Day 242

So I'm finally hauling myself over here to catch up with everyone! My last post was more of a "I promise I'm still alive" than an actual post, so I'm here for a long overdue real post.

Things have been going pretty well, especially considering I've been taking a vacation from my pills and thus have had more appetite than usual. I had a few days where I definitely overate, and had to rein things back in big time. But I got back to counting calories towards the end of last week, so that's been helping a lot.

Alas, as a result of my slacking in the eating department, my weight has kind of plateaued at 196. But I'm determined to go down another 20lbs by the time Lindsey and I leave for London at the end of August, so I've got to get serious! I'm going to have the house to myself next week - Mom is in Arizona until the end of June and Dad is going to visit her for a week starting tomorrow, so I'm going to have to be extra on top of it with my eating.

Exercise has been pretty hard, too. Daycare wears me out, which is part of it, but the other problem is that because my hours are always different, it's very hard to get myself into a routine. Maybe I'll start taking walks in the evening, as the weather usually gets pretty bearable after the sun starts going down. The toe should be ready to go back into a shoe (again) very soon, so hopefully I can make that happen.

It's a little scary being off my pills, as those feelings of being out of control of my eating have been coming back with a vengeance. But counting calories has really helped my feel like I have power over it. It's definitely a whole different thing without chemical assistance, and something I need to get used to and overcome. So I think this is good for me.

And now for the food pictures! I had a preview in my last post, though it wasn't the best quality. These might be a little better, though they were all taken with my phone. We had the following one night last week...

Sauteed Asparagus with Gorgonzola (SOOO yummy!)

Creamy Cauliflower Purée (aka Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes...also so so yummy!)

Roasted Red Snapper Fillet (also incredibly yummy!)

Yep, that whole dinner was a total win! Everything in it was so good...I wish I could make it every night!

Another night last week we had something else pretty tasty...

Coconut Chicken Salad with Warm Honey Vinaigrette

I love SkinnyTaste! This was also perfectly delicious. I LOVE coconut so this was perfect for me! Will definitely make it again.

So I'm on my own next week, but I plan to get busy and do some cooking. And exercise. Lord knows my room and bathroom could use a good scrub down! Luckily I'm working mostly afternoons this week at the daycare, which will give me some extra time to get things organized. Gotta keep on keepin' on! Wish me luck!

Day 229

For shame! I have been the absolute worst at blogging lately. As if you couldn't tell that already. Wow, I knew it was going to be hard to stay in a routine, but I hadn't thought it would be this hard! I think working at the daycare throws me off...my schedule is different everyday and it's hard to be consistent about things. But that's no excuse! I absolutely cannot let this blog fall by the wayside!

The trouble often is that when I work full days at the daycare, I come home totally obliterated...not sure if it's the heat, or the kids, or getting up early, but I come home and am ready to just chill. Got to get myself revved up! Especially to exercise. I've been doing some dancing to get moving, but haven't gotten organized to do any solid 30 minute workouts. This week has been a good one so far, though. I've only been working three hours in the afternoons, which has given me some time in the mornings to focus on other things.

For example, I've finally gotten some recipes organized for dinners, and actually cooked on Monday! I made Super Veggie Beef Burgers from Sarah's Cucina Bella and low-fat baked onion rings from Skinny Taste and both were delicious! I made them for my Dad and me (I actually got to cook for two for once!) and he approved heartily. Everything was so flipping good! It was a great summer meal. It could have used something green, of course, but it was a fun treat. Take a look:

I took the picture on my phone, so it's not the best quality, but I was too lazy to rummage through my messy room for my good camera. :) Doesn't that look tasty, though? The bean sprouts just made it. Love bean sprouts. And the sandwich thins were way better than big old buns. SO yummy. I never want a real hamburger again!

So tonight red snapper is on the menu. That's right, fish! Lindsey's coming over for dinner so I thought I'd whip up something special. I think we're going to have asparagus and cauliflower mashies with it. Sounds delish, don't it?

Love you all! Thanks Aunt Jane for getting me back over here for a post! You're so awesome! I promise to post about the fish tonight or first thing tomorrow!

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 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?

