18 June 2010

Fall River this weekend!

I am heading home this weekend, driving with CJ and a friend the 7 hours to New England. I am so excited. I have not been home in months and am looking forward to some beach time!

I have been really getting into the swing of things. I have been eating really well and been having some great treats. I made French Toast Cups last night for dinner. I saw the recipe on the Rachael Ray show, check out the link for the recipe.
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/french-toast-cups-fresh-fruit-cream/

I have one french toast cup instead of two or even three, (a throw back to my entire box of Mac and Cheese days. Its was delish and I didnt break the calorie bank.

17 June 2010

I can't believe it...

Yesterday for dinner, CJ and I had pork chops (CJ hates pork chops, but I love them and since I cook, we shall continue to eat them), roasted portobella mushroom and red bell peppers and the Pièce de résistance was Annie's Organic chedder Mac and Cheese! Boy Oh boy, I love Mac and Cheese.
But it got me thinking to a few years back. I used to eat an entire box.....I repeat.....and Entire Box of mac and cheese all by myself. What should feed a a family of 4, I would eat alone. Somes I think how did I get here and other times, like today I say "Oh you know exactly how you got here".

So yesterday I was able to enjoy a little of what I love and I didnt break the calorie bank to do it.
Bravo Me!

16 June 2010

Thank God Vacation is Over...

Yeah, I never thought I would be saying that either. CJ and I have been planning our Europe vacation since January. Maybe we hyped it up too much. Maybe we are just not big city folk. Who knows?!?
Our major stops were Majorca, Spain/Barcelona, Spain/Dubin, Ireland
Each had there own charm, and all of them have GREAT FOOD!
We had some travel snafus from time to time but we always got where we needed to go in one piece.

When I finally get around to uploading pictures I will post a few here.

So I am back on the wagon. While on vacation all my good food habits went out the door. I had a small breakdown in Spain regarding my weight, no big surprise there.You see I noticed that most of the women (I said most not all) are thin. Thin, Beautiful Spanish Women. WTF. And by the way, they are not eating salads and boiled chicken. No, they are eating their weight in Paella! I really have a few moments in spain, especially while I was shopping for clothes where I felt truly disgusted with myself. But I turned it around. I vowed that when I got back, I would do things differently.

Here is my "different":
- No more diet plans
          Yes I have tried a lot of them. I was following Jillian Michaels  Master Your Metabolism plan for a while (which is very good if you can stick with it) She has great ideas and some great recipes. Do I need to have all my meals Jillian style. No. I also read Bethenny Frankel's book Naturally Thin. Really great Recipes! I love her ideas about food. But do I need her "7 day plan". NO! Lastly, a book that I recomend because it makes you look at food in a different way, Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live. Now his diet "plan" is very intense and it not the way I want to live my life, living off beans and kale. But the concepts are good and there are so many good take-aways.
- Exercise
           I hate exercise. But I need, need, need to break out of that mindset. Running is not the devil's work.
 I am currently trying to find what works for me, that I can enjoy and really benefit from it. I recently found a Running plan in this months issue of SELF Magazine. It seems pretty basic and non-scary. I will keep you guys posted on how this works out
- Make myself accountable during the week, and on the weekends within reason.
          I logged back into http://caloriecount.about.com/. I used this religiously a few years ago. It really made me aware of what I was putting into my body and well as my output of energy. It may not be a down to the calorie exact number but in general terms it keeps me honest during the week. I add in all the food I eat during the day and it tallys the calories and nutrition. Based on the info I gave it about my body and lifestyle, it estimates how many calories I burn in a day plus I can add in any exercise I did that day as well. Its like a human food tracker. I really like it. I dont use the tool on the weekends though. This does not give me carte blanche to eat an entire pizza but if I wanted a few slices, I am having them and not feeling guilty about it.

Thats basically it. I did the math and I have approx 37 pounds to lose. For me it seems like 100 but I try to focus one pound at a time. I know I can do this. I need to eat good foods with a high nutritional value and be able to have my guilty pleasures every once in a while.

I am working to find Balance here and I know its not going to be easy but its not impossible.