was stuck on campus and it was the healthiest thing in the vending machine) -190

Dinner
Spinach and goat cheese omelette - 263
Turkey bacon - 70

Snacks
1 tbsp reduced fat peanut butter - 100
Pistachios - 85

Total: 933

Day Forty-Two

So I missed blogging yesterday, as I was up until around 11 finishing my Native lit paper. But I got it done! Today was the last day of Tuesday/Thursday classes, so we're getting very close to the end now. The end of the semester, that is.

I did my 30 minute walk yesterday but skipped it today. I guess I was so happy not to have anything due tomorrow that I just kind of wanted to take the time to catch up with all the other parts of my life that I've had to put on hold for schoolwork! Like cleaning, working like mad on my knitted Christmas presents, and getting some meals lined up for next week. But, as I've observed in the past, I felt like something was missing from my day without my walk. I always feel much better at the end of the day when I've done some exercise. I also meant to get to the grocery store today, but didn't make it. That will have to be for tomorrow! I'm going to a writing workshop that Jackson Pearce is holding at UGA tomorrow until 3, so I might not make it to the grocery store until Saturday, but we'll see.

Anyways, I'm rambling. Unfortunately, I got an attack of cravings today. I think a lot of it has to do with not having certain strategic foods in my arsenal. It really helps to have something like Greek yogurt or fat-free whipped cream or sugar-free popsicles if I have a sudden attack of the sweet tooth. Fruits and veggies for quick snacks. Something exciting to cook for dinner so I feel like I'm spoiling myself. Without those good things I get bored, and the cravings set in. I satisfied the sweet tooth with a tablespoon of peanut butter, but I could feel the munchie feeling coming on pretty strong. So I sat down and kept my hands busy with knitting and I didn't go overboard. But I can't wait to get to the grocery store, because I know it will bolster my morale!

Plus, I know the blog is getting a little boring without pictures! Definitely need to get back to doing that.

By the way, a big huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sis! Love you!

Today's food:

Breakfast
Multigrain cheerios w/ skim milk - 225
Coffee w/ creamer - 60

Lunch
Chick-fil-a Southwest Chargrilled Salad - 317

Dinner
Scrambled eggs w/ spinach, goat cheese, and mozzerella - 193

Snacks
1 tbsp peanut butter - 100
3 Turkey bites - 40
Black beans - 55
Pistachios - 85
Box of raisins - 130

Total: 1205

Day Forty

WOW! Day 40! That's practically biblical. I really can't believe I've been at this that long, I really can't. I weighed in again this morning and was down to 229.2, which means I've passed the 10 lb mark and am onto 11! Yay!

I got back into my routine and took my 30 minute walk today. The weather was foggy and drizzly but I made myself get out there and I'm glad I did, because it started pouring down rain just a little bit after I got back. Then the rest of the day was spent working like crazy on my 8-10 page Native Lit paper, which is due Thursday. I'm on page 5 so I should be fine. But I've got a Bio project due Thursday too, so I'm going to be a busy busy girl until Friday. At which point, of course, I have to work on a paper rewrite for Shakespeare and a paper for Colonial Lit and the week after that is finals. So I'm going to be a madwoman until December 13 at 11AM. But hopefully I can conjure the energy to cook some good stuff! I didn't get creative at all with cooking today, since I don't have a whole lot of groceries in the house and my energy was pretty drained by the paper. I should be able to go grocery shopping tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to make some meals to take pictures of this week!

Here's today's food:

Breakfast
Multigrain Cheerios w/ 1/2 cup skim milk - 150

Lunch
2 hard-boiled eggs - 150
2 slices of turkey bacon - 70

Dinner
Leftover turkey italian sausage - 320
1 cup sauteed spinach - 84

Snacks
1 tbsp reduced-fat peanut butter - 100
Turkey bites - 40
Nonfat Greek yogurt - 140

Total: 1054

A little low again. I've got to get some good snacks organized!

Day Thirty-Nine

Hi everyone! I'm back! If there's one thing I've learned over the past week, it's that I need this blog! It was nice to have a little break, but I found that without the structure and the support from posting every night, I am much more apt to revert to old habits. I actually lost .2 more pounds, which is good I guess, considering it was Thanksgiving and I wasn't as good as I could have been. It actually might be more than that, because I weighed at night instead of in the morning like usual. I'll have to do it in the morning tomorrow to double check. I'm thinking I might just hop back to phase one for another two weeks to get back on track. Of course, at the end of two weeks I'll be back home and it will be Christmas time, but hopefully I can keep it up better then than I did this past week. The key for me is structure! When I stop counting calories and measuring portions, I'm in big trouble. But it was good for me to see how much this system is really working for me, and how much I need it.

But Thanksgiving was still fun...I made some yummy stuff, and I can't believe I forgot to take pictures! I made Twice Baked Sweet Potato Cups from Kalyn's Kitchen which were AMAZING as well as her Low-Sugar Raspberry Cheesecake w/ Pecan Crust. That turned out really great too! I did my best to stay away from the pecan pie and the rolls, and was successful on that front. But I had to try the mashed potatoes and the stuffing so not so good there. I figure it's the holidays and I can splurge once and a while, as long as I get back on track the next day!

I also discovered agave nectar over the break! It's a great all-natural low-glycemic alternative to honey, which I like on my veggie sausage or in tea. Very yummy.

On a random side note, I've also decided I need a hair cut. I wonder how many pounds that will take off, lol!

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving! I would post my food, but I woke up at 5:45 this morning to get back up to Athens in time for class and I'm wiped out. But tomorrow we're jumping back on South Beach! Hooray for perseverance!

Day Thirty-Three

As you all can see, I'm having a little trouble with blogging while I'm on vacation. So I've decided to take a little break until I feel the need to blog! I'll be back full force next Monday! Thanks so much everyone for the awesome encouragement and help! See you soon!

Day Thirty

I forgot to comment yesterday that I hit the one month mark! I really can't belive it. I've made it a whole month! And still going strong! A whole month since I've been to the McDonald's drive through! A whole month since I've had pizza or macaroni and cheese! A whole month of exercise, and yummy, healthy food! Yay me! Here's to many more months of the same!

