Keeping Up...

OK, so my last post was Monday nite?

TUES
Today was busy...woke up to my mom cleaning out my car (which had been sitting on my parents' driveway for the past month and a half...long story). I ate a quick breakfast of instant vietnamese coffee (1/2 cup) and instant oatmeal (1-1.5 cups...2/3 milk, 1/3 oatmeal). Instant delish.

I went outside to vacuum my car (for the first time in five years; GROSS!) when my friend called (by the way, I vaccumed for AN HOUR!). He and I decided at the wedding this past weekend that we'd go out to lunch. Except that I forgot and thought we were going to dinner and invited other friends along. Hah! Anyway, he called up to see if I still wanted to do lunch (because he works only about a mile from my parents' house). We met up for some delish thai food (I had duck salad (2/3 cup) - pulling off the skin - and curry chicken with rice (3/4 cup)). We walked back to his workplace and called our other friends to see if they still wanted to do dinner. They said it sounded like a tight timeframe (we all live about an hour apart). He and I decided that if they didn't want to go, we wouldn't. He said he'd let them know too. I got a call from him as soon as I got home about 3 minutes later. Apparently as he was texting them to say don't bother, they called him and said let's do it. SO, I took a quick nap, dropped my car off to get the oil changed, and then jumped in the car with him so that he could drive me to the restaurant. 1.5 hour drive with traffic. I also got to see his house for the first time which was great. We all met up at a great Chinese restaurant. I had about a cup of spicy beef with 1/2 cup rice and was done. I splurged a little later that night because I was sleeping over my friend's house. His fiancee and I got starbucks (white choco mocha; rice krispie treat) and we all played the Nintendo Wii for three hours. I like to think of that as one hour of activity points since I was sweating!

WED
Did a lot of running around today as well...woke up with my friend who dropped me off at home on his way to work. Then went around running errands with my mom...picked up both my and her cars from the shop, then drove around grocery shopping, and taking my car to get its tires rotated and balanced. Breakfast? Left over thai food from the night before with rice - about 3/4 cup total. Got groceries at a Chinese grocery storer and ate in the car. This was my least favorite meal; not because of the food, but because it was so greasy. I actually had a stomach ache at the end. It was healthy food though - I had about 1/3 cup rice, seaweed (yum, Taunia!), tofu skin, and greens. All in all about a cup worth of food. Got home and had a slice of the pastry cake roll we had bought from the bakery -- yummy

We got home around 3pm and were exhausted. My dad was coming home around 6pm tonite, so my mom and I both took a nap, waking up around 6pm. I then went downstairs and started packing my stuff as I was planning on leaving tomorrow. My dad got home, we ate again (I had one rice bowl of beef tendon, salmon and greens). I had corn on the cob, a handful of grapes and corn salad around 10:30pm that night, then three oreos and a cup of milk around 2am as I was watching Animal Planet. Went to bed around 3:30am

THURS
Well, today's Thursday. I had a rice bowl of oatmeal this morning and 1/2 cup instant viet coffee. My parents and I are heading out to lunch soon so gotta go....


I'm feeling like I'm getting the portioning down right. I can eat about 1 cup (rice bowl) of food and feel satisfied, so I'm trying not to go over that. What am I proud of so far this week? Being able to say no to more servings of food, and being able to hang out with my parents while they're eating and snacking and not do the same. So YAY!

Still Going (Sorta) Strong...did it!

I'm feeling pretty good about the choices I made today...

BREAKFAST
woke up at 9:30 this morning, then slept again til 11am (that's what I get for going to bed at 3am yesterday). OH, btw, yesterday I WON the battle - I didn't eat anything as a late late late night snack...I got up to go into the kitchen to get something to eat, and realized how TIRED I was, then decided to go to bed. so YAY! OK back to breakfast. So I woke up at 11 and we got ready to leave to run errands. Went to go order take out first, then I shopped while waiting for the food. Ate in the car...was Chinese food. I had half a cup of fried rice, and three pieces of General Tsao's chicken, and about half a cup of kung po shrimp. Not terrible, but not the best food to get.

LUNCH
After running errands, I got home around 3:30pm and was hungry. I made myself another bowl of instant oatmeal (2 cup milk, 1 packet Quaker Instant Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal, sprinkling of dried cranberries) but this time added about a teaspoon of butter. It was delish!

