Day 189

Dead dead dead tired. I've been working like a dog on website projects, as it's probably one of the few times I'll have a chance until finals are over, and for some reason it's totally drained me...probably all the staring at the computer. Once I finish posting I'm closing this puppy up for the night!

But despite my lack of energy, I did make a delicious, scrumptious, crispy-cheesy-moist-flavorful-yet-healthy dinner! Tonight it was Chicken Rollatini, not too difficult to make and the results were awesome. Take a look...

I know it looks really breaded, but most of it is actually grated parmesan cheese. And you can't really see, but it's stuffed with spinach and ricotta. So good! It was a nice, filling pick me up after a long and trying day (week, really!) Plus it used up my leftover ingredients from the chicken nuggets, so it was all around perfect.

So tomorrow is my very last class as an undergraduate! Then the fun of finals can begin!

Anyways, catch you guys tomorrow for the weigh-in. I'm feeling pretty positive about it!

Day 187

Whew. So it’s been a trying past few days. Not in the being healthy department...that’s going great! I even made a tasty dinner tonight:

But more on that in a minute. First, last Sunday was Easter, and holidays tend to be times when I struggle more with eating well. But even though I splurged a little with a twice baked potato and a few jellybeans, I did something really big...

I left my chocolate bunny behind.

That’s right, folks. Mom and Dad gave me a chocolate bunny in my Easter basket (yes we still get an Easter basket...you are never too old for an Easter basket), along with a little bag of mini Reese’s cups, jellybeans, a stuffed possum toy (don’t ask), and a pretty mug. It was sweet of them to put candy in mine, as they didn’t want me to be left out of the festivities, and so the decision was left to me about what to do with it.

I noticed an interesting, though slightly disturbing, behavior upon receiving my basket. I was possessive of it. It’s a difficult emotion to explain...I guess I was excited about having some candy, and was afraid that someone would say, “Oh, you’re dieting Campbell, let me eat that for you.” Not that I don’t mind sharing, but for some crazy, irrational reason I was worried that it was all going to get taken away. Even though the candy had been freely given to me, I was scheming about how to get it up to my room without anyone noticing. Although that was more due to the fact that I didn’t want anyone to see me eat it than the possibility that someone might take it away.

Then I noticed the way my sister handled her candy, immediately opening her bag of Reese’s and passing it around the table. It was no big deal. It was just a bag of chocolate, freely available at any gas station, grocery store, drug store, movie theater, you name it. I’m so glad this caught my attention, because it clued me in to how wrong my own behavior was.

Frankly, it was a little frightening that even after six months of habits-changing, my brain could immediately revert back to the old food-hoarding behavior. But it was also encouraging, in that I noticed the behavior and put a stop to it. In the past, I would have done whatever I needed to smuggle that candy out of the house and back to Athens with me. Which is silly, as I have a car and money and am free to go to the store and get candy whenever I want...but like I said: irrational.

I'm so cute...don't eat me!

This time, however, as I was packing up my things and preparing to stow away the chocolate bunny (happily, Daddy had finished off my Reese's cups for me at that point), I thought, What if I left it behind? The answer to that was, It wouldn’t really be that big of a deal. After all, I know what chocolate tastes like. And because I was having somewhat troubling behaviors towards this particular chocolate, I felt that it was especially important that I just walk away.

So I did. And it was way easier than I thought it would be. I never even missed it! It was so much more rewarding to have control over that behavior and ignore the urge to sneak the bunny. So that was a huge win for this weekend! Headline: Campbell Triumphs Over Chocolate Rodent!

In other news, I made a SCRUMPTIOUS dinner tonight, and it was so super simple I couldn’t believe it. The recipe is Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets from Skinny Taste, one of the new blogs I've found. It was absolutely to die for. Crispy and moist with incredible flavor, thanks to the parmesan cheese and Italian style panko bread crumbs. Despite the fact that they are technically breaded, these nuggets are surprisingly low in carbs and fat, especially because there are no eggs involved in the breading process. That was seriously the best dinner I've had in a long time!

Beats Chick-fil-a hands down!

It made my night, as I've been pretty drained between end of the semester school stuff and lack of sleep (owing, I'm quite sure, to my lack of exercise. I've got to get back on track with that!). Hopefully I can get to bed early tonight and recharge. The nice thing is that I have all week next week to get all of my projects done, so I can take it somewhat slow. 17 more days and I'm a college graduate!