But I've totally gone into vacation mode. I mean, I've been doing fine with food and stuff, but I've gotten more loosey goosey with planning meals and keeping track of everything. So my goal for tomorrow is to sit down and make plans for most of my lunches (since I've skipped lunch the last two days - not good!) and dinners for next week. Hopefully that will help me maintain some semblance of structure!

It's been nice to be home and have a little break from classes though. The down side of it is that I tend to get bored more often, which can lead to idle eating. So I've been trying to keep an eye on that. It's going to get worse when Monday comes and the parents go to work and I'll be on my own. The plan is to come up with some activities to keep me occupied and round up some of my friends that live here so I can stay busy! I also have a research paper to be working on, so hopefully I can get a head start on that too.

Anyways, I hope all of you are doing great! I know the blog has been a little boring the last couple of days, but I'm hoping I'll be able to make some picture-worthy food in the next week and add a little excitement!

Today's food:

Breakfast/Lunch (woke up late again)
Spinach and goat cheese omelette - 146
Morning star veggie sausage patties - 160
2 cups coffee w/ creamer - 90

Dinner
Panera chopped chicken cobb salad w/ vinagrette - 250
French onion soup - 200

Snacks
Chobani nonfat Greek yogurt w/ pomegranate - 140
Sugar free jell-o pudding - 60
Turkey pepperoni minis - 30

Total: 1076

Day Twenty-Nine

So as you guys might have noticed, I took a little blog vacation yesterday! It was a busy day...I drove home, and then we went and played tennis until around 9:30, and then Lindsey and I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter!, so I didn't get a post in! But I'm back today.

I did my weigh-in, and I lost another 2.2 pounds! That's 1.2 pounds away from the big 10! Very exciting.

Mom and I went on a walk tonight too. It was chilly, so we only lasted around 22 minutes, but that means I've exercised every day this week so far!

I would write more, but I'm still exhausted from last night, and can't focus very well. But I'll be back with a better, more detailed update tomorrow!

Today's food

Breakfast/Lunch (I got up late)
Cheese omelette - 220
Morning star veggie sausage patties - 160

Dinner
Turkey burger w/ goat cheese and whole wheat flat bread - 450
Sweet potato fries - 183

Snacks
Snow cream stick - 45
Turkey mini pepperoni - 35
Almonds - 65

Total: 1158

Day Twenty-Seven

Wow...we're two days away from the 1 month mark! I can't believe it! I pretty much feel that way every time I complete another week successfully, but even more so now that it's about to be four in a row!

It's funny, I feel like the longer I eat healthy, the better I get at it. I've learned my way around the healthy sections at the grocery store. I'm better at estimating how much fresh stuff to get for the week so it doesn't spoil. I'm also better at combatting my cravings for sugary stuff! So far so good!

I did my 30 minutes of walking today! It was a gorgeous day. I've really discovered how much I love walking...I never used to do it if I could help it, but I've found that it's so nice to get out and move and get some fresh air. I'm hoping that I can make this a routine for me. It just makes my day that much better when I can get a walk in!

One thing I've learned this week is that having my meals planned and making sure that I have a lot of variety in my food makes this whole healthy eating thing SO much easier. Because I spent the week eating up old stuff, my food often got repetitive and I found myself getting bored. It was okay because I knew it was only temporary, but now I know that it's absolutely necessary that I make sure I have lots of choices in the fridge and in my meals, because when I get bored, I'm more likely to make unhealthy choices. So I can't wait to get home tomorrow and get some meals planned out! And get some pictures going again!

Here's today's food:

Breakfast
Kashi w/ milk - 186

Lunch
Tuna w/ mayo and relish - 210

Dinner
Turkey burgers - 360 (I think I accidentally lowballed a little last time I had these)
Sweet potato fries - 190

Snacks
Nonfat Greek yogurt w/ blueberries - 120
1 tbsp reduced fat peanut butter - 100
1/4 cup pistachios - 85
Glass skim milk - 80

Total: 1331

Day Twenty-Six

Home free! Got through my test and papers, and I've got nothing else due until the Thursday after Thanksgiving! So I'm going to just kick back and enjoy the rest of the week. Okay, I do have reading to do, but that won't take me too long. Hooray for the holidays! I'm looking forward to seeing some of you over Thanksgiving!

I got my 30 minute walk in today! It had been raining all day but when I got home it had stopped so I threw my tennis shoes on and got out there before it started up again! It felt so nice out, and the sun even peeked through the clouds every now and then.

Sadly, food was boring, boring, boring today. I had to get lunch at school so I wouldn't be starving during my test, so I grabbed an Odwalla bar. Not the best choice...high in carbs and not even very tasty. Oh well...I'll plan better next time! It will be good once I get home on Thursday and can start cooking fun things again. I haven't had anything green in way too long!

Today's food:

Breakfast
Kashi w/ milk - 186

Lunch
Banana nut Odwalla bar - 220

Dinner
Leftover steak - 215
Scrambled eggs/egg beaters w/ cheese - 299

Snacks
Pistachios - 170
Gala apple - 53
Reduced fat peanut butter -100
Sugar free jell-o - 60

Total: 1303

Day Twenty-Five

Awesome day today! Cleaned the bathroom, wrote my paper, studied for bio, and got a workout in! It was rainy and wet outside today, so I danced it out for 30 minutes inside. So that was fun. Karlee laughed at me so hard because she came home to me blasting "Can't Touch This." Thank you, MC Hammer.

But no fun food pictures again today. I actually grilled up a steak for dinner (Karlee and I went to Wal-mart and I picked up a little bit of food to get me through until Thursday) but I was too lazy and too hungry to make it look presentable, lol. But it was good! I used some more of that Weber cajun seasoning (sparingly this time) and it turned out pretty good. I grilled it on the George Foreman...I really love that thing! It cooks so fast and everything turns out so good and juicy!

So nothing else very exciting to report! Can't wait until tomorrow is over, then I'll be footloose! Love y'all!