Day 159

So wow, total blogging FAIL this past week. I feel like a lot of my entries have been prefaced in a similar fashion lately. Ah well, what can you do? School gets in the way. Last week I had this massive video project to do for my Writing for the Web class. Of course, I didn't get nearly as much done over Spring Break as I could have, so I was stuck staying up every night last week until 12:30 or 1 to get it done. I guess I should be grateful I didn't have to pull any all-nighters! But I finished it in the end. Sadly, I did so at the expense of keeping up with the blog. But we're going to try and make up for lost time this week!

Anyways, things have been going very well since I last posted. I spent the weekend in Asheville with Ginny and we were uncharacteristically healthy the whole time. No candy or junk food in sight. It's really great that we can encourage and support each other in our getting-healthy endeavors, rather than sabotage each other by going straight for the junk as soon as we get together. We did, however, discover a wild turkey in Ginny's backyard, which was a surprisingly good flyer despite its gigantic size.

Despite my crazy busy week, I did make the time to do a little cooking. I made two really delicious things, the first being Susie Bee's Alternative to Plain Burgers, which turned out incredible. I found this amazing Masala Tandoori naan at Trader Joe's which was my carbohydrate splurge for the week, and used it in place of a bun. With that juicy burger and the simple yet delicious sauce, this burger was full of WIN. See for yourself:

I mean, yum, right?

I also made a Chevre Souffle from French Kitchen in America, which I ate for breakfast one morning. More amazing deliciousness! It was nice to have something besides cereal, and the creamy goat cheese and spices made this such a tasty meal. I definitely recommend it.

I also made Kalyn's Greek Meatballs, but accidentally overcooked them so they weren't pretty enough for a picture. I'm definitely going to have to try them again sometime, because they were full of promise! All the spices were great...I just got all wrapped up in my project and didn't keep a proper eye on them. Oh well.

I almost forgot! Weigh-in on Friday went great...down another 1.2 pounds! I took my walk today, which felt great. I'm probably going to be stuck with indoor exercise the rest of the week, since it's supposed to rain pretty much straight through until Friday, so I'm glad I was able to get out today!

Things at school should be relatively calm this week, so hopefully I'll be able to do more cooking. I haven't been to the grocery yet, and I'm trying to be pretty conservative with my money for the rest of the month, but hopefully I can come up with some interesting and tasty recipes to try!

Love you SO much, all of my wonderful cheerleaders! Y'all is da bomb!

Day 131

Whew. Don't know what happened to me today, but I really hit a wall with my energy levels. I got home from class and just didn't want to do anything, didn't want to exercise, do homework, read, watch TV, go to the grocery store...I was just wiped out. Not sure why. I'm hoping I can scramble everything together tomorrow...maybe I just need a good night's sleep. But it was a pretty lethargic day because of that.

I did scrape together enough energy to make dinner tonight: Salmon Cakes!

I over-salted them, so they weren't as good as they could have been. But I made a really tasty improv sauce w/ greek yogurt, light sour cream, Spike seasoning, horseradish, salt, pepper, and a touch of olive oil. It turned out great!

I also just wanted to comment about how wonderful sugar-free gum is for sugar cravings. I was all in the mood for sugar, but as soon as I popped some gum I was good to go!

So here's hoping I get a boost of energy tomorrow! Thanks to everyone for keeping me going!

Day 126

Hey all! Sorry I missed you guys yesterday. I was preparing for an in-class essay today, so blogging ended up falling by the wayside. But things are going well! I completed my fourth day of exercise today, and I've pretty much decided that exercising only four times a week isn't enough. So we're going to try and up it to five for next week! I'm also going to stick with the ab exercises, if not every day, then at least five times a week. If I can get four hours of exercise in a week, instead of the two that I've been doing, I think it will help me a lot.

Today for lunch I made a tasty smoothie:

Once again, Gus was very interested. Don't worry, I didn't let him lick it! I followed Susie Bee's Blueberry Banana Smoothie again, but this time added frozen organic strawberries and a splash of orange juice with the banana instead of blueberries. I actually got the flax seeds this time too(actually, they were milled flax seeds, so it was already all ground up for me!).

I also made an AMAZING avocado sauce to go with my leftover steak from this recipe. It was so freaking good! I've pretty much decided that avocados are my new favorite food. I'll just sit there and eat them out of the skin if you let me! Unfortunately, they're pretty high in fat, so I have to limit myself. 

I have pictures of dinner but once again my camera connector is acting up. I'm going home this weekend, so I'll be able to pick up my other connector and hopefully we won't have this problem anymore! At least I got the smoothie pictures to load. 

