A "Game Day" That Was Not a Calorie Train Wreck!

I have updated the code on all of my pages now.

Things are still a bit buggy in IE, Opera, and Safari. I apologize for that and will be working hard to get my code to play nice with those browsers. Resizing the browser fixes the bug in IE... or having a wheel on your mouse to scroll.

I do want to note: Everything seems to work fine in Firefox!

Firefox rocks!


So besides driving myself crazy tweaking the code here, we had some friends over to play games today! Most game days turn into a calorie train wreck!

We always order a pizza, subs or Chinese. I try to order healthy items, but by the time the food actually arrives I end up eating way too much.

This doesn't count the "snack" foods we often have out for guests!!!


Gaming days never go smoothly for weight loss but today was different!


Here is my calorie breakdown for today:

Breakfast
I had an egg white "Toad in the Hole."


"Toad in the Hole"
1 tbsp butter (100 Calories)
1 egg white (70 Calories)
1 slice of bread (100 Calories - pre-cut)

In a small frying pan, melt the butter.
Use a glass or cookie cutter to remove a round hole from the center from a slice of bread. (I did not eat my center.)

Place the bread into the frying pan, and crack an egg into the hole. (I did not eat the egg yolk either.)
Cook over a low heat so the egg gets white and firm. Once the egg white is firm enough, carefully flip the bread to toast the other side and finish cooking the egg.

Very Yummy.


For lunch I had a Amy's Kitchen Bean and Cheese Burrito for 300 and a tablespoon of Salsa for 20 more.


So I was around 550 to 600 calories.


After lunch is when I nearly lost control....

It started with 32 chocolate chips.

There are sixteen Ghirardelli Chocolate Chocolate Chips in a 70 calorie serving. So I counted out two servings for 140 calories.

Then I think, "You know what goes great with chocolate? PEANUT BUTTER!"

So I get out a bowl and put a lump of organic creamy peanut butter into it. The peanut butter is really hard because it has to be kept in the fridge, so I put it all in the microwave. This melted the chocolate all together.

I then think - "Natural peanut butter needs some sweetening."

So now I pour way too much powdered sugar to the bowl. It takes on a crumbly consistency, so I figure it need some butter to smooth things out.

I add about a tablespoon of butter to the bowl and start mixing... then I start adding things up in my head.

32 chips, 140
Butter, 100
Peanut Butter, 210
Powdered Sugar... 300+?

I easily defeated the voice in my head that said, "You have to eat this or it will be wasted!!!" and dumped the whole thing in to the garbage!

I then counted 16 chips into a mini cupcake wrapper and enjoyed them slowly!!

Those 70 calories were all the sweeter knowing I had saved myself from such a calorie disaster!!!

Calorie total: 670

Then the Gamers came over....


Whenever we game we also order food... and you know how delivery food is. (Pizza, Chinese, Subs...)

They ordered Pizza, well this pizza to be specific:

Chicken Cordon Bleu

We start with our Honey Mustard sauce and House Blend Cheese,
then we add Boar's Head Sweet Slice Ham, sliced fried Chicken Tenders
and slices of melted Wisconsin Swiss Cheese. A unique treat!

http://glassnickelpizza.com/

But two of the guys didn't like Honey Mustard, so they substituted Alfredo sauce, and got the honey mustard on the side.

I decided to skip the pizza and ordered 3 ricotta and spinach stuffed jumbo shells. I esimated the calories in my pasta, with garlic bread to be about 900 calories.

Even with all this temptation, I was able to keep my calorie total to around 1600.

I stop a binge before it happened, and also avoided the pizza from the pizza place. :) Yea!

New Style Wins

The new look took 71% of the vote, so looks like I will be busy converting my pages! Please bare with me as I tweak the code to work in all browsers.

I apologies in advance if your browsing is disrupted while I am making updates!
Everything should be updated before April.

Now on to the weight loss front!

I am down a pound so far this month.

I had lost almost 3, but but then my "Diva Days" puffed me up again! The Puffies should go away soon and everything should be back to normal by Monday! :)

New Style for Before Pictures

I have updated the code on Before Pictures.

Do you like the new look?

Do you like it enough that I should change the rest of my pages to match?

Or should I change it back to the way it was?