Almost forgot! Here's the calorie count:

Breakfast

Low-fat nutrigrain waffles — 140

1 tbsp honey — 64

¾ cup Puffins cereal — 101

Skim milk — 43

Coffee w/ cream — 60

Lunch

Apple slices w/ reduced fat peanut butter — 222

Dinner

Baked chicken nuggets — 230

1 tbsp blue cheese dressing — 65

Green beans  — 26

Snacks

Sugar-free Jell-o pudding — 60

Total: 1011

Day 183

We've hit our six month mark! Can you guys believe it? I've kept up with this thing for a whole six months. Wow. I have to say, I never thought it would happen.

But it has! And what's more, weigh-in today went great...another 2.8lbs off! That puts me a tiny 2.3 pounds away from the 100's! I seriously did a little dance this morning when I got off the scale. I really think it's been helping me to track my calories. I must have been going over more than I realized, because the weight has been coming off a lot more easily lately. Which is surprising, as I haven't been able to exercise as much as I like. Although I did get some dancing in today while I was cleaning up my room today. I hoping I can get this foot in a shoe very soon!

So I'm in the ATL for the weekend and Easter. No Peeps for me this year! Don't really like them anyway, lol. :) I might not check in again until Monday, so I hope everyone has a great weekend! Here's today's calorie count:

Breakfast
Egg McMuffin - 300

Lunch
Sigh...skipped again.

Dinner
Delicious quiche compliments of Mom - 400
Side salad w/ spring mix, goat cheese, tomatoes, avocados, craisins - 120

Snacks
12 chocolate chips - 45

Total: 820

Didn't do as well with eating my calories today...I jumped in the car to head home right around lunch, and then when I got here I shot off to the mall to meet Mom and Linz to do a little window shopping. As  I always say...got to get better about eating lunch!

Day 181

This post isn't going to be nearly as exciting as the last one, but I had to come check in! Things have gone well the past couple of days, although I somehow developed allergies (or something) last night and have been suffering from sore throat/post nasal drip which is no fun. But the toe is on the mend, which is good news! I can walk on it pretty well barefoot, though it's still not too happy about being put into a regular shoe. It's a bummer, because I'm pretty sick of the "ortho" shoe, which hurts other parts of my foot. And I'm ready to get out walking before it starts getting all yucky and hot!

I have no exciting food to share, as I haven't been grocery shopping and have been surviving off burger leftovers. Luckily I have fresh stuff like avocados and tomatos in the house, but that's about it. I figure since I'm going home this weekend, I'll just make what I have last until next week. I can tell you I will NOT be buying ground beef on the next grocery trip, that's for sure!

Anyways, here's today's calorie count. I did much better at eating enough calories today!


Breakfast
Nutrigrain Low-fat Waffles — 140
Veggie sausage links — 120
1 tbsp honey — 96
Smart balance — 31
Coffee w/ fat free cream — 50

Lunch
Banana — 80
Chobani Nonfat Yogurt (Strawberry) — 120

Dinner
Burger w/ tomatoes, pepper jack, ½ avocado, mayo — 460
(can you tell all I have in the house is ground beef?)

Snacks
1 tbsp peanut butter — 100
Skim milk — 86

Total: 1283

Day 179

Oops, I just realized I never posted on Thursday! I even had pictures! Oh well, guess I'll just include it today. I improvised a very delicious burger "salad" Thursday night (the leftovers from which I had tonight!) with lean ground beef, spring mix, tomatoes, avocado, pan-fried shallots, and goat cheese. Yum!!

Isn't it loverly? So nice I had it twice! I'm telling you, I do NOT miss buns when I can eat burgers like this. So very, very tasty!

Also, I weighed in on Friday, and Wednesday's weight turned out not to be a fluke...I'm at 205!! That puts me 35 lbs down, half way to my first goal!! An exciting landmark, so I had to take pictures to document my progress. Here are the results: 

click for larger

Crazy how there's not much difference between 240 and 220, but 15 pounds more and you can really tell a difference! So exciting to see that! When I first looked at these, my initial thought was, "Oh my gosh, I look like a person again!" I know, I know...I've been a person the whole time, lol. But for once I don't hate the way I look. Of course, it always helps to stand next to a couple of chubbier gals. :) 

My most wonderful and awesome Mom took me shopping this weekend, and I'm officially down a pant and shirt size as well...the pants in the above picture are size 16 (down from 18! yay!) and the shirt is a large. SO nice not to see an X on the tag!!