DINNER
dinner started about an hour after lunch. My mom makes fabu food. We had grilled zuccini with salt & pepper, baby bok choy, and some thin sliced marinated pork. I again only had two small rice bowls of food and felt satisfied and felt OK with not eating while others still were.

SNACK
I had a cup of corn & tomato soup (chicken broth) around 10pm. I fought the desire to eat before then even though my mom cooked again and had food ready for my dad when he came home at 8:30pm from tennis.

SNACK II
I'm watching a Fresh Prince of Bel Air marathon (6pm - 6am: SO fabu) and got hungry and gave into the sensation to have something sweet. I first had a rice bowl of leftover mexican food from two days ago. Then I had three oreo cookies. I am feeling satisfied and full (especially with the water...did I tell you I drink lots of water?).


SO, all in all, it wasn't the best food choices, but I think I made the best portion choices I could given the food I have. And most importantly, I do felt happy about my decisions today both during and after, and THAT is really important. The feeling beforehand wasn't too painful - just PERSISTENT! Let's keep marching...go me!

Ummm...Hello!

So I think it's been "several" months since I've last posted. In those "several" months, I've gained and lost the same 8 pounds "several" times. It's been a long and frustrating ride.

BUT, Taunia and I are getting back on track. We're both reaching our breaking points with how much more waffling we're able to endure. I feel like I've had a good couple of days since we weighed in Wednesday. Lemme explain:

THURSDAY
I was so determined to be good today that, even though I had no lunch, I brought stuff to make. I brought a can of tuna fish, veggies, a knife and a cutting board. I made myself some tuna fish salad w/ veggies, cranberries and walnuts. SO delicious, and I felt great about making this choice.

FRIDAY
I was exhausted today! After work, I was driving all over the place getting ready to book it down to my parents (8 hour drive). Now car rides are difficult for me because I like to munch. I am an anxious snacker. Sitting for long periods of time means I have to find something to do with myself. Either soemthing with my hands or something with my mouth. So I decided to go the hands route and stopped at a crafts place to buy a crochet hook and yarn to crochet in the car. I had packed a bag of snacks but decided not to eat any of them because I was worried about going over points (I only had 4 points left and knew I'd be cutting into my flex points already). SO, don't be grossed out, but I had bought snack packs of dried spicy seaweed - so delicious, and 0 points! So I snacked on those, water, and one Burger King grilled chicken sandwich. The BK burger was initially going to be fried and with fries, but I decided at the last minute to go the healthy route. I can tell you, not eating any of those snacks in the back was the hardest thing I did. It was amazing how many times I almost gave in, even at 2:30am when I was nearing my parents' place. But I didn't. And I felt great when, at the end, I came out on top.

SATURDAY
Today was crazy...we had a wedding to go to. We got to bed 3:30am the night before but woke up at 9:30am. I started out wanting to eat some chinese food, and got myself a small rice bowl. I ate about three bites and decided it wasn't good, so I stopped eating. Instead, I made some instant oatmeal with fresh strawberries. SO good! We chilled for a bit then drove to the wedding, eating some slices of duck and broke down and had a couple baked dorito chips. Wedding was great - healthy 3oz of beef, breaded chicken, and veggies. Could have done without the appetizers (bacon wrapped scallops, etc.), but I did dance feverishly for 2.5 hours so hopefully that helped dampen the impact :)

SUNDAY
The thing I was most proud of today was that I only had two small rice bowls of food for dinner - which was just enough to make me satisfied, not full. Breakfast was costly - had almost my entire day's worth of points. BUT, we walked around for three hours so that helped....and had a fabu mexican meal in between the hours. Right now it's 1:30am Monday morning, and though my belly is full, I haven't stopped thinking about wanting to snack on some low fat cheesy popcorn. I may not lose this battle, but as long as I keep going in the right direction, I'll be good. WAIT, that's an excuse, right? I'm debating....I'll let you know how this goes. Now my stomach is rumbling. Gah!

I think my mantra right now that'll be relevant is "think about how good it'll feel during and AFTER making the right choice. Just gotta get through the 'before'."