I put a poll up over to the left so you can let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Jess :)




UPDATE:

The poll closed on 3-27-09 and was removed. The new style won!
Here is what my pages used to look like:

Embrace that healthy feeling!

Last Friday, after a LONG stressful week at work, I felt totally drained. Aaron (my husband) suggested that I walk on the elliptical trainer to restore my vigor.

I was crabby and whined that it was the last thing I wanted to do!!! I wanted to just lay on the couch and veg!

But he was persistent and sweet-talked me to "just try it" for 10 minutes... and within a few minutes I felt my brain come back to life!

I really felt all those nasty stress hormones burning away!! Soon I was bursting with energy and went on to do a full cardio workout.

It is so strange that working out is the last thing you want to do when you lack energy, but it is the best way to gain energy in a healthy, non-stimulative way!

Once you get going it only takes a few minutes for the "DO WE HAVE TO DO THIS?!?!" inner-whiner to shut-up. Soon you will notice how happy your body is to move!

Of course if you feel pain, you should stop immediately!! Make sure you are using proper form, and equipment (this includes shoes).


Update on where I am at:

I'm down 6 pounds from a month ago. I really am back on track! It is such a great feeling!!! I don't really look any different on the outside yet, but I feel GREAT inside! :) I hope you are embracing that healthy feeling too and taking good care of yourself! :)

Cheers,

Jess

Finite Willpower

I have switched back to working out in the morning. I found that when I put it off until later... I tend to put it off entirely!

I just didn’t have any willpower to workout at the end of the day.

Do you ever struggle with your willpower?

Have you ever been "really good" all day, just to get home and eat everything you see?

Over the years I have learned that weight loss is not about having tons of self-control; it’s about having it at the right times!

I don't have more willpower than anyone else. I just know how to use it more effectively!
You see, willpower is a finite resource. You only have so much. You really need to budget it in order to be successful.

Let's say you spend most of your day resisting the urge to scream at an idiot at work.

Whenever you suppress an urge - you "burn off" your willpower.

As the day progresses your ability to resist temptation diminishes. Next thing you know, you were able to keep your cool, but the snack machine is now a Snicker's bar lighter.

So how do you reserve your willpower for your weight loss without snapping at the wrong moment?

First - Figure out what are you using your willpower on.

Did you spent all day avoiding the box of donuts in the breakroom?
Did you give up something for Lent and now find yourself thinking about it all the time?

Once you know where your "weak spots" are you can take steps to save your willpower.

Second - Eat Something!
Willpower is an effort, and like any other effort of the body it is fueled by your blood sugar. Be sure to eat balanced meals at regular intervals and have small healthy snacks handy to maintain your blood sugar level.

Third - Think of the BIG picture.
Your brain only focuses on the instant satisfaction of now. It wants to eat that 800 calorie slice of turtle cheesecake right in front of you.

It doesn't think about wearing a bathing suit in 4 months.

Whenever temptation rears it's ugly head - remind yourself of your long term goals. If your desire to succeed is powerful enough, you can crush a craving.

Strongly envision yourself as the healthy person you know you can be! Does that cheesecake help you reach that goal? You can do this!!!

Fourth - Take Baby Steps.
Change is hard. You have to use a lot of willpower to start a new healthy life. Even if what you are doing is better for yourself, your stubborn brain only knows the old unhealthy way. That's the way it's always been and that is the way it will try to keep things.

It is best to slowly do new things. If you jump in and try to quit smoking, start exercising, and eating healthy all at once... you might make it a few days before your brain goes, "THIS IS WRONG!!!" and you end up chain smoking while ordering at the McDonald's drive-thru.

You need to unlearn your bad old ways a sneak in some new good ways little by little.

You need to create a healthier routine you can stick with that makes your brain feel like things are the same as before. You might need to break things into smaller tasks in order to make them a habit.


I wish you the best as you make healthy choices and bolster your willpower! Think of the healthy person you will be in the future, and let that person lead the way!

Remember, as long as you continue to live healthy, eventually you will be healthy!!

Jess

Disabling Comments

About 80% of the comments submitted to me were just sugar-coated spam.

I used to review and reject them, but I can’t take this anymore. :(

I get all these seemingly wonderful posts...


Comment:

“You are soooooo amazing!!! I was going to go bulimic, but your site gives me hope!”



