Easter Feast Fest

Hello Everyone!  It's been a week since my last post and I'm experiencing many challenges.  Graham has been traveling more than ever so I'm finding it difficult to keep things going at the gym, at home, and still find time to blog.  Also, spring is proving to be a busy time with many social engagements packed with food, drink, and fun.  I intend to finish what I started but the past couple weeks, the progress has been non-existent.  Easter was no exception.  It was a feast fest to say the least.  My mom hosted brunch and I offered to bring of all things...donuts.  Two dozen of the best donuts in Kansas City, Fluffy Fresh, to be exact.  I've stayed away from Fluffy Fresh for over a year so I'm not sure what kind of temporary crazy possessed me to volunteer to bring my most forbidden food while I'm supposed to be "counting calories".  Of course I indulged.  I had a glazed donut and a creme filled long john.  Seriously, I'm an idiot.  I also ate egg casserole, french toast casserole, and drank a bloody mary.  In addition, every year I pick out a few pieces of candy from Ryder's Easter basket and this year was no exception.  One Reese's Peanut Butter Egg (170 cal for one egg) as well as a packet of chewy sweet tarts, and a piece of sweet tart taffy.  Then, if that wasn't bad enough we went to our neighbors for an evening egg hunt and I drank two margaritas.  After getting home fairly late, we didn't feel up to cooking a meal so we ate a frozen pizza, thin crust California Pizza Kitchen, Chipotle Roasted Veggie Pizza, and baked a couple frozen tortilla crusted tilapia fillets.  How's that for Sunday?  I won't even try to come up with a calorie count.  TERRIBLE!!!  I realize the need for cheat days and special occasion meals but I went off the deep end yesterday.  I weighed this morning and shockingly only gained a little more than half a pound.  Who knows, maybe the fat is still processing and hasn't come through on the scale yet.  Ugh.  This is great timing because I broke down last week and ordered a few swim suits online.  My plan is to try them on using my own mirrors and lighting and return what doesn't work.  Actually, this probably is good timing because there's nothing like trying on swim wear to inspire a second wind in a waning diet.  Due to the holiday, Ryder's out of school today so I'm trying to figure out how to get in a workout even though I don't feel like exercising.  The funny thing about the way I ate yesterday is the incredible fatigue I'm feeling today.  All I want to do is nap.  I feel gross and lethargic.  Interestingly, if you usually eat fairly well, eating crap for an entire day will make you feel awful.  I'm gearing up for a grocery trip and plan to spend a lot of time in the produce section.  Salad, veggies, and fruit is at the top of the list.  I'm planing to make a Cajun chicken pasta from the skinny taste website for dinner tonight.  The dish is loaded with yellow and red bell pepper, baby portabello mushrooms, red onions, garlic, and chicken.  I might even add some broccoli and carrot for extra veggies and reduce the amount of pasta to make it even lighter.  Yummy.  If the recipe is good I'll share it tomorrow.  The other task on the agenda tomorrow....give away all Easter Candy that tempts me.  Ryder likes plain m&m's and those don't excite me so I'll hang on to a few of those for him.  Refocus, refocus, refocus.  I can do this.  One bad day...really a string of bad days over the past week or so...won't kill me.  I can get back on track and finish what I started.  Dinner is my next chance to eat the right things.  Here we go...again.

Food & Fitness Journal:

Breakfast-Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sandwich-egg, cheese, english muffin-200 cal

Snack-Starbucks Latte non-fat with one pump of white mocha-145 cal

Lunch-4 oz fresh smoked turkey (my parents made on their smoker)-152 cal
            1 bag of BBQ Pop Chips-100 cal
            2 mini butter fingers (Still dipping in the Easter candy!!  Candy leaves the house asap)-90 cal
Snack-sugar free cherry Popsicle with Ryder-15 cal

Planning to eat this evening--

Dinner--Cajun Chicken Pasta- 400 cal

This would put me at 1,102 for the day and would give me a few extra calories for some fruit or a glass of wine.

Going to try to squeeze in a workout too but not sure where.  We'll see!!  

Even My Dogs Practice Portion Control

This is one of those days where I want to eat...everything.  I'm afraid it's PMS rearing it's ugly head.  At least I hope so.  If not, I'm just in a hungry piggy with no excuse.  Speaking of PMS, I suppose that's an excuse too.  But is it an excuse if there's an actual hormonal connection?  Not sure.  I woke up this morning with a dull headache and I'm feeling like a bottomless pit.  I've already consumed 827 calories today.  Yikes!!