This Friday will mark my six month point. I can't believe I've been at this for a full six months. Amazing! You guys have helped me so much...don't know what I'd do without y'all!

Here's the calorie count for the day: 

Breakfast

Puffins w/ skim milk — 228

Coffee w/ fat-free creamer — 60

Lunch

Gala apple w/ peanut butter — 275

Dinner

Burger salad again! — 387

Snacks

Sugar-free pudding — 60

Total: 1,010

I'm getting better about eating enough calories. Still need to eat better lunches though! And more green things. Always more green things.

Day 174

So I got some crazy news on the scale this evening...of course, it's not my usual weigh-in, so I can't really trust the numbers, but I jumped on just for the heck of it and was down to 205.6! This came as a shock, because I weighed on Monday to find myself at an abysmal 210, which I blamed on a week that started with chocolate and ended with cupcakes (though none of that bad stuff in between, thank goodness!). But somehow, between Monday and today, I dropped 5lbs. Water weight, I'm hoping? Maybe I didn't do as much damage as I thought!

Part of it might be due to the fact that my appetite sort of fled today, so I weighed on a mostly empty stomach. Don't know what happened...I had a pretty hearty omelet for breakfast, but after that I got wrapped up in finishing projects and didn't get hungry until tonight at 8, at which point I had a Slim Jim and a grapefruit. Seriously, I had no intention of eating so little today, but I got in the zone and kind of forgot to eat. Trust me, that doesn't happen to me very often! But I'm due for a trip to the grocery, so we'll get back on food planning tomorrow.

Here's the meager calorie count:

Breakfast
Omelet w/ pepper jack, goat cheese, calabrese salame, and avocado - 365

Lunch
Eek! Nada.

Dinner
Grapefruit w/ Splenda - 76
Slim Jim - 40

Total: 481

Yikes!! I'm going to go have something light before bed or I'm going to wake up starving!

Day 173

So I'm exhausted and don't have much to report, but I had to check in before I went to bed to post calories and such! The day went well, though my walk to class confirmed to me that I won't be walking for fitness anytime soon. It's crazy how one little pinky toe can mess up the way the whole body moves. Didn't get around to any real exercise today, alas. So that's way up on the to do list for tomorrow! Food wasn't very creative today either...I just couldn't face putting my gimp boot back on to hobble around the grocery store. :) I'm gathering recipes, though, so I should have some good stuff to post later this week!

Here's the calorie count:

Breakfast
Low-fat Nutrigrain Waffles - 140
Veggie sausage links - 120
Agave nectar - 90
Coffee w/ cream - 70

Lunch (it was a weird one!)
2 Slim Jims - 80
Pineapple Greek Yogurt - 160
Veggie stir-fry (cooked in olive oil) - 100

Dinner
Avocado and goat cheese omelet - 230
Veggie sausage links - 120

Snacks
Skinny cow bar - 110

Total: 1240

Did much better with eating the calories today! This is really making me see how beneficial it is to keep track of what I'm eating. I have a feeling that the reason my weight loss slowed down over the past month or so was because I was eating more than I realized. Keeping track really helps!

Day 172 Calorie Count

Here I am, staying on track!

Breakfast
Egg McMuffin - 300
Coffee w/ cream - 70

Lunch
Slim Jim - 40
1 tbsp Peanut Butter - 120

Dinner
Salad w/ avocado, tomatoes, spinach, low-fat bacon, and blue cheese dressing - 270

Snacks
Skinny Cow Bar - 110

Total: 916

Would have been more, as I had planned to have a lean burger for dinner, but the meat smelled funny so I passed. :) Had a yummy salad instead! Puts me a little low on calories, but I'll plan better tomorrow.

Day 172

All right everyone. It's time to get SERIOUS.

Just as last weekend was a bit of a fail, this past week wasn't the greatest either. I did okay with food, but there was some drama with refilling my ADD pills (thankfully, I have them in hand now) so I ended up spending most of the week combatting extreme munchie feeling. On top of that, I only exercised twice, and just had a rough go of it in general.