Today's food:

Breakfast
Kashi Heart-to-Heart w/ skim milk - 186
Coffee w/ creamer - 60

Lunch
Chicken salad - 110 (I just can't seem to get rid of this stuff!)
Chobani nonfat Greek yogurt (Vanilla w/ honey) - 174

Dinner
Grilled chuck steak - 300
Peas and carrots - 38

Snacks
Pistachios - 140
1 tbsp reduced fat peanut butter - 100
Glass skim milk - 80

Total: 1188

Day Twenty-Four

Big day today, everyone. I did a workout video. For the first time. Ever.

Ha ha! It was the most hilarious thing ever. I rented Crunch: Cardio Dance Blast from Netflix (see below):

And I "worked it out"! At least, that's what the lady in the video called it. Lol, I looked like such a fool, but it was fun, I guess. I learned how to do "sunshine arms" and how to "pump that booty." I did it for about 25 minutes and it definitely got my heart rate going! But seriously, the girls in the video must have chugged two or three Red Bulls before. They were so dang peppy! But it was still fun. A good alternative for rainy days. But the best part is that I completed 5 days of exercise this week! Yay me! I would love to get to where I did 30 minutes everyday.

Sadly, food was remarkably uninspired today. I had a bunch of schoolwork that I didn't finish yesterday, so I spent my afternoon studying for Bio (blegh) and catching up on my reading for Native Lit. Then Karlee got home around 6 and brought a fake Christmas tree with her! So of course we had to get it all set up. Which was a lot easier said than done. Something happened to it in transit and Karlee had to tie a bunch of the branches with yarn so they would stay up, and the thing simply would not stand up straight no matter what we did to it (and believe me, we did a lot!). So it was basically leftovers all day again. But it feels good to get the fridge cleaned out and not to let things go to waste! I can be bad about that, especially with fresh veggies. They go bad so quickly! I still have some celery in there I'm avoiding. Courage, Campbell, courage.

Today's food:

Breakfast
Goat cheese omelette -140
Morning star veggie links - 120

Lunch
Plum - 30
Baby carrots - 53
(I woke up late so I wasn't that hungry for lunch)

Dinner
2 slices spinach & artichoke frittata - 269
Morning star veggie links - 80

Snacks
Jell-o sugar-free pudding cup - 60
Turkey bites - 40
Nonfat Greek yogurt w/ strawberries - 140

Total: 932

I've really got to get better about eating more when I'm on my ADD pills. Don't want my metabolism to slow down.

Love all you awesome people!

Day Twenty-Three

So I finally have some new food pictures to show! I actually cooked dinner tonight, finally using up some ground turkey I've had in the freezer for ages. I also did the sweet potato fries thing again, this time in traditional fry shape. I did the burgers on the George Foreman and they turned out awesome...nice and thin. Pictures...

I was inspired by Kalyn's Kitchen's Grilled Middle Eastern Turkey Burgers, but didn't have all the ingredients, so I improvised a bit. I added the goat cheese which was delicious! I didn't even need sauce on them.

Who needs McDonald's when you can eat this? Yummy!

For exercise today, I half-danced/half-cleaned for a little over an hour. That's right...I organized my room, got all my summer clothes packed away, vacuumed, changed the sheets, did three loads of laundry, and did lots of running up and down the stairs! And danced when the activity allowed for it. :) I meant to scrub down the bathroom too, but it started getting late and I have a paper due and a test on Tuesday so I had to do some writing and studying. But I made some progress on both of those so it was a good, productive day.

Today's food:

Breakfast
Omelette w/ goat cheese and mini turkey pepperoni - 175
Morning star veggie links - 80
Coffee w/ creamer - 60

Lunch
1/4 cup chicken salad - 111

Dinner
Turkey burgers w/ goat cheese - 210
Sweet potato fries - 162

Snacks
Turkey bites - 80
Jell-o sugar free snack cup - 60
Fat free whipped cream - 30
Chobani non-fat Greek yogurt (vanilla) - 140

Total: 1108

I didn't do well with fruits or veggies at all today, but I'm running low on both, and I'm trying not to go back to the grocery store as I'll be going home for Thanksgiving this Thursday and I'll be gone for a week. But I might have to make an emergency spinach run!

Day Twenty-Two

We're at the three week mark! I weighed in today and I lost another 1.6 pounds, for a total of 6.6 pounds! Not as much as the last two weeks, probably because I started adding a few more carbs, but it's still within my goal of 1-2 pounds per week, so I'm happy!

Didn't get a walk in today, so I broke my streak. My legs were a little sore, so I figured I'd give them a day to rest and I'll pick back up tomorrow. Still, as I've noticed in the past, I feel a lot better on the days I exercise. Probably due to the endorphins. :)

I didn't take my ADD pills today, so I suffered an attack of the munchie feeling tonight. Nighttime is always the most tempting time for me! But I dealt with it pretty well. I did have some popcorn, but it was a mini bag and 94% fat free and all that good stuff. I didn't finish it, so it only cost me around 80 calories, but it still didn't feel like my best choice. The fresh food feels so much better. Empty calories just aren't as fun for me as they used to be, lol.

Anyways, thanks for the continued support and encouragement, everyone! I really love reading your comments - it gives me such a boost! Y'all are awesome!

Today's food:

Breakfast
Slice spinach and artichoke frittata - 135
Greek yogurt w/ blueberries - 140

Lunch
Tuna w/ mayo - 290
Lima beans - 151

Dinner
Omelette w/ spinach, turkey pepperoni, and goat cheese - 197
Morning star veggie links - 80

Snacks
1 tbsp peanut butter - 100
2 servings fat-free whipped cream - 30
Turkey bites - 160
Jell-o snack cup - 60
Chili/lime almonds - 100
Smartpop Mini Bag - 80

Total: 1523

So as you can see, I got a bit snacky today. Better day tomorrow!

Day Twenty-One

Wow, we're one day away from three weeks! I can't believe how fast it's gone by, and how much I'm still enjoying myself! I never expected dieting to be fun. But believe it or not, it really is!

By the way, do you guys like my new design? I finally made one for myself. Okay, no, I didn't draw the cute veggies in the background, but I put it all together. Now my blog finally feels personal!

I did another 30 minutes of walking today! That's right, three days in a row! Every day I go it's easier...not only easier to make myself go, but I'm also less tired when I get done. I can't wait until the day I can make 4 laps around the neighborhood without my legs being worn out. This is such a great time to take advantage of the weather too...not too hot, not too cold! It won't last, but I'll enjoy it while it does.