So we're revving up for weigh-in tomorrow! I'm feeling pretty hopeful about it. My abs definitely got more work this week than ever before!

Day 124

Pretty decent day today! I think that, even though I haven't felt the hugest difference in my clothes, I'm really starting to feel the effects of weighing less in other ways. I don't know how to describe it, but I just have more oomph. I feel strong and determined and ready to persevere! As I creep closer to turning that first digit on the scale from a 2 to a 1, I find myself feeling healthier, happier, and more optimistic with every day that passes.

For example, I did 30 minutes of ab workout today, and instead of skipping the parts that were hard, I actually pushed myself and tried to keep up with everything they did in the video. From that, I discovered that I'm actually a lot stronger than I think I am. I can do planks, though when I saw them for the first time I figured I wouldn't be able to do them. I can also do most of the lying-down ab exercises they do in the video...there's just one or two that I can't keep up with. So that was fun to discover! I'm sure I'll be sore all over in the morning, but it will be totally worth it.

For dinner tonight I kept with my international theme and made some tasty yet healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken:

The sauce wasn't as gummy and syrupy as the stuff you get in the restaurant, and of course, the chicken wasn't breaded and fried. It was really very good, and filling too! I think next time I might add some more vegetables, maybe edamame or something. The snow peas were good, but I'm not the biggeset fan of sweet peppers. Note: don't panic...that's not a tiny octopus in there - it's the bottom of a scallion! 

So I made it through another day! Still feeling good. You guys are awesome! Thanks for sticking with me!

Day 123

So we're back to Monday! It was a very good day today. I had my 30 minute walk out in this beautiful, prematurely warm weather and actually felt pretty energetic the whole way through. Usually, by my last lap, I'm starting to flag a little, but today I was all charged up for some reason! I wasn't as as winded as usual, which was nice. Hooray for getting into shape!

I meant to do my ab workout too, but as is bound to happen when you put something off long enough, it ended up falling by the wayside. I'm determined to do it tomorrow, though! It's so easy to do, just turn it on and get moving, but I do have to actually make myself do it, or it won't happen.

Also, I made it through my first week with no soda! It actually wasn't that bad at all. It's been warm, which is usually when I get in the mood to drink water anyway, so that helped. I satisfied the need for fizz with the sparkling water and made it through no problem. This week I got some Propel Zero to get me through, so we'll see how I like that.

I actually had pictures of the delicious steak salad I made tonight, inspired by this recipe, yet pretty extensively modified. But my dumb camera connector is giving me fits and I can't get my memory card to load up. Ugh. I think something is up with the USB ports on my laptop. Not cool, Apple. Not cool. I'll try to get a picture up later if I can get it to load. Let me just say that the salad was awesome! It was just spring mix, diced tomatoes, sliced flat iron steak, and some crunchy shallot rings. The dressing was great too: just olive oil, coarse mustard, and red wine vinegar. Yum!

Okay, the connector decided to work! Here's the picture...

Not the most beautiful salad ever, but it sure was tasty! Most of my greens were 'bout ta turn, so I had to pick the good leaves out one by one, which is why it looks a little lacking in the green department. Still good though!

By the way, does anyone know where I might be able to find rutabagas? It was a no-go at Trader Joe's and Wal-mart.

Day 120

So wow, folks. It's been about four months since I started this. Four months. One third of a whole year! Frankly, it's still a little unbelievable to me that I've kept this going for this long. Sure, I've had my ups and downs. Over Christmas, I just about put things on hold. But the fact that I came back full force after Christmas is a sign that something about me has changed. Usually once I let things go, it's hard for me to pick them back up again. Not so in this case. It's like something in my brain just clicked into place!

I've been consistently exercising four times a week since I got back to school (and before I left, too). It might not seem like much to most people, but for me, who led an almost completely sedentary lifestyle prior to October 22, 2010, it is a HUGE accomplishment. I have never been an exerciser. Let alone a regular exerciser.

Now, I feel confident enough to say that I am. Whoa.

I've also gone four months without french fries, cheeseburgers, or candy. Four months. And while I've had my moments of cravings, I haven't given in to them. And honestly, I really don't miss it. Because I feel so much better without it.

I've also gone four months without binging or sneaking food. Four months. I don't know exactly what has adjusted emotionally to stop me from binging, because I haven't even felt tempted to. Not even when I'm stressed or feeling down. Crazy stuff, guys. Crazy.

