happy hallow's eve!

hey y'all! i didn't mean to disappear on ya... just haven't had much to blog about!
so, last week i mentioned that i was going to try my hardest to do two-a-days on tuesday and thursday. well, tuesday morning rolled around and my alarm went off at 5:40 and i.... turned that bitch off without hesitation! i just CAN'T do it! i really physically can't! and i'm ok with that. but it just means i have to put in a few longer workouts at the gym to make up for it.

i did get my 3 "runs" in. if you can call them runs, ha! i restarted the c25k over, so its more of a jog/walk. but i'll get there! i also did step class on monday and body pump on thursday. this week i'm going to try to get in 4 runs, but my shins are still a little sore from last week, so hopefully they will hold up for me! i freaking hate shins! i'm hoping and praying that once i stick with running consistently the pain will go away. i've never stuck it out and kept it up so i'm thinking that may be the problem. i'm also going to work on strengthening my calves as i know that can be a problem. along with taking an aspirin before my run, stretching a lot better before and after, and icing those babies up post-run. hopefully it will go away within the month. i just gotta stick it out!!

last week i ate very good and stuck to my diet about 90%! on tuesday i went over to heather's with our friend amanda for a girls night. so besides the few glasses of wine i had there, and the pack of skittles i brought over, i was a very good girl. and because of that, i lost another 2 lbs! woohoo! so that's a total of 4 lbs in 2 weeks! i'm hoping to be down another 2 lbs by this weeks weigh-in. i know those 2 lbs will starting dropping to 1 soon enough, but i hope not too soon!

xxoo

last week's weigh-in & weekend recap

hello ladies! hope everyone had a fab weekend!
last friday was weigh-in day... i lost about 2 lbs. i was ok with this for a few different reasons.... the 1st being that i didn't workout much at all. so i wasn't expecting a big loss. the 2nd reason being that i ate a slice of cake thursday at work... and then again that night. and i also had a heavier dinner thursday. sooo 2 lbs wasn't looking that bad to me! i didn't weigh-in this morning but im certain those 2 lbs are back!  here's why:

friday night the babe and i went to chili's. i ordered the "lighter santa fe wrap" with corn on the cob. i only had a few bites of the corn but ate the whole wrap. i just checked the calories for the wrap on chili's website.... 560 calories! yiiiikes. chili's is definitely one of the worse places to eat on a diet. but it's one of our favs! saturday morning we woke up bright and early to head out to the susan komen 5k in new orleans. my shins were super sore friday night and i was worried i wouldn't be able to run. well when i woke up that morning they were still hurting pretty bad. i decided to sit out and wait for everyone to finish. i know that if i would have ran, not only would it have taken me forever because i couldn't even walk fast, but they would be even worse after! and we still had the rest of the day to walk around and hang out! everyone did great! i'm so proud of my friends :) we hung around for a little bit and enjoyed the free beer.

then we headed to one of our favorite spots in the city, the rum house. seriously, if you are in the area you HAVE to try it. you will not be sorry. while there i had 2 yummy fruity rum drinks (1 billion calories each im sure) and some delicious tacos. the majority of the group headed home after lunch, and it was just mike & i and heather and her husband. we walked down to a bar for the boys could finish up the lsu game. then headed home.

once we got home we took a quick nap! it was so glorious :) i woke up and went to pick up dinner. my office bought fundraiser tickets for steak dinners and gave me a couple on friday. it was perfect as i knew i wouldn't want to cook that night! steak, cheesy potatoes, smothered green beans & texas toast! yea, my mouth is watering right now. it was delicious and i ate every bite of it. so that my friends is why i know for sure those 2 lbs are back!

yesterday was spent grocery shopping, cleaning and catching up on the dvr. this week i plan on joining elle noel on her two-a-days on tuesday and thursday. y'all.... this is gonna be really really hard for me. i am not a morning person at all. at all! i'm very much a night owl and go to bed around midnight on work nights. i'll definitely be taking some melatonin tonight and hopefully getting in bed for 10! i'll let ya know how it goes! here is my workout schedule for the week:

monday-
60 minute step class
20 minute on the elliptical

tuesday-
am: 30 min jog
pm: 60 min body pump class

wednesday-
60 min spin class

thursday-
am: 30 min jog
pm: 60 min body pump

friday-
60 min on the elliptical

saturday-
45 min barre class
30 min jog

sunday-
REST


here's to hoping i can stick with this! it's definitely going to be hard!