Wanna know something kinda cool? I can’t remember the last time I felt the urge to go on an emotions-fueled eating binge. I get the munchie feeling, yes, but that usually stems from boredom. Emotional eating, instead, usually triggers something inside me that sends me out of the house to go get a combo meal at McDonalds, or to drive all the way to the grocery store for a bag of candy that I’m likely to consume all or most of before the day is done. It’s like I need something “comforting,” badly enough that I’ll leave the house to go and get it, and then I have to eat way too much of it in order to feel better. But I haven’t felt anything like that lately. I think it has a lot to do with how much happier I am now that I’m taking care of myself. It’s like a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders. It’s so weird how easy this is coming to me at the moment...I don’t know how it happened, but it’s almost like a flip got switched! I’m not saying every day is a great day, but it’s like I get a new boost of energy every day I succeed at this. I’m not getting the typical diet fatigue I've gotten in the past...there are so many great recipes to try and so many tasty, healthy foods out there that I don’t think I’ll get bored any time soon!

Anyways, food today. More eating of leftovers. I tried to make this delicious looking recipe for avocado dressing from Eat Little, Eat Big, but I misread the recipe and added a tablespoon of salt before I realized it called for teaspoons. So it was reeeeeaaaally salty and pretty much inedible. Sadness. I saved it though, so hopefully I can get some more avocados and just make more of it. It's a great way to use up avocados that are slightly past their prime.

So I don't have any fun food pictures for you today, so here's an adorable picture of my kitty instead:

Meow!

Today's food:

Breakfast
Kashi heart-to-heart - 160

Lunch
Chicken salad - 111
Lima beans - 108

Dinner
Fruit/veggie/meat platter with baby carrots, grape tomatoes, mini turkey pepperoni, and mango -119

Snacks
Sugar-free Jell-o (banana fudge) - 60
Turkey bites - 80
Chili/lime almonds - 94
1tbsp peanut butter - 100
1 cup skim milk - 80

Total: 912

You guys are the awesomest ever! Seriously, y'all are really what's keeping me going! Love you guys!

Day Twenty

So my school load was relieved somewhat today when my biology test got postponed until Tuesday! So that leaves me with the just the paper. Thank goodness! So I get to relax a little bit.

I took another walk today! I went for thirty minutes and took four laps instead of three! It was warm again today, but it was so pretty and clear and there was a breeze so I did okay. Once again, I went right after class, and it helped so much. Once I settle down and start doing something I'm not likely to get out and exercise. So so far, this is working for me!

Alas, I don't have any exciting pictures for you guys today. Trying to eat up leftovers. Karlee's back at it with the chocolate chip cookies again, but I'm not having too much trouble staying away from them. So far, at least! Today I just redirected with some strawberries and fat free whipped cream. Yum!

I also realized that I need to start keeping an eye on cholesterol section of the nutrition facts...I never realized it before, but spinach soufflé has 200 mg per cup, and shrimp has something like 160! Yikes. Must use those sparingly!

Today's food:

Breakfast
1 slice spinach and artichoke frittata - 140
Greek yogurt w/ honey - 140

Lunch
1 cup spinach soufflé - 300
Gala apple - 80

Dinner
Broiled shrimp - 204
Lima beans - 108
Plum - 30

Snacks
Banana Fudge sugar-free Jell-o - 60
Chili/Lime Almonds - 85
1 cup strawberries - 49
6 tablespoons fat free whipped cream - 45

Total: 1241

Day Nineteen

I'm being bludgeoned by schoolwork again! Of course, as usual, all of my big assignments seem to come together like the perfect storm. I have a Biology test Thursday and two papers, one due Thursday, the other on Friday. I guess it's nice of my professors not to have it all fall the week before Thanksgiving break, but still, I'm kind of tearing my hair out.

But despite the heavy load, I got a 25 minute walk in today! I've decided that if I don't do it as soon as I get home from class, it simply won't get done. So I took my new tennis shoes for a test drive (they're sooo comfortable! And so much better than my old ones!) and took three laps around the 'hood. It was a little warm for my taste, but I managed all the same. Great progress there...I'm usually great at coming up with excuses not to exercise, and today I had plenty to choose from. But I just made up my mind and did it and it felt awesome!

I've periodically been observing small details about my current weight loss endeavor that set it apart from past efforts. For example, often when I got on a "health kick" in the past I get waaaaay ahead of myself, imagining all the cute stuff I'm finally going to be able to wear when I get "skinny" and how much easier shopping will be, etc. etc. I count my chickens before they hatch. But I've found that when wearing cute clothes and getting skinny are my ultimate goals, I get frustrated very quickly, because the weight doesn't come off fast enough, and I end up resorting to old habits to console myself. This time around, however, those things are much further from my mind. The goal isn't to achieve an idealistic body type or to have more fun at the mall. It's much bigger and broader than that this time - what I relish in now, I've found, is simply healthier living. The beauty of that is I can see the results of it everyday! I'm rewarded not somewhere down the road, but in the here and now, every time I eat a healthy meal, every time I go out and get exercise. It's amazing, really, because it's a mindset I never though myself capable of adopting. I don't think so much about how great it's going to be when I look the way I want to, but rather how happy my body must be about the excellent treatment it's getting, and how liberating and empowering it is to be actively working, day by day, to improve myself and my life. Even though I haven't lost enough weight to really notice, I see the change in my energy levels, in my optimistic, can-do attitude, in the peace I feel at the end of every day that comes with the knowledge that there's hope for me after all.

And now I'm in tears. Lol. Happy tears, of course! I didn't realize until I wrote that last bit how very little hope I had (up until now, of course) that I could ever get my act together. Again, I don't want to count my chickens, as I'm always very cautious when trusting myself with new "projects," but this doesn't feel like a passing fad to me anymore. It feels like something I can do, that I want to do, that I enjoy doing, and that I can keep doing for life. I'm not saying I won't ever stumble, or that I'm cured of my food issues forever. But I feel more capable of dealing with them now, now that I've discovered my ability to exert control over it. To be able to say that I'm in control of my food, and not the other way around, is something I've never really been able to claim in the past.

