Skinny Bitch in Atlanta

There's this skinny bitch in Atlanta who stays up until late hours of the night thinking how she can demoralize and degrade Americans. She has a cushy job, so she spends 1-2 hours per day in the gym.

"Like! Oh my God! I just love going the gym!" she said.

She works for the CDC and came up with the latest BMI regulations:

As it turns out, at the new year, my weight was such that I was considered "OBESE." Now, I'm just considered "OVERWEIGHT." To be considered "NORMAL," I need to be AT OR BELOW 174lbs (more than 35lb weight loss.) 

You can take that 3lb purple barbell and shove it up your anorexic little..!

Bloated

It's been a pretty good week so far! I've exercised more this week than I have previous weeks (4+ total hours of cardio and weight training) on The Plan to really push my metabolism in light of last week's meager loss.

Even so, I feel bloated. I know I'm not supposed to weigh in during the week but I did and my weight was up a bit.

I fear I'm not going to have a good weigh in on Friday. I am really hoping to be at my next goal (190lbs) by St. Patrick's day.

Theories for being bloated:
- Metabolism slowing down
- Gain in muscle?
- More salt than previous weeks? I have been eating nuts
- Too much sugar? I realized that the the only thing I'm having with sugar in it is my yogurt. I thought because the Chobani yogurt was 0% fat that it would be "healthy"--not with 19g of sugar

I'm a bit discouraged.

Poem II: A letter to G

Dear G,

You are leaving and I'm not going to miss you
Yes. We partied together. Had some amazing meals!
Pizza and lasagna and sushi together
The times we had carousing the town
I  will  never  forget

But you are ugly and you make me feel bad
So you have to go and I never want to see you again

MeV

Sample Dinner: Biryani

This meal came out particularly well. First I fried 1 full egg and 2 egg whites and set the egg aside. In the same pan I friend 1.5 cups Trader Joe's biryani for a few minutes while I microwaved a container of frozen vegetables. I threw them all together for a delicious, not too fattening meal!

Week 7 Weigh-In: Down Another 1.2 lbs

Meh. Not a big loss this week. Just a puny 1.2 lbs. Unlike last week when I lost 2.6 lbs, I do deserve the puny loss. I partied both Friday and Saturday nights. I was crap each of the following days. I also ate out (on a date!) on Wednesday night and went over my points.

I lost focus. But I got up the next day and got back on it.

Oddly, to see how far off I was, I weighed in on Sunday and on Wednesday. On Sunday, I was really bloated and weighed in about 5 lbs heavier than this morning. Wednesday morning and was 2 lbs or so lighter than today. So there have been some pretty major fluctuations in my weight this week.


I'm down 13.4 lbs and as of this morning, I'm halfway through my program!

Being so close to the 190 mark on Wednesday, I got excited thinking about my next non-food reward. I've decided that it will be a small tattoo on my upper right chest. It's going to be of a segno.

Definition: The musical term segno – Italian for “sign” – refers to a symbol involved in a complex system of musical repeats. 

Here's what it looks like:

Not all of my tattoos will be musical in nature. I saw this recently on a piece we are doing for Illuminati and liked the fluidity of it. It's kind of fun to me in that it's a "symbol" of sign. Also, this denotes "complex repeat." Let's face it, life is a complex systems of repeats, i.e. the daily routine.

What went well

- Despite being in a bad mood for a couple of days, I stuck with it!
- 4 days of aerobic activity (choreography practice DOES count as I burned 400 calories in 1.5 hours!)

What needs improvement

- Get a full 8 hours of sleep each night
- No more 2 night party weekends

- Meet the 3,000 Nike+ Fuel point goal every day
- 6 days of "A-" or better (one cheat day is cool)

Week 6 Weigh-In: Down Another 2.6 lbs

Wow! I'm down another 2.6lbs this week on The Plan. While I'm content with the loss, I have to say I'm a bit surprised as well. I started the diet week with friends in town from Cincinnati and was not careful about eating/drinking for two meals. Then I didn't make my 3K Nike Fuel Bank goal on Monday (I was watching a movie and forgot about it.) Then I had some stress over my house sale and drank some beer (still more or less within my points.) I only had three "A" days out of 7.

I don't really deserve the loss, but I'll take it! So, I'm down 12.2 lbs and just a week from being halfway through my program! I have to say this has been the most aggressive and consistent eating/exercise plan I've ever done.

What went well

- I stayed on the plan

- Despite being in a bad mood for a couple of days, I stuck with it!

What needs improvement

- Get a full 8 hours of sleep each night

- Meet the 3,000 Nike+ Fuel point goal every day (I missed the first day because I didn't feel well and it was very cold and snowy outside.)
- 6 days of "A-" or better (one cheat day is cool)

Focus!