Breakfast: Mini cinnamon sugar bagel with morning star farm veggie sausage patty: 210 cal
Snack #1: Latte with one pump white mocha non-fat/no-whip-145 cal
Snack #2: Few pretzel thins with hummus-100 cal
Lunch: Bangkok Curry Noodle Bowl w/Shrimp (Size Sm) from Noodles & Co-340 cal
Snack #3: 2 vanilla wafers & a sugar-free Werther's candy: 32 cal

I better have salad for dinner to hit my daily goal.  Plus, last night was Bunco and I really screwed the pooch on calories yesterday.  Speaking of pooch I thought I'd share the story of my dogs and their undeniable success with dieting.  I like to think of them as my role models.  We have two Brussels Griffins, Mildred (blond) and Gertrude (black).

My dogs started gaining weight a couple years ago when Ryder thought it was a fun game to drop about half his breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the floor for the dogs to fight over.  Being that they're... well...dogs, they didn't care how gross and mangled these nuggets of food hitting the floor.  They'd fight over them and devour every crumb.  Ry thought this was hilarious and he'd repeat the game over and over.  I felt sorry for the dogs...eating the same monotonous meal at every sitting, I allowed them to enjoy the discarded food.  Deep down, I knew it was happening; my dogs were getting fat.  It started slow...then one day Milly's snoring got worse, they were heavier to lift, and had very little energy.  I avoided taking them to the vet because at the previous check up I had been warned they were feeling soft around the ribs.  After completely ignoring my vet and letting the problem get out of control, I knew I was in for a lecture.  Sure enough...I got the wrath from my vet.  I'm a terrible dog mother, they're obese, free feeding is almost enough to have them removed from my care, etc, etc.  I was humiliated and felt so guilty...I'd become that person I'd always loathed.  The person so preoccupied with my human child that I'd totally neglected the fur babies.  Milly and Gerty each needed to lose a minimum of 3-5 lbs.  I was instructed to drastically cut their food intake.  Being that I wasn't monitoring it at all, I didn't know where to start.  Taking advice from my vet, we decided to give them each them each 1/3 cup dry food twice per day.

If looks could kill my dogs would've murdered me.  They'd sit by their food bowls with their heads cocked to the side..."Bitch please?  I can eat that in like three bites."  And they did...and I felt terrible.  Dieting is so hard and I had no way to comfort them.  All I could do was disappoint them twice a day with their measly 1/3 cup and try to keep Ryder from dropping other treats.  "Sorry girls...mommy is just trying to make you skinny bitches.  It's good for you, I promise."  Low and behold, in a few weeks you could tell they were getting lighter.  Within 6 months the progress was amazing...the incredible shirking dogs!!  Gerty once escaped from the backyard (probably in hopes of finding a new home where they don't starve pets) only to be plucked by my neighbor and returned.  My neighbor didn't recognize her and had to check her tag to know she was our dog.  Wow!  I had no idea it was that noticeable.  I started to feel jealous.  I wish someone would portion out my meals and serve them to me in silver bowls.  Not a terrible deal after all.  My dogs reached their weight loss goals, I got back in good graces with our vet and it was a win win for everyone.  The girls seemed to adjust to their tiny portions, look healthy, and have more energy to play.  Even though their diet wasn't elective, I still see them as an inspiration that cutting calories is a method that really does work.  Tonight when I'm wanting dessert and a few glasses of wine, I shall look to my dogs for motivation.  Here's to being a skinny bitch!!   

Food & Fitness Journal

Breakfast: Jimmy Dean DeLite-Egg white english muffin with cheese--200 cal

Snack: Latte w/one pump white mocha non-fat & no whip--145 cal

Snack: Rice Crackers & Wasabi Peas--130 cal

5 mile outdoor run

Lunch: Smoothie King Lean 1 Vanilla Smoothie--273 cal

Snack: Hummus, Cherub Tomatoes, Rice Crackers--140 cal

Dinner: Homemade Chinese Chicken Salad--chicken breast, water chess nuts, red cabbage, napa cabbage, red pepper, almond slivers, green onion, cutie orange slices, and rice noodles--300 cal

Glass of white wine--4 oz--95 cal

Dessert--1 Trader Joe's wafer cookie--38 & Smooze coconut mango fruit ice--70--108 cal