I owe a lot of all this to all of you wonderful people that have been reading and commenting. It gives me so much strength to know that the people who love me are with me in this. This is a battle I can't fight on my own, and reaching out has proved to be the most effective weight loss strategy I've ever come up with. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

On a lighter note, I had a lovely grilled zucchini and tomato salad for dinner today, thanks to Kalyn's Kitchen...

Otherwise, I was pretty ho-hum with food today. With all the studying and paper writing I did, I really didn't have time to spare for anything more. This week, actually, might be a little boring foodwise, as I didn't plan anything out (I have to eat up all my leftovers before going home for Thanksgiving!), but I'll try to make at least one thing a day that's picture-worthy. Makes the post look so much more interesting. :)

Here's food:

Breakfast

Kashi Heart-to-Heart - 160

Greek yogurt w/ blueberries - 140

Lunch

Chicken and provolone roll-ups - 223

Gala apple (SO delicious!) - 53

Dinner

Grilled zucchini Greek salad - 197

Snacks

Mini pepperoni - 52

1 tbsp peanut butter - 100

Sugar-free Jell-o (Banana Fudge, yum!) - 60

Total: 985

Day Eighteen

Ugh. The munchie feeling reared its ugly head today.

Not to disastrous results, thank goodness, but I wasn't as strict with portion control as I have been. It just scares me a little, because I've been doing so well, and I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I've failed so many times at trying to lose weight, and I'm afraid that my old mindset is lurking behind the corner, waiting to jump on me any minute. I'm probably overanalyzing things...we all have good days and bad days. I think this blog is going to be what holds me together and keeps me on target. I just have to be extra careful about paying attention to what goes into my mouth.

Part of it was due to the fact that Karlee made a batch of chocolate chip cookies today...and temptation is never fun when you're trying to eat healthy. I've been doing really well with it, mostly because even if she has junk food in the house, I don't touch it because, obviously, it's not mine. But when she bakes it's usually to share, which makes it that much harder to resist! But I did. Once the warm cookie smell faded it was much easier! I bought some fat free whipped cream today and stuck it in the freezer, so a bite of that assuaged my sweet tooth somewhat.

On the brighter side of things, I had some delicious food today! For breakfast was a spinach and artichoke frittata, found at Cara's Cravings. It was absolutely AMAZING. I'm serious, everyone needs to go make this right now. I can't even explain how good it is! I didn't have as much spinach as the recipe called for, but it turned out great anyway. Plus I love artichokes, so that was a huge plus! You add greek yogurt to the egg which gives it this wonderful creamy texture. So so good!

Dinner came from Kalyn's Kitchen, (Turkey) Italian Sausage with Tomato Sauce. This was so easy, and so tasty too! On the side I had Sweet Potato Frips from Eat Little, Eat Big. An odd combination, perhaps, but delicious all the same! I didn't get anything green in (for shame!) but I just didn't have it in me to make a third thing. Must have a salad tomorrow! Here's dinner:

Gosh I love sweet potatoes! 

I also need to work on a snack to bring to school with me on Tuesday/Thursday, when I don't get home until around 2:30. I looked at the energy/diet bars at Wal-mart today, but most were either high in sugar, fat, or calories. I need something that can't get smushed and doesn't need refrigeration. I suppose nuts are a good idea. Anybody have any others?

Here's today's food:

Breakfast

Slice of spinach & artichoke frittata (1/8) - approx. 135

Morning Star Veggie Sausage - 160

Lunch

Chicken and provolone roll-ups - 350

1/2 cup spinach souffle - 150

Dinner

Turkey Italian sausage w/ fire-roasted tomato & garlic sauce - 305

Sweet potato frips - 100

Snacks

Strawberries w/ fat free whipped cream - 80

Greek Yogurt w/ peaches - 140

Turkey snack bites - 100

6 almonds - 38

Total: 1458

See, I didn't do as badly as I thought I did. But I guess I just felt old habits creeping around. Constant vigilance!

Day Seventeen

So I got my first stuffy nose of the season! I blame it on going home this weekend, where we have to use the heat. Here at our little townhouse, we haven't had to turn ours on yet. For some reason, the cold doesn't get in as much. Which is good for us, because it definitely makes the electricity bill look a lot friendlier! Anyways, I'm hoping that if I run my humidifier for a couple of nights it will go away. I am NOT looking forward to cold season at ALL. Plus, I can't taste all the delicious things I've been making (if I do say so myself) if I'm all stuffed up. I know what my mother would say...drink lots of water! So I'll try that too.

We ate out again today, but I managed to do better than yesterday. We went to BBQ1 (best barbecue I've ever had, at least within Georgia state lines) and I stayed pretty healthy with chicken, green beans, and cole slaw. The cole slaw was probably pretty sugary, but, well, you can't win 'em all. In any case, I stayed within my calorie expectations. Which is always good!

Also, a shout out to Aunt Lindsey, who gave us the food processor I used for the first time today to make my chicken salad! It's so fun to have my own. I discovered that I can slice things and grate cheese with it too! It's like getting a new toy. I'll have to take pictures when I try out the slicer. Should be fun.

Breakfast
Spinach and goat cheese omelette (basically my favorite omelette of all time) - 116
2 slices Canadian bacon - 70

Lunch
Chopped chicken breast w/ bbq sauce - 280
Green beans - 54
Cole slaw - 85

Dinner
Chicken salad w/ salt, pepper, and 1 tbsp mayo - 261
Salad w/ spinach, olives, feta, and turkey pepperoni and olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing - 169

Snacks
1 tbsp peanut butter - 100
2 Greek yogurts - 280

Total: 1415

Thanks to everyone! I appreciate y'all!

Day Sixteen

Another great day! Mama Jean and I got up early to get to the mall so we could power walk before the crowds rolled in. We did 30 minutes of walking, and it was nice and heated inside! I also got some great new tennis shoes with good support, so I don't have to kill my feet trying to walk around the neighborhood. Thanks Mom!