But then it links to: “SUPER-DUPER WEIGHT LOSS PILLS! BUY NOW!”


ARGH!!!!!!! I am so disgusted!!


I find it despicable that they would pose as a person struggling with her weight or an eating disorder just to sell bogus products!!!

I am offended that they tried to use my site to link to that CRAP with such a LIE!

I worked so HARD, over the course of YEARS to lose my weight by just eating better and moving more.

The only thing those weight loss products make lighter is your wallet!!!


So, I apologize that I had to remove comments, but you can still reach me via email. :)


So besides removing the comments, a lot has happened since my last post: Valentine's Day, My 31st Birthday and I got braces.

I wish I could claim I lost weight since my last post too, but I am actually up a pound.

It's the puffy time of the month... which might explain why I got so insanely upset by those comments!

I have adjusted my daily calories down to around 1700 and have been upping the intensity of my workouts.

Soon this week will be past, and I'll be moving in the right direction again. :)


Take good care of yourself!

Love,

Jess :)

Why did I do that?

As a treat today I had a 180 calorie 1/2 c. scoop of vanilla ice cream. (I measured it and everything!)

I then planned to sprinkle it with some Godiva hot chocolate powder... (about a tablespoon) but the sprinkle turned into about 1/2 c. as it fell out in a lump from the canister into my bowl!

A serving of the cocoa is 130 calories per 3 tablespoons. So one tablespoon would have been about 45 calories. But I ended up with about 9 tablespoons, so 390 calories!

So did I dump out my bowl and start over? Nope. I ate it all. Counted all the calories. But now I think, "Why did I do that?"

Because I did not want to "waste" the food I ended up with 345 more calories.

So my treat turned into a guilt-trip, then into a blog post.

On a happy note, I did return from Texas the same weight as when I left, and since I am counting my calories, I can tweak the rest of the day to deal with this snack debacle.

But I’m Sick!

I am just getting over a cold. I was really sick over the weekend and spent all day in bed Sunday.
“But I’m sick!” was always a great excuse to avoid exercise. Now my motto is if I am well enough to go to work - I am well enough to work out!

So what if my nose is stuffy? My legs still work!

This Friday I fly down to Texas for work and “Aunt Flo” is due to join me. :-6

Even though it will be “that time of the month” and I will be stuck eating out for every meal for a week, I am not worried about my weight spiking.

Everything is bigger in Texas, but I am not going to be one of them.

I can do this!!!

Tweaked My Code and January Check-In

As you may have noticed, I tweaked the layout of my blog over the weekend!

I really like the horizontal navigation bar I added to the top of the page.
It should make it much easier to get around my site!!!!


Health Update!

I have been consistently working out, 5 times a week on my elliptical trainer. (Mondays and Fridays are my rest days.) I also have been keeping tight track on my calories.

So far this January I have lost 3 pounds! :) Yea!!!

How is your January going?

Knowing is Never Enough

I used to use food as my panacea.

Anger, stress, grief, boredom, loneliness… I filled up the holes in my soul with food. I lived in a world where chocolate “cured” everything.

Eating gave me the sensation of satisfaction that I was lacking elsewhere in my life - even though it was temporary…

It took me years to realize that my troubles can’t be fixed with food, and even longer to stop rushing to the fridge when ever life got tough.

There are many “non-food” alternatives to cure moods, it is just so hard to get yourself to do them when you have been “programmed” to eat! You see, our brains are “WIRED” to act in certain ways. This is your gut reaction. It is what you have always done before. We are creatures of habit.

We all KNOW we should eat better and exercise. You can KNOW every weight loss tip in the world, but they are all useless until you actually DO them! Knowing you need to change is not enough by itself!

You learn by doing, not by knowing. You need to preform a new habit over and over again before you really “get it.” I have heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, but it can take even longer if you are trying to correct (unlearn) a bad habit you have had for the last 20+ years.

Along the way you might slip-up and "regress" to your old ways, but this does not mean you are a failure. You are still learning. Would you be mad at a baby trying to take her first steps but then falls? Of course not!

Be forgiving to yourself like you would to a little baby doing her best. Nurture your new lifestyle and soon you won't have to "suffer through it." It will become your everyday routine!

You must really commit to the change, and do it consistently if you truly want to change! You need to DO it, not just KNOW it. Knowing is never enough.