Today's Total: 1,391 cal

Vacation Inspiration

This is the beginning of my fourth week counting calories and I've lost 4 lbs.  I'm on a steady pace of losing about 1 lb per week.  Considering how poorly I behave over the weekends, I can't complain about the progress.  Graham and I booked a vacation at the beginning of May and I'm more inspired than ever to keep up the work and continue my journey toward the ten pounds.  Keeping up with my food journal is getting challenging.  We've had a lot of social functions lately making it challenging to count calories when you're not sure exactly what you're eating.  I'm going to try to get back to journaling this week.  I have neighborhood bunco tomorrow night so there's another meal where I won't have control.  However, I need to do the best I can when I have control and try not to feel so guilty when I fall off the wagon.  It's really hard to follow the advice I give my friends at Burn; falling off the wagon is inevitable, your next meal is your next chance to do the right thing.  One meal I'm proud of last week was a recipe from SELF magazine for whole wheat spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce & turkey meatballs.  Making your own sauce can make a big difference with calories related to sugar and much less sodium.  We own a smoker/grill called the "Big Green Egg" and I roasted my (8 pounds) of tomatoes, garlic, onion, and EVOO on the Egg for 2 hours which added a considerable amount of smokiness to the sauce.  It's always exciting when you make something healthy an my husband claimed it was the "best thing" I've ever made.  Honestly, I'm a B- cook at best so I was thrilled I made something he loved.  That being said, if I can rock this recipe, anyone can!!  Please take a peek at this yummy recipe and make it for your family, who doesn't love pasta?? 

SELF Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs

Back to the vacation situation.  After mulling over various destinations, we landed on a tropical paradise vacation to Vieques Island (off the east coast of Puerto Rico).  I'm so excited I can barely stand it!!  We have 5 full weeks until we leave, which is definitely a motivator.  If I continue at my current pace I could almost reach my goal by the time we leave.  That being said, I'm on it!!  I'm looking forward to laying on a beach, swimming in the worlds best bio bay, and most of all R&R.  I'm wondering if I reach my goal before vacation will I gain it all back while I'm there...is that possible??  Ha!  I'm less than thrilled to shop for a new bikini which is definitely needed.  I haven't bought a new swim suit in years and my old one's looking a little worn.  I'm going to put off this shopping trip until the last possible moment. 

I'm loving the support and sharing of experiences with everyone at Burn.  Let's continue to motivate each other, share recipes and snack ideas, as well as celebrate our victories.  I'll post today's food and fitness journal at the end of the day.      

BAMF, Meat Cupcakes, and Today's Food & Fitness Journal

First of all thanks to everyone for your concern and inquiries after my "procedure".  Apparently, I'm a bona fide bad ass (or as some say, a BAMF) because the laser hair removal was easy peasy.  I think people who told me how bad it hurt were referring to their pride.  That on the other hand, is still fairly bruised.  I was under the impression you needed to grow a little stubble for best results...this is very much a lie.  After lying with ice on my nether regions until numb the nurse came in, pulled out a $2 Bic razor, and went to town shaving me.  I was both shocked and utterly humiliated.  I apologized profusely and told her it would never happen again.  While hacking away with the plastic razor she proceeded to tell me it was no big deal.  She does it all the time and even men.  These were her words not mine, "shaving a little who-ha is a whole lot easier than shaving balls." I about died.  Anyway, live and learn...I have 5 more treatments.

After chatting recipes at the 9:30am Bootcamp Maxx this morning I was inspired to try a recipe from skinnytaste.com and sample one of her best recipes of 2011.  I landed on Skinny Meatloaf Cupcakes with Mashed Potato Frosting.  A little time consuming but overall very tasty and low calorie.  The recipe says it makes 12 cupcakes but I only got 11 and they were small.  I recalculated the calories and two cupcakes are 262 calories.  These are a couple photos of the finished product.  I had to photograph them outside because the lighting in my kitchen is terrible. 

Here's a link to the recipe: http://www.skinnytaste  My only tip is to make sure you thoroughly press the zucchini with paper towels to remove excess water.  I thought I did an okay job but they were still a little watery when baked.  I also used a frosting tip in a Ziplock bag with the corner cut off to pipe the mashed potatoes like frosting.  I was hoping the cupcake appearance would entice my 3-year-old eat turkey, veggies, and potatoes but no dice.  He was not fond of the "meat cupcakes" and was really hoping for a normal cake one with vanilla frosting.  Poor kid.