Now that I've italicized about half of all that, we can move on. I just had to step back and revel in it for a minute.

In other news, I weighed in this morning, and lost another .6 pounds! That officially puts me down 27 pounds total. I've noticed that my weight loss seems to have slowed down lately, but I've been keeping under my calorie goals and have been exercising, so I'm not sure what's causing it. I think maybe I'm actually digging into the tough poundage now. But I feel great, and that's what matters!

As I mentioned in my last post, not only did I walk today but did 15 minutes of my ab workout video! I'm going to try to start doing 15-20 minutes of the ab stuff every day, on top of 30 minute walks four times a week (I'd like up it to five, so we'll see how that goes). That way, I'll be getting cardio and some tummy work done, and I'll be able to double my weekly exercise time. I don't know if I'll manage abs tomorrow though, as I'm really hurting after doing it two days in a row. I might just try decreasing the time. But the video really gets those abs working! Ouch!

Man, I sure seem to have a lot to say today. But let me get to the most important part: dinner! Dinner tonight was a total win!!

I actually used a recipe I saw on Food Network from Aarti Sequeira, Pea-lafels. They're basically falafels, but with peas and edamame instead of chickpeas. I know, I'm going all international this week, aren't I?

Doesn't that look delicious? After a week of pretty ho-hum meals (with the exception of that Roti Chicken, of course), this was a great way to end up. It was like a cheeseburger for a girl who's trying to be healthy. The bread is whole wheat pita, the sauce is nonfat Greek yogurt with fresh mint (which I ended up adding dill and lemon to, to make it a little more like tzatziki sauce), and the pea-lafels, while pan-fried, are full of really good (and by good, I mean healthy) stuff. So tasty, and I truly got the same satisfaction out of it as I would have with a big ol' burger! Seriously, y'all have got to try this. It's relatively easy to do, and so good. I think next time I'll add some greens and tomatoes in there...the recipe didn't call for it, but I think it would be pretty good.

I think for next week, I'm going to have to limit myself to making only 3 or 4 meals instead of 5 or 6, because right now, the fridge is jam-packed with leftovers. I have got to remember to half my recipes! So I should be very well fed this weekend.

Okay, I'll shut up now. Happy weekend everyone! Love all y'all!

Day 119

So I'm going to keep this short and sweet...once again I've left posting till the last minute, and I still have to read the Homeric Hymn to Demeter before bed.

Today for exercise, instead of my walk, I did 30 minutes of a Crunch Fitness Ab workout video. I feel like I haven't really lost much from my midsection, as my pants still fit the same, so I'm going to try focusing my exercise on that area a couple of times per week. Hopefully that will get the waistline a-shrinkin'!

For dinner I had Avocado, Tomato, and Edamame salad from, you guessed it, Kalyn's Kitchen!

Isn't that pretty? I love the colors. It was a nice, light, refreshing meal, and WAY easier than what I made last night! I've also decided that avocados are officially my new favorite food. Seriously, I can just sit there and eat it right out of the skin. So yummy!

So I'm signing off now. Weigh-in tomorrow...let's hope it's more good news! 

Day 118

Lemme just talk to you guys about the EPIC dinner I made tonight. Seriously, my back is aching from standing up for so long in the kitchen. I started this meal exactly at 5:00 this evening and didn't sit down to eat until 7:45! And I was working almost the entire time. It was a rather labor-intensive meal, which I didn't really anticipate.

I had to make mashed potatoes and dough for the roti, then chop up chicken, onions, garlic, peppers, green beans, you name it. And of course, as with anytime I elect to make a challenging meal, I had to endure several giant fails along the way.

First I decided to make the mashed potatoes with my hand blender, which quickly and efficiently rendered them into glue. GLUE, I tell you. No matter how much I banged the spoon on the bowl, the potatoes would NOT come off. It took me several minutes to clean all the potato off the hand blender. Two words on that one: never again! When in doubt, use the food processor!

So then, even though I thought I had followed the the roti dough recipe perfectly, it was really dry and crumbly and I couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong, so I kept adding water and oil until it came together. I just rechecked the recipe now to find out I only added 2 tbsp of water to begin with, entirely missing the part where it said one 1/2 cup PLUS 2 tbsp. Sigh. Now I see the problem. Luckily, the roti turned out okay, but it was a little thick. Kind of like biscuits. I'll have to try again another time.