So we're getting down to business. Especially because I had a spaz moment yesterday and ran into the door, breaking my baby toe and effectively removing my ability to take walks for at least three or four weeks. That means I have to be really, really careful about eating. I'm going back to tracking calories...my current intake goal is 1350/day...and I'm going to rein in the eating big time. I should be able to do some floor exercises, but cardio is going to be difficult for a little while. But I'll find a way!

I'm getting closer and closer to the 6 month mark, and I want to be going strong when I hit it! I'm also getting so close to the 100's, and I just can't blow it now. So we're reorganizing a bit.

I'm getting back up on that horse and I'm riding, baby!

Made some tasty, tasty shrimp last Thursday, as you can see here:

Here's the link to the recipe: Sesame Shrimp with Honey Mustard Sauce. It's from Steamy Kitchen, one of the new blogs I've found recently. It turned out great! It's pan-fried, so it's not exactly the healthiest thing...one of those recipes I'm going to have to avoid in the coming weeks. But it was a nice treat. Very crunchy and flavorful!

Oh, and we're also nixing this once-a-week blogging habit I've gotten into. I'm going to aim for at least 4 a week, if not more. Everyday would be ideal, but it's the end of the semester and I know better. I'm hoping my new Twitter option will help me stay in touch on the days I don't blog.

Thanks to everyone for all your great support. Keep on keeping on! Love you, awesome people!

Day 166

So I finally dragged my lazy butt over here to post! I don't know what's been up with me the last couple of days...I haven't been as motivated for some reason. I fell of the wagon a little this weekend and made a dessert. I don't know why I did it. Part of it was because I was home alone (Karlee went home for the weekend) and bored, I guess, and I hadn't had my pills so I was especially powerless against the munchies. But I wasn't sad or otherwise emotionally compromised...my dad was in Athens and we had just had a nice visit.

Going back and analyzing everything, I think a lot of why I caved to the need for chocolate was because I just got wrapped up in the "It's the weekend, I've got the place to myself, I don't have homework, so I'm just going to hang out in my PJs and play computer games and enjoy our weekend sample of Starz" thing. I also think that maybe I was a little lonely, having spent the past few weekends with friends and the fam...so maybe it was a little shock to my system to be left on my lonesome with Gus.

Whatever the reason, I decided I wanted chocolate, and I had a deadly combination of ingredients in my pantry: flour, eggs, sugar, butter, and cocoa. All you need for a wickedly delicious fudge-y pie/cake.

The good news is that I halved the recipe. Then, upon regaining my senses a little bit, I served myself a sensibly sized slice and dumped the rest in the trash before I had the chance to eat it. So that, at least, was a triumph.

I guess it just goes to show that one is never cured of food addiction. Luckily, I didn't "get drunk"or go on a binge. I think I've definitely learned how to have more control over my eating. But it still felt pretty bad, after I had done it, like I had committed a major diet crime.

So I had to talk myself through it and reassure myself that I had merely stumbled, not fallen. One slice of chocolate pie/cake was not going to ruin me! The important thing was that I threw it away and snapped back to good habits the next day.

I didn't want to talk about it on the blog, though. But I knew from the get-go that it was important that I share my boo-boo with everyone rather than pretend it didn't happen. Posting about it has made me realize that, in the grand scheme of things, one bad weekend will not ruin me. Bad days will come. As long as I can let those bad days go and move on with getting healthy, we're good! But I'm glad I'm putting it out there, instead of letting it simmer on my conscience for the next two weeks. The shame and the sneaky mindset I often have towards eating is what fuels a lot of my problems, so I'm determined to nix it!

So I got back on track today by getting out for my walk. It was a beautiful, if a little chilly, day, and I savored it, knowing that it will probably be the last day below 80 until October. I also cooked yesterday and today, and made some super yummy meals! I've enjoyed recipes from Steamy Kitchen for the past couple of days. Monday I made Chicken Sausage with Apple Slaw, which was great! I bought Trader Joe's Andouille chicken sausage, which was spicy and delicious. Here's a picture:

Then tonight I made Chicken Caprese, with a simple greens and avocado salad on the side. Yum!

We're getting back on track. One step at a time. I weighed in last Friday and was only down .2 pounds, and I'm not hopeful for this Friday, considering that this week will mainly be damage control. But I'll get it together! Forward ho!

BTW, does anyone on here use Twitter? It's something I've been meaning to figure out for a long time, and I thought it might be a useful supplement to the blog. Thoughts?