xxoo

5k talk & a recipe

hello friends! hope everyone is having a good hump day. just wanted to fill you in on a little update. so far this week i've been doing very well with my eating. i've stuck to my daily menus and i'm feeling good! today i'm going to go on a 5k jog to see how long it will take me. saturday heather and i along with some of our friends are doing the susan komen race for a cure 5k in new orleans! i'm really excited and REALLY nervous! i did my first 5k back in april (you can read about it in heather's post) and had only trained for about 2 weeks prior. obviously i knew i wasn't going to run the whole damn thing. but i got out there and did my best, and finished in 46 minutes. (i was shooting for 45 so i was pretty happy!) i pretty much stopped running after that and never continued with the c25k training i was doing. fast forward to julyish... heather mentioned to me that her company was sponsoring the race for a cure and putting together a team. she asked if i wanted to join and i said of course! i would finally start training again! this was something to look forward to and snap me back into running. because i would HAVE to train for it right!?....
welllll i havent. at all! the first week of september i restarted c25k and boy was it HARD! and then guess what happened after that? i didn't run again for about 2 weeks.(!!) i ran mayyybe 2 times then went another week without. so, as you can guess.... i'm in no shape to run a 5k. no one to be mad at but myself! i guess i'll shoot for 50 minutes this time? i'm pretty damn disappointed in myself for not sticking to it back in april. but whats done is done. and i'm not stopping this time! i'm planning on running the middendorf's annual 5k on novemeber 17th and i'd like to improve my time a good bit by then!

ok, i have a very yummy and simple recipe for y'all! i ate this monday and tuesday for lunch. i threw it together a few weeks ago and i'm now hooked!

spicy tuna lettuce wraps:

1 package of chunk light tuna (i like to use the starkist 80 calorie pouch packs)
1/4 cubed avocado
2 tbsp sriracha sauce
chopped purple onion
lime juice (enough to add flavor, don't want it too mushy)
salt to taste
butter lettuce leaves (comes as a head of lettuce in a plastic container)

mix all ingredients. distribute evenly into 3-4 lettuce leaves and enjoy! sooo good and simple simple simple! it's around 170 calories, perfect for a light lunch! let me know if you try it!

my big fat "fat" story

i didnt grow up in a healthy eating household. my mom very rarely cooked and when she did it was something bad. we had takeout almost everyday of the week. chinese, popeyes chicken, mcdonalds... we had it all. my parents split up when i was 8 years old. i dont really remember how i felt about food before that. i was a kid, i ate when i was hungry and then ran off those calories outside. it never was really an issue. looking back at pictures, i was an average sized child. when my parents split up, we moved an hour away to my grandparents house. thats where the problem began. living with a full blooded italian grandmaw. but man did i enjoy it! what is it about grandparents? they always want you to eat, eat, eat! (still to this day, when i visit her she trys to give me everything in her fridge.)

since then i've always been the bigger girl. (15-20 lbs overweight) in middle school i was a size 8 while all the other girls were a 2. i've never been tiny. in high school i was again the bigger girl. of course i dont mean the biggest girl in the room, but i've always been bigger than the majority of my friends. i never really got picked on for my size, which im very thankful for of course. (but maybe if i had, i would have done something about it back then. probably not.) high school is where i really started feeling down on myself. i definitely was not happy with my body and often compared myself to others. when my high school boyfriend and i broke up the first time i was heartbroken. i barely ate anything and even went through a little stage of bulimia. we got back together for awhile but ended things for good shortly after. this breakup was not like the last, i definitely ate my feelings this time. i gained the 15 lbs back that i had lost the first time. a few months later i started seeing a new guy and gained another 15 lbs in happy relationship weight. we dated for over 2 years and during that time i gained another 10-15 lbs while working at a pizza place. at this time i was the biggest i had ever been. close to 170 (i'm 5ft). me and that boyfriend eventually broke up and i had lost a little bit of weight, maybe 10 lbs. i was 18 years old and started going out every night and drinking, eating fast food at 2am and sleeping all day. doing no physical activity what so ever.  i dont know how i didnt blow up this time around! i even managed to lose a little bit, about 10 lbs. this is around the time i met mike. i was smitten :) i was really in love with him from very early on and we were happy. but we had a very very rocky relationship in the beginning. we broke up around 5-6 times in the first 2 years. so as you can imagine, my weight went up and down as did our roller coaster relationship. we've been together for over 7 years now (march will make 8) and im now 26.