I did all right with food until we went out to eat for lunch. We met Lindsey at Strip restaurant in Atlantic Station, and it was delicious, but once again I discovered that it's much harder to be healthy and limit calories when ordering off a menu. Our first mistake was ordering fried calamari...I didn't consider the fact that it would be fried until we got it. If I was a stronger person, I would have resisted it entirely, but alas, I was hungry, and I didn't. It's so much harder to resist when something is right in front of you!! I tried to go light on dinner to compensate, but I still went over 1700 calorie goal. Oh well. Back on track tomorrow. At least we got lots of walking done (we also walked around Ikea and Atlantic Station a bit) so that helps.

Today's food....

Breakfast
Spinach and goat cheese omelette - 116
Morningstar Veggie Sausage - 160
Coffee - 60

Lunch
Shrimp tempura/salmon sushi roll - approx 500 (and I though sushi was healthy!! It's all that white rice that does you in...)
1 cup edamame - 204
Mimosa - 80
Calamari appetizer - 175

Dinner
8 Leftover broiled shrimp - 64
1 cup red grapes - 104

Snacks
Weight watchers chocolate popsicle - 130
1/2 container Fage Greek yogurt (didn't realize it wasn't non-fat until I got through half of it...whoops!!!) -150

Total: 1743 (dang!!)

Day Fifteen

So I weighed in today and I'm two more pounds down! That's a total of five pounds! Right on track. Makes me feel so good to know what I'm doing is working!

I also got out and took a walk today! I came home and decided to do it before I did anything else...that always works best for me. I made three laps around the complex and it took me around 25 minutes. Hooray!

This will be a short post...I have a bad headache and the internet isn't working so well right now. But here's a picture of lunch:

Recipe courtesy Kalyn's Kitchen.

Anyways, here is food for today...

Breakfast
Multigrain Cheerios - 220

Lunch
Tomato and cucumber salad - 171

Dinner
Broiled shrimp - 100
Cauliflower "mashed potatoes" - 31
Spinach, tomato, feta, and olive salad - 147

Snacks
Turkey snack bites - 40
Weight watchers chocolate pop - 130

Total: 839

Day Fourteen

Wow! We're one day away from the two week mark, and the end of phase one! It feels like it's gone by so fast. And I'm still going strong! Everyone's encouragement has helped so much.

I also got some exercise today! I walked from biology back to my car like I've been meaning to do for two weeks now! I think I'm going to start doing it regularly now, because it's practically built in to my day. It only takes twenty minutes, so it's not as long as it could be, but there are plenty of hills and it gets my heart rate up. I do need to get some shoes with better support though, because I did it in flip flops today and my calves were not happy.

I pretty much skipped lunch today, which wasn't good. I don't get home from class until 2:30 on Tuesday/Thursdays, and once I got home today I was a little panicked about my Bio test next week, so I came home and got studying...pretty much until dinner! But then, of course, I was starving by dinner. I managed not to overeat, though. And then I made a delicious chicken breast (recipe here) which had been marinating since last night. I grilled it on our George Foreman and it turned out great! I'm going to have to start using the George Foreman more...I usually don't like plain chicken breast much, since it usually turns out dry, but this was so good and moist all grilled up! Here's a picture:

It was so juicy, I didn't even need to put sauce on it! YUM!

Here's everything else I ate today:

Breakfast

Breakfast cup: 160

Morningstar Veggie Sausage: 160

Coffee w/ creamer - 60

Lunch

Eh...nada

Dinner

Mustard, lemon, and coriander chicken breast - 220

Peas and carrots - 40

Snacks

1 tablespoon peanut butter - 100

1/4 cup cottage cheese - 58

Total: 798

Yikes...a little low. Gotta keep up with those meals!

Thanks everyone! And keep commenting, it helps so much!!

Day Thirteen

Another day, another dollar! It was a pretty good day today. I didn't cook as many fun things as yesterday, but I did make zucchini pizza (that's right, I ate zucchini!!) which was SOOO good!

Didn't get any exercise today...as you can probably tell, that's always my downfall. It rained all day today so I couldn't take a walk...I should have tried to dance it out or something. I really need to get a wii or something so I can play DDR at home! It's nice to have an indoor option besides just dancing like a fool to random music, especially when Karlee's home.

I suffered from a few temptations today, mostly from sweet stuff...I blame this on the fact that Karlee is keeping a jar of icing in the fridge and it's got my mind on sugar! But I stayed away from it. Peanut butter is my new sweet tooth soother, though I have to be really careful with it, since it's so high in fat and calories.

Anyways, zucchini pizza! I got the recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen again (I love her blog! She has sooo many great South Beach recipes!), and they turned out great, even though I left them under the broiler a bit too long (hence the rather blackened cheese)

But they still turned out sooooo good! I highly recommend them.

Here's food for the day - 

Breakfast

Multigrain Cheerios w/ skim milk — 150 (just realized today that I haven’t been including the milk! Oops!)

1 Egg cup — 160

Coffee w/ creamer - 60

Lunch

Zucchini pizzas — 200

Dinner

Spinach, goat cheese, and turkey pepperoni omelette — 190

2 Morning star veggie sausage — 160

Snacks

12 Almonds — 65

2 tablespoons peanut butter — 200

Sugar-free pudding — 60

10 olives — 50

1 Slim jim — 40 (finally finished them off! Don’t think I’ll be getting those anymore)

Greek yogurt w/ strawberries — 140

Total: 1475

Yeah, today was a little rough on snacking...I've got to pay more attention to the munchie feeling. I've been letting it get a little out of hand.

Day Twelve

So I just realized today how much I've left my exercise to the last minute! I'm thinking of counting exercise starting on Monday instead of Friday, because Friday really creeps up on you if you don't get any exercise done over the weekend! I took a 20 minute walk today, so that was good, but I need to get on the ball and stop putting it off! It's so easy to let the week get away from you.

By the way, isn't my new blog background the cutest? I got it and the last one from here, they have so many cute things. Anyways, here's what I cooked today...

Green Bean and Tomato Salad from Veggie Num Num

It was delicious! I added a bit of feta cheese, because I can't seem to have olives on salad without it!

Gus was very interested in it too...

So that was fun. Then for dinner, I had some incredible spicy broiled shrimp, once again from Kalyn's Kitchen...

SO yummy, but HOT! I used Weber cajun seasoning and I'll be sure to use less next time, because my mouth was on FIRE! But it was still delicious!