With friends visiting over the weekend, it was not possible to completely diet. Having said that, my cheat period was contained to roughly 24 hours. The greasy empanada lunch on Saturday got me craving the old fatty food. And I briefly considered falling off the wagon again on Sunday.

But I woke up Sunday and got back on The Plan. I had a nice 35 minute cardio workout before singing with Illuminati at a church in Bexley. I was very cautious as to what I ate yesterday.

I peeked at the scale this morning (to get an idea of the damage, if any.) It read 199.4. I'm down 0.6 lbs over the weekend (and officially below the 200lb mark!) I'm going to again be very focused this week and hope to have a good weigh in on Friday.

Moral of the story: Don't beat yourself up when you fall from grace. Just get back on track and regain focus.

Week 5 Weigh-In: Down Another 2.0 lbs

I'm down another 2.0 lbs this week on The Plan. I'm happy with this because it puts me at a 2 year low in terms of weight. I figure I was at 200 lbs about 2 years ago when I was living in Cincinnati doing contract work here in Columbus. (I was on an expense account and could eat ANYTHING I wanted. Naturally, I put on 5lbs in 7 months...) So, I'm down 9.6! I can ALMOST say that I'm down 10 lbs!

I was joking with people yesterday that I was hoping to lose 2.2 lbs or MORE to get me below the psychological 200lb mark. I've realized that I can and WILL do it this time. I will be at 185ish (with muscle) this spring.

The weight loss is very noticeable in my gut. There had been certain shirts that I had not been able to wear because of my gut. I put them on with no problems now. Strangely, I have not seen so much difference in my pants size. I may retain my J' Lo butt after all!

The routine of eating soup and individual package of hummus (with carrots and/or celery) has worked out very well. The bean and veggie soup I made last week was perfect and filling. I ate it 5 days in a row for lunch without complaint. While I don't want to get bored with soup, if this works, I should stick with it!

What went well

- I stayed on the plan

- My alcohol consumption is very low. Sensible snacks, not so many carbs

- Despite being in a bad mood for a couple of days, I stuck with it!

What needs improvement

- Get a full 8 hours of sleep each night

- Meet the 3,000 Nike+ Fuel point goal every day (I missed the first day because I didn't feel well and it was very cold and snowy outside.)
- 6 days of "A-" or better (one cheat day is cool)

Lunch Temptations at Work

I LOVE food. That is the main reason why I am fat!

The company cafeteria in my building is cool in that it has rotating guest vendors most days. Two coworkers told me of two different veggie friendly options for today: Indian (Saag paneer and/or garbanzo bean dishes over rice with nan) and Mediterranean (Falafel over a salad with hummus and veggies.)

So, I could either eat the soup and carrots/hummus OR splurge on the food from the cafeteria.

I thought of myself at the pool at the campground, skinny. Then I went to the fridge on my floor to heat up my soup.

It's not that I'm punishing myself or denying myself food I love. I'm making a short-term decision maintain my control and to eat alternative things (that I still like a lot) to get to my goal.

Besides, I do have a cheat night coming up on Saturday! :)

Sample Dinner

Quinoa, roasted succotash with jalapeño, veggie burger with avocado and roasted cauliflower.

TWO Easy Low-Preparation Items to Eat

I spent a lot of the weekend organizing and working on reformatting my computer, so while I was around at home, I did have time for heavy cooking. I made two EASY items (per my 14 week contract to myself:)


1. Quinoa - Reading the back of the quinoa packet, they suggested making it in the rice cooker! No way! I had to try. I put 2 cups quinoa and 4 cups water into the rice cooker. 45 minutes later, it was done! Sweet! (Last time I made quinoa was a failure, so this approach is a GREAT find!)

2. Roasted Succotash with Jalapeño - Super easy:

Ingredients

1 Bag frozen Succotash (16 oz?)

1 large onion

2 jalapeños

1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Partially defrost the frozen Succotash 3 min at 50% in microwave.

3. Place Succotash in a mixing bowl.

4. Chop 1 large onion and add to bowl.

5. Devein and deseed jalapeños, chop finely and add to bowl.

6. Stir in olive oil.

7. Spread ingredients over large clear Pyrex dish

8. Cook for 40-60 minutes stirring halfway in-between until toasted. 

Week 4 Weigh-In: Down 2.4 lbs

I'm down another 2.4 lbs this week on The Plan. Things are going well. I was a bit concerned I would not lose this much because I started the week off badly and was a bit over my points via beer at the OSU basketball game on Tuesday. Plus, I had stresses at work. Still, I largely stayed on plan!

What went well

- I stayed on the plan

- My alcohol consumption is very low. Sensible snacks, not so many carbs

- I was better about getting enough sleep

What needs improvement

- Stay at 32 pts. Don't overeat!

- Get a full 8 hours of sleep each night

- Meet the 3,000 Nike+ Fuel point goal every day