Happily, the chicken turned out perfectly...tender and flavorful and all that jazz. There were supposed to be potatoes in the chicken/green bean blend as well, but I chose to leave them out since I used mashed potatoes in the bread. Didn't want to overpotato!

Sadly, by the time I actually sat down to eat it, I was so exhausted I couldn't really appreciate it very much. It was a good meal, but not worth all that trouble! I do want to try making more Indian food soon though...I absolutely love all those awesome spices and flavors. But this was definitely not a weeknight meal. Thankfully I did all my homework before I started. There's no way I would have been happy about sitting down to do it now!

Phew. So anyways, here is what I made: Roti Chicken from Kayotic Kitchen

Doesn't really look like much, does it? Not enough to merit almost 3 hours of prep and cooking! Sigh. I've got to work on my speed.

But I did get my walk in today and got through Day #3 of no soda! It hasn't been bad so far. I actually like the sparkling water. I think I'm going to try to make some iced tea one of these days too.

All right. I'm pooped. Good night all! Peace and blessins!

Day 117

So I didn't have my best day today...I know, way to start out on a high note, right? Eating was fine, but I skipped my walk, which I can't exactly call a good choice. I blame it on the fact that I didn't take those ever-important ADD pills this morning. My supply ran out and I didn't get it refilled until this afternoon. They really help give me the extra boost to get out and get going, and without it, it was just too easy to let myself slide. It's not a great excuse, I know...I need to be able to get out and exercise with or without extra chemicals making my brain work correctly. But that's always easier said than done.

But you can be sure I'll be poppin' those pills tomorrow, so I should be able to get moving to make up for today!

I made Spicy Pinto Bean and Tuna Salad from Kalyn's Kitchen for dinner today...

It was good, but not spectacular. I think the reason it left a little something to be desired was because my pinto beans were a little hard...maybe I'll heat them up first next time? Also, I started cutting into the cherry tomatoes I bought at Wal-Mart yesterday to find almost all of them yucky and brown inside! This is just one of many times Wal-Mart produce has failed me recently, and I'm resolved never to buy fresh fruit or veggies from them again. Anyways, I managed to pull out four or five good tomatoes from the lot, but the salad was supposed to have more.

Still, the dressing was really tasty, and the flavor of the salad as a whole was great! I ended up sprinkling some goat cheese over it (after I took the picture), which added a little extra yum.

So here's to a better day tomorrow! I weighed again this morning, and was the same as last night, so I don't think it was just a fluke. Hooray! Hopefully things will continue in this vein!

Day 116

I'm going to make this kind of brief, as I'm exhausted and the head hurts and I need my beauty sleep. BUT, some good news first - the scale finally went down!!

I jumped on it tonight before my shower, just for a looksy, and lo and behold, I was down to 213.6! And at night, too! I don't really know what to make of this...losing almost four pounds in three days. Only thing I can think is that I was retaining water for some strange, unknown reason. But I'm not complaining! I hope it's not just a fluke. I rechecked it three times to make sure it was accurate, but who knows? Anyways, it was really nice to see some friendly numbers on the scale after two weeks of not so friendly numbers. Hopefully this will continue!

One thing I've decided to try doing is giving up soda. I drink a LOT of it. I always get diet, so I tell myself it's okay, but I know it's bad for me. And I've heard that it can actually make it harder to lose weight. So I'm going to try and nix it. Water is always better, but if I have soda in the house, I will always grab that first. So I got some flavored sparkling water to wean myself off, and it hasn't been bad so far! Hopefully I won't miss it too much...I've been using it to satisfy my sweet tooth at times, so I'm going to have to think of new strategies.

Also, I went for my walk today! It was an absolutely beautiful day, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Here's what I had for dinner, Chicken Bacon Bites and Creamed Spinach. I switched with Tuesday because I don't trust the salmon at Wal-mart and didn't feel like dragging myself to Kroger just for salmon.

I know, I know. There I go again with the bacon. But between the two pieces of chicken up there, there was only one slice of bacon, so I don't feel too bad. Moderation! Sadly, the spinach didn't turn out quite how I intended. I'm not sure what I did to it, but it was a little too salty, and I'm really sensitive to salt. Sigh. I'll try to get it right next time! But the chicken bacon bites were pretty much amazing. The glaze you put on them is delicious...usually I have to put sauce on my chicken, but this didn't need it at all. SO good.