I'm really getting into this whole cooking healthy stuff thing. Before, my typical dinner consisted of macaroni and cheese, usually worsened by a dollop of sour cream, a chunk of butter, and real cheese (I justified it because they were all "light"). It feels so much better not only to be eating right, but to actually have some variety in my food! I was afraid I wouldn't have the energy to cook, but I actually get excited about it! It's so helpful to have it planned out beforehand, because I can get revved up about it before I have to make it. Yes, it's more expensive, and yes, it's much more trouble, but it feels so much better. Plus it's good practice for having to cook for more than just myself someday!

Also I've gotten addicted to these olives:

They are AMAZING. Seriously, I pop them like candy. They're mild but incredibly flavorful at the same time...I just love them. Both the black and green varieties are great. I actually have like three different types of olives in the fridge right now, but I always reach for these first.

So here's what I ate today...

Breakfast

2 Egg muffins - 320 (I love these! They kept me pretty full until I got home from class at 2:30!)

Lunch

Green bean & tomato salad - 254

Greek yogurt -140

Dinner

Spicy broiled shrimp -168 

Snacks

Greek Yogurt - 140 (Still addicted)

2 tablespoons peanut butter - 200

15 olives - 75 (I told you. Like candy.)

Turkey pepperoni - 70

1 glass skim milk - 86 (a must with peanut butter)

Total: 1453

Hope you're all doing well!

Day Eleven

We're just plugging along here aren't we? Things went very well today, especially considering the fact that I went to Wal-Mart starving and was more tempted than usual by all the sweets they're putting out for the holiday season. But I stayed strong and stuck to my list! I should know better than to go to the grocery store hungry...that's always a bad combination. But I made it through, and have all of my meals planned out until Friday!

I finally made the egg muffins I've been planning to make so I can have them for a quick breakfast on mornings I have class...they turned out well! Here are some pictures:

I used the rest of my container of egg beaters (I should have measured it out, but I spaced out) and 6 eggs, plus spinach, mushrooms, pepperoni, Asiago cheese, hot sauce, pepper, and a dash of Mrs. Dash.

I bought the silicone baking tray specifically for this purpose, and I'm so glad I did! It works great, and absolutely nothing sticks to it! Plus they're shaped like little flowers, so that's pretty awesome.

Otherwise, food was pretty uneventful today, as I didn't have any groceries in the house until lunch time, at which point I was so hungry that I just snacked haphazardly. Okay, not haphazardly, but without much planning. But I did do something new for dinner...warm scallop salad! I was inspired by this recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen, but ended up getting small frozen scallops instead of big fresh ones, so I improvised and kind of did my own thing. I had high hopes for it, but it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. The frozen scallops were not so tasty, at least not the way I prepared them (I just cooked them in a little olive oil). But it was okay...only now I have a whole bag of scallops I have to figure out what to do with. Anyone have any tips on cooking scallops? Anyways, here is the finished product:

Pretty though, right? My roommate thought the scallops were nuts at first, lol...

It was supposed to be a caesar salad, and I put caesar dressing and parmesan on it, but added the tomatoes and olives out of fear that I wouldn't like the scallops very much. Alas, my fears were confirmed.

So here's how eating went for the rest of the day:

Breakfast

Multigrain Cheerios -110 

Coffee w/ fat-free creamer - 60 (I haven't been including my morning coffee...oops! Must start doing that!!)

Lunch

Light mozzerella string cheese - 70

Turkey pepperoni - 100

1 egg muffin (I had to try one after I finished making them) - 160

Dinner

Salad w/ tomatoes, kalamata olives, tomatoes, scallops, and parmesan - 254

Non-fat Greek yogurt w/ honey - 140

Snacks

2 slim jims - 80

1 serving reduced fat peanut butter - 200 (DANG!!)

Total: 1174

It's really funny how my desire to snack has really decreased over the past few days. I've been pretty good about redirecting myself, or popping a piece of gum. I've got to be careful with the gum though...I've been reading that too much sugar-free gum can mess up your stomach. But in moderation it's a great tool to sastisfy my cravings for something sweet!

Once again, a big huge thank you too all of you wonderful people! Your comments are so encouraging and uplifting! Thanks for keeping me going!

Day Ten

Too exhausted to write a real post...I just finished my Shakespeare paper and I am totally drained. That was a total BEAST of a paper. But it's done now! I'll come back and post today's food sometime tomorrow but I just don't have it in me right now! All I can think about is jumping in the shower and snuggling under the covers and gettting some well-earned sleep.

Then we'll be on to week two! I didn't sit down and plot out my meals like I intended this weekend, so hopefully I'll have a chance to do that tomorrow. Got to get some fun recipes in so I can take pictures! Hooray!

Hope you guys are doing great. Love you!

Oh yeah, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

P.S. Apology to the Hesters! I totally meant to stop by and say hey today, but I got into panic mode about this paper and ended up getting up early to come back and finish it. Next time I'm up there, I promise to come visit! Hope you guys are doing well!

Day Nine

So it's going to be another brief entry. We are, once again, watching scary movies, and I'm enjoying my last night of freedom before I have to return to reality tomorrow and finish off my Shakespeare paper. We had another good day...making it a pretty GREAT weekend considering the way Ginny and I usually behave foodwise when we get together. Ginny's mom even ordered pizza, and we didn't touch it!

I also realized how easy it is to make a salad totally unhealthy. We went to Chick-fil-a and I got a salad for lunch, and got ranch & spicy dressing (as is my habit...the spicy is too hot on its own, so I mix it with the ranch) only to discover that each packet of dressing has 15g of fat!! So I've got to be reeeaaallly careful about that.

Anyways, food for today was:

Breakfast
Omelette w/ spinach, goat cheese, and pepperoni - 226
Morning Star veggie sausage - 160

Lunch
Chick-fil-a chargrilled chicken salad - 350

Dinner
Salad w/ tomatoes, feta, turkey pepperoni, olives, and olive/vinegar dressing - 288 (we got hooked on this salad over the weekend!)
Non-fat Greek yogurt - 140

Snacks
Brown cow jr  - 80

Total: 1544

Doing much better with snacking this weekend!