Today's Food & Fitness Journal: 

Breakfast: English Muffin with egg white and piece of cheese--200 cal

Snack: Latte with non-fat milk, no whip, and one pump of white mocha--145 cal

Lunch: Smoothie King Vanilla Lean 1 protein smoothie--273 cal

Snack: veggie sticks, yogurt dip, a few berries--153

Workout: 5 mile run and 5 :30 sprints at 9.5

Dinner: Spinach Salad w/roasted garlic balsamic dressing--135
             2 Turkey Meatloaf Cupcakes--262
             4oz white wine-95

Total Calories: 1,263

Hairy Situation

Hi Everyone.  This post has little to do with dieting and more about my anxiety over having laser hair removal this afternoon (on my bikini area).  A few months back I went on a crazy Groupon spending spree where I decided to rid myself of "unwanted" hair and purchased two Groupons for laser hair removal at two different med spas, for two different size areas.  Of course I've avoided scheduling these torture sessions, I mean appointments, because it's so nerve wracking.  Which areas of "unwanted hair" to free myself from the burden of shaving & waxing?  I have several.  I purchased a small area as well as a medium area...I'm short so that should about cover it, right?  Not exactly, it cost big bucks to remove leg hair so I nixed that dream and moved on.  My choices varied from chin/other facial areas, underarms, bikini, Brazilian bikini and the list goes on.  I decided on underarms for the small area and for my medium area (drum roll) the Brazilian business.  My appointment is today at 4:30 and I'm scared shit less.  Is it appropriate to bring magazine photos like you would for a haircut?  I'm picturing myself sitting in some antique, OBGYN looking contraption with a woman in beauty scrubs looking over my shoulder as we gaze at cutouts from an adult magazine, "I'm leaning a little more toward the January centerfold...March looks like she hasn't hit puberty yet.  Which do you like best Shawna, you're the expert?"  Lord, what have I gotten myself into?

Oh, and I haven't even started on the pain.  I've endured many a painful procedure in the name of vanity and I typically use my esthetician and friend, Carri, as a barometer.  Carri does hair, permanent makeup, as well as works in a plastic surgery office where she's seen it all.  I trusted Carri to tattoo my eyeliner, eye brows, and lips because she told me I would love it (and I do) and that it wasn't too painful (and it wasn't).  Yesterday she kindly informed me that Brazilian laser hair removal will "hurt like hell".  Seriously??  Private part hair removal hurts worse than a face tattoo? Awesome!  Just what I want to do with my weekend...be laid up on the couch with a bag of frozen peas between my legs.  I guess there are worse things.  Will I be able to go to Trevor's Bootcamp Friday morning without crying over my burned vagina?  "Trevor, do you have a modification for walking?"  Maybe it will hurt so bad I'll lose my appetite?  A girl can dream.  I've decided to stop apologizing for the TMI in these posts.  If you're still reading this...it's on you.  I'm going to grow a pair and find courage in knowing that Mike Tyson stamped his bravery in the form of a tribal face tattoo for everyone to see while in a few short months, my bravery will be tucked neatly and discreetly behind my boy short tankini (which provides full tochas coverage).  Wish me luck and if I'm limping around this weekend, you'll know why.        

Hump Day Food & Fitness Journal

Today was a pretty good day.  (Allowing 100-200 extra calories for 2 workouts)

Breakfast: Jimmy Dean's DeLite Breakfast Sandwich-English muffin, egg white, piece of cheese (I ditch the Canadian bacon)-200 cal

Workout: Interval run on treadmill-3 min at 6.5 speed, 1 min at 8.0, :30 at 5.0 repeat this combination until I reached a 5k or 3.2 mi

Snack: Starbucks Latte w/1 pump white mocha, non-fat, no whip-145 cal

Lunch: Smoothie King Vanilla Lean 1 Protein Smoothie-273 cal

Snack: Spinach Salad with cherub tomatoes, grilled corn cut off cob, fresh grated pram, few pistachios, and 2 tbsp Newman's roasted garlic balsamic lite-129 cal

Workout: Lift class with Lee Fenwick 4:30-5:30 at Burn

Misc pre-dinner munching:  15 Trader Joe's rice crackers (compliments of Sarah Kelly, thanks, those are YUMMY!), a few wasabi peas, and 3 bites of frozen stir fry we threw out cause it was gross-100 cal

Dinner:  Spinach Salad (1 1/2-2 cups baby spinach), 7 cherub tomatoes, 1 large white mushroom, 1/4 cup 2% mozzarella cheese, heaping tbsp shelled pistachios, 3 tbsp grilled corn cut off cob,  1 Jennie-O All Natural Turkey Burger 95/5 cut up on salad (burger has 160 cal, 5 fat, 30 grams protein...AWESOME & found in freezer section near meat at Grocery Store)
TOTAL-352 cal

8 oz white wine-190 cal

Total Daily Calories: 1,457