So I'm going to go crash now. Love you all! Thanks for all the sweet comments! You guys are so great at keeping my spirits up.

Day 115

So this post was intended for Friday, but then, of course, the weekend happened! So this will be a combination of end of the week/beginning of the week posts.

First of all: Sigh. The scale did not yield the happy news I had expected. Gained .4 pounds. I can't decide why this is, as I've been sticking to healthy eating and exercise. But I do know that, if I keep at it, eventually the scale will go down. This is the point at which, in the past, I would have started getting discouraged. I might have even let the disappointment get to me and resorted to fast food/candy to dull the ache.

Thus, it was a HUGE sign of how my habits are changing when, on Friday after the second disappointing weigh-in in a row, I resolved to redouble my efforts instead of sabotaging myself. I went out for my walk with renewed determination and worked it, thinking not about how nice a cheeseburger would taste, but about the great calories I was burning!

Because the fact of the matter is, even if the scale doesn't look like I want it to at the end of the week, you just can't go wrong with healthy eating and exercise. Eventually, you're going to lose weight. On the other hand, if you get discouraged and let your good habits go, weigh-ins are going to get increasingly depressing. DUH. So I'm not letting myself get down about it! I sat down and laid out my meals for next week, and I'm ready for another week of regular blogging, cooking, and being healthy! I won't be defeated that easily!

For dinner on Friday I had black bean burgers. The black bean soup, in case you were wondering, has been postponed indefinitely. Here are the burgs:

I don't know. They were okay. Might have been better on a bun. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but they were kind of crumbly and the flavor wasn't that great. I tried to adapt them from two different recipes, and I think I cut out too many things. After enjoying everything else I made this week, there was bound to be one not so great meal! I was inspired by this awesome black bean burger I had at the 5 Seasons Brewing Company in ATL a little while ago, but mine wasn't nearly as good. Oh well.

So here's next week's menu:

Monday

Salmon Confit

Roasted Green Beans

Tuesday

Chicken Bacon Bites

Creamed Spinach

Wednesday

Spicy Pinto Bean and Tuna Salad

Thursday

Roti Chicken 

Friday

Avocado, Tomato, Edamame and Red Onion Salad

Saturday

Pea-lafels

Sunday 

Leftovers!

Can't wait...it's looking like a very exciting week! We'll see how it goes! Love you awesome people!

Day 112

To begin with, I have to say - today was an extra delicious day at Campbell's house. But more on that in a minute.

I missed my walk today, even though it was a pretty day outside. I had lady pains, and I just couldn't get the energy together. So, logically, I spent two hours cleaning and organizing my room instead. Lol! I don't know where I got the energy to do that...I didn't take my pills today and I didn't have a paper to avoid either! Weird. But I figure I burned about the same calories as I would have walking, even though it wasn't really aerobic activity. I scrubbed down the bathroom, did laundry, changed the sheets, dusted, vacuumed, wiped down surfaces, organized bookshelves, and even spot cleaned my bedspread! But I will definitely be back out to do my walk tomorrow. I've done two 30 minute walks so far this week, so I still have two more to go!

Anyways, back to the delicious thing. I had a Greek salad for dinner:

I was inspired by this Greek salad, but had to edit out the ingredients I don't like, namely onions and cucumbers, along with the stuff I didn't have. The salad I ended up with is a mixture of spring greens, banana peppers, Lindsay natural olives (I know you're supposed to have kalamata, but I like these better!), artichoke hearts, and goat cheese.

As directed by the recipe, I let the peppers, olives, and artichoke hearts marinate in an olive oil/lemon juice/salt/pepper/McCormick's Mediterranean spice mix concoction. DELISH! I enjoyed it far more than restaurant Greek salads, which always have the iceburg lettuce with the crunchy white parts (as most of you know I cannot abide the crunchy white parts!). Yuck. The spring mix was a great substitute!

Oh, but the deliciousness does not end there. For dessert, I made (or rather, improvised on) Susie Bee's Blueberry Banana Smoothie...

Dang, you guys, I can't even communicate how scrumdiddlyumptious this smoothie was! It was really more like ice cream. As usual, I did not have all the ingredients (forgot to buy coconut milk and flax seeds at the grocery), but it still turned out amazing. I used frozen blueberries as well as a frozen banana, and the texture was just like Smoothie King! All I added to the fruit was one egg white and a splash of skim milk. It was PERFECT. Y'all have to try this! I made it in my food processor, as I don't own a blender, and it turned out great. YUM.