Day Eight

So it's officially been a week! And, of course, today was just about my worst day food-wise of the week. I mean, I didn't violate South Beach in any way, but I did go one calorie over my 1700. I blame it on going out to eat for lunch (we went to Panera), so the food was a little less healthy than it would have been had I made it at home. Also, I had some sneaky chicken salad Ginny brought from Harris Teeter that turned out to be like 300 calories per serving. Plus a coffee from Starbucks and I was done for. Lesson for today: making stuff at home gives you a lot more control over what you're eating!

But I did 30 minutes of DDR (Dance Dance Revolution - a video game where you exercise), probably my best workout of the week, fulfilling my goal of 4x per week! I think I'm going to try to make it five next week. Like I've said, I always feel better on the days I've exercised.

Anyways, it's going to be a short post today...Ginny and I are watching scary movies (No candy! Yay us!), so I'm going to get back to that. But here's the eating rundown for today...

Breakfast
Spinach and feta cheese omelette - 191
Morningstar veggie sausage - 160

Lunch
Salad w/ bbq chicken (half of half size) - approx 190
Creamy tomato soup - 300 (yikes...there's part of my downfall!)

Dinner
Salad w/ spinach, tomato, feta cheese, turkey pepperoni, olives and oil/vinegar dressing - approx 270
Chicken salad - 300 (another part of the downfall! I didn't realize how many calories it had until I looked it up...chicken salad is supposed to be healthy!)

Snacks
2 Snow cream stix - 90
Starbucks nonfat pumpkin spice latte - 200 (and the final part of the downfall equation...dang Starbucks!)

Total: 1701 (one calorie over? Really? REALLY?!)

Thanks again you guys! Your comments really keep me going. Love y'all!

Day Seven

Day Seven! It's been a pretty good day, especially because it's fall break! I'm up in Asheville w/ Ginny...we just had a groundbreaking grocery trip. Instead of going out to eat or ordering pizza, we went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of healthy stuff, then made salad for dinner. That's REAL progress for us! It felt great.

Also I weighed in this morning, since I knew I'd be up here and wouldn't have my scale with me for my official Friday weigh in and I lost...

drum roll please...

THREE POUNDS!!!

That's right! One week, three pounds! It's probably mostly water weight, but who cares, it's so great to see the scale move down! It's great to have confirmation that what I'm doing is working.

So we're going to try to keep the healthy thing up all weekend. Ginny and I are committed to do some exercise tomorrow, maybe go for a hike or something fun. That will make my fourth exercise day for the week!

This is what I ate today...

Breakfast
1 hard-boiled egg - 70
Multigrain Cheerios - 110

Lunch
20 almonds - 150
2 Slim Jims - 80
(I was in the car on the way up here so I brought snacky things)

Dinner
Salad w/ spinach, tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, and turkey pepperoni (w/ olive & vinegar dressing) - 258
2 slices of turkey - 50
2 slices of ham - 55
1 slice havarti cheese - 80
(Ginny brought home subs from work, so I ate the stuff in the middle)

Snacks
Snow cream pop - 50
10 Turkey pepperoni - 40
V8 juice - 30
Non-fat Greek Yogurt - 140

Total: 1113

So far so good! Lindsey, your gum suggestion has worked wonders...especially in the car today! I usually get extreme munchie feeling on car rides, but I just kept popping gum and I did fine without my usual fast food pit stop. So yay!

Love you all!  You guys are the BEST!

Day Six

Not really in the mood to write right now (been working on Shakespeare paper all afternoon) but I need to do it before I get too sleepy!

It was a pretty uneventful day. I know, great way to start, right? Let's see...I went to class. Came home. Messed around a bit. Buckled down and worked on Shakespeare paper. Realized it's 8:00 and I'd better start writing about day 6! I need make sure I do at least one exciting thing per day, just so I can have something to write about. :) We were supposed to go to the UGA campus ghost tour tonight, but it was cancelled because we're under a tornado watch. Alas! But Friday is our fall break and I'm headed up to Asheville for some vacay! So I'm trying to get as much done as I can before then. Wait...I think I've explained this already. Anyway...

Food was pretty unremarkable today too, although I did make a pretty tasty salad for lunch. Oooh here's something - I hard-boiled eggs for the first time today! Very exciting. I put them on the salad, and it was yummy.

It's weird, my appetite seems to have kind of petered out over the last couple of days. I mean, I get hungry, but food is not as big of a deal to me or something. Maybe the structure of South Beach helps me not think about it so much? I don't really expect it to last, but it's nice for now!

Okay, I have a confession to make. I'm going up to see Ginny this weekend, as you all know, and our annual tradition at Halloween is to grab one or two bags of candy and a few scary movies and indulge in some trick 'r treat nostalgia. I've been debating what to do about it all week, because I know it won't be as much fun without the candy, but I know it's not going to look good on the calorie count when I have to post it on here. I was thinking of a compromise...getting candy, but making healthier choices, grabbing something sugar or fat free and then dividing it into servings so I don't eat too much. After all, I'm not going to be on a diet forever, and I was thinking it would be a good way to help train myself not to overindulge. Is it bad to have a splurge day every now and then? I don't know. I'm kind of torn about it. I don't think it will throw me off track or anything, so long as I approach it in a thoughtful, intentional manner and then go right back to South Beach the next day. What do you guys think?

Anyway, here's what I ate today...

Breakfast
Multigrain Cheerios - 110
Non-fat Greek Yogurt w/ Blueberries - 140
(I know, same thing again...I'm waiting for my silicone baking cups to arrive so I can start making South Beach egg cups for weekday breakfasts)

Lunch:
Spinach, tomato, avocado, and egg salad w/ dressing - 290

Dinner
15 almonds - 94
Non-fat Greek Yogurt, Vanilla - 120
(I haven't really eaten dinner yet, so this is just what I've had so far)

Snacks
2 Slim Jims - 80
Cottage cheese - 180
Brown cow jr - 80

Total: 1094

Kind of low again. It's because I haven't planned dinner ahead. Must get better about that next week! My goal is to set aside some time this weekend to plan out all meals for next week. I know it will help me a lot.

No pictures today, sorry! My salad was pretty, but after I put the dressing on and mixed it up it looked kind of ugly. Next time!

You guys are incredible! Your support has made this sooooo much easier on me. Love you bunches!