A side note: Seems like I'm using a lot of CAPS in this post.

Anyways. Weigh-in tomorrow! Hope it's good news!

By the way, y'all are awesome.

Day 111

Good things that happened today:

1. I took my 30 minute walk, even though I really didn't want to!
2. I cooked all three meals!
3. I curbed the munchie feeling with gum!
4. I'm posting in the blog two days in a row!

I also discovered one of the reasons why sugar is such an enemy for me. I hadn't thought about it until watching this vlog at The Token Fat Girl. She talks about how even sampling sugary foods leads her down a dark path to more sugar, and I realized it's the same for me. I have a box of 90 calorie fat-free chocolate popsicles in the fridge for a little treat now and then, and so far, I haven't abused them. But I had one after dinner tonight and, about halfway through eating it, I felt this strong urge to go get a second one. It's not the first time that's happened since I've had them in the house. It's like, the sugar high didn't last long enough, and I need another hit. See?? Like drugs! Just taking note of this was enough to drive away the urge to have more. And if I don't have sugar in the first place, the desire for it is less potent than after I've already had some. I think that sugar will always have this effect on me. I know I will never be able to give it up entirely, but I also know that A) it's dangerous to keep it in the house and B) no matter how "healthy" or "low-calorie" the sugary snack is, I will always be tempted to overindulge. It's better to just cut it out entirely.

I bought some apples, mangos, and prunes today, and all three do a really good job of satisfying my sweet tooth. But I found I had the same problem with the prunes, which don't have any added sugar, but are really sweet on their own. So those are going to have to be moderated. The sugar-free gum really helps too. Just gotta keep lots of healthy substitutes handy!

It's just really helpful to see how much of a trigger sugar is for me. It's as if, the minute I have some, I become less able to think objectively...it makes that little evil voice in my head that says, "Have another one, they're only 90 calories, and it will taste really good!" even louder. So I'm going to do what I can to stay away from it and stick to healthy alternatives like fruit.

For dinner tonight, I made a DELICIOUS soup! It's another recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen: Yellow Split-Pea Soup.

It's mmm mmm good!

I can be kind of funny about soups, so this was an experiment...and it really paid off! I couldn't find yellow split-peas, so I just used plain old green ones, and they were delicious! The red pepper flakes gave it a great spicy flavor, and even though I skimped on green peppers and onions (another texture thing I'm weird about), they added a nice flavor too. The recipe called for fennel seed, which I didn't have, but it tasted great all the same. It was a perfect, hearty, filling meal for a cold night.

I know, I know, I was supposed to have black bean soup today...but I didn't realize it needed like five hours to stew, and I didn't start until around 5:30. Oops! So I just swapped it to Friday. I only had to let this simmer for an hour, and it was ready to go.

So go make yourself some soup and stay warm, everybody! Be careful if the roads are icy tomorrow! Love y'alls!

Day 110 (continued)

So I've already said most of what needed to be said today, but I had to drop in and post pictures of my yummy shrimpy dinner! I also had to mention that I got my 30 minute walk in today! It was an absolutely gorgeous day, if a little chilly. But the sun was out, and it feels like it hasn't been out for DAYS! So I definitely appreciated that. I also added some new songs to my workout playlist, which I find really helps motivate me to get out there and start walking. New songs included:

1. Forget You, Gwyneth Paltrow/Glee Cast
2. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, MJ
3. Fighter, Christina Aguilera
4. Right Place, Wrong Time, Dr. John
5. I'm Too Sexy, Right Said Fred
6. Single Ladies, Beyoncé (I blame my mother for that one! I added it to her workout playlist, so I figured I might as well add it to mine)

A side note: I feel like I start a lot of sentences with "so."

So (sheesh, there I go again!) here's dinner! Shrimp with Mustard-Horseradish Sauce...

I definitely thought of my mom when making this...she's a big horseradish girl, and would love this sauce! It was so good. I added avocados because a) I love avocados and b) it gave it some nice color. I highly recommend this recipe...very tasty! And it didn't call for ham hocks!

On a side note, I have GOT to get back to counting calories. It makes such a difference, to know exactly what I'm eating. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to get back to paying attention to portions, serving sizes, and calorie counts. Even though I've been eating healthy things, I worry that I've been overindulging since I don't keep track of what I'm eating. So that's the goal for tomorrow!