 over the course of ages 18-26 i have tried pretty much every diet out there. adkins, southbeach, weight watchers, 17 day diet and diet pills. the last time we broke up which was early 2007 i got down to my lowest adult weight, 138, by using diet pills and working out a couple times a week. i was finally feeling good about myself! i wanted to lose a little bit more, maybe 10-15 lbs but i was really happy. well we ended up reuniting and so did my weight and i. in early 2009 me and mike along with 2 of our friends booked a cruise. my friend tiffini is petitie and i didnt not want to be standing next to that skinny bitch in a bikini! from march-may of that year i lost 20 lbs with the help of diet pills (phentermine). then we went on the cruise and ate and drank for 7 days straight. once we got back i kept most of it off but by the end of the year i was back up to 160 again. between then and now i've lost and gained the same 10 lbs over and over again. in novemeber of last year i did the 17 day diet. i have to say, this is a really great diet. i lost 13 lbs (the healthy way for a change!) in about 4 weeks. i was feeling good again! i had about 15 more lbs i wanted to lose until i could feel comfortable and confident. but thanksgiving came.... and then christmas... you get the hint. holiday food!  i gained that weight back.

so here i am. 26 years old. fat & unhappy. i really want and NEED to do something for good this time. i want to be fit, healthy & happy. i want to give mike the hot girlfriend he deserves. i want to feel good about myself and be able to wear the clothes i want. i want to be the fit girl and not the big girl! i need help. i need encouragement. i NEED CHANGE. i need to make this lifestyle change and keep it off for good. i cant be unhappy and unhealthy another day. according to my bmi i am considered obese. i'd like to lose a total of 30 lbs. i'd have to lose almost 20 lbs to be in the overweight category and 40 lbs to be in the normal category. but its not really about the number to me. my first goal is 15 lbs by january 1st (trying to be realistic with the holidays coming up).
so, here we go again.....

{lighter} baked ziti

who doesnt love italian food? my mom and her side of the family are 100% italian, so i have definitely had my share growing up. normally it was spaghetti and meatballs (EVERY sunday!) lasagna, fried meats, fried veggies and bread. carbs carbs & more carbs. i've actually never had baked ziti until i made it a few months ago. it is normally made with beef & ricotta cheese. while i looove ricotta cheese, mike hates it. so i found a recipe that uses sour cream instead and it turned out very good. this time around i wanted to lighten it up even more. instead of 1 lb of ground beef i used 1/2 lb ground pork and 1/2 lb ground turkey. it was just as good! the pork is 200 calories less than the turkey and has less than 1/2 of the fat! i had no idea ground pork was so lean. here's what you will need:


2- 26 oz jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce (mine were 24 oz each)
** since i was short 4 oz of sauce, next time i will add a small can of tomato sauce.
1 16 oz box of penne noddles (mine was only 14)
1 1/2 cups of sour cream
1 pkg of shredded mozzarella cheese
6 slices of provolone cheese
1/2 lb of ground turkey
1/2 lb of ground pork
1/3 cup of parmesan cheese
1/2 of a chopped white onion
1 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS-
add olive oil to pan and saute onions until golden brown, set aside. add pork and turkey and cook until done. add in both jars of sauce and onions, simmer for 15 minutes. while sauce is simmering, preheat oven to 350 and cook noddles until done. grease a baking dish and layer: 1/2 noodles, provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining noodles, mozzarella and remaining sauce. bake in oven for 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

sprinkle w/ parmasean cheese. cut into equal servings and enjoy!

now, i cut mine into 8 servings. mike of course eats more than me, so i made 4 of the servings equal for me and the other 4 equal for him. you could get 10 meals out of this easily. just depends on how much you want to eat!

here's the nutritional value:
*8oz ground turkey
540 cals, 40 fat, 0 carb, 0 fiber, 42 protein
*8oz ground pork
340 cals, 18 fat, 0 carb, 0 fiber, 40 protein
*24oz tomato basil garlic prego
400 cals, 12.5 fat, 60 carbs, 15 fat, 15 protein
*24oz italian sausage garlic prego
450 cals, 15fat, 65 carbs, 15 fat, 15 protein
*14 oz penne smart taste
1020 cals, 3 fat, 240 carbs, 30 fat, 36 protein
*1 1/2 cups kraft fat free sour cream
360 cals, 0 fat, 60 carbs, 0 fat, 24 protein
*1 pkg g.f. shredded mozz part skim
640 cals, 48 fat, 4 carbs, 0 fat, 56 protein
*6 slices g.f. sliced provolone
420 cals, 30 fat, 0 carbs, 0 fat, 30 protein
(i forgot to add the olive oil & parm cheese)
that should equal to about 500 calories per serving if its cut into 8 servings.
let me know if you try this recipe! enjoy :)
xxoo

ww's weigh-in: week 8

.4lbs lost. at this point i honestly have barely been trying. life is just getting in the way too much right now. going out to eat, picking up something quick for dinner. i was also sick a couple days last week so i didnt workout my normal 4 days and the times i did i took it easy. so im just happy i didnt gain! i cant let excuses get in the way anymore though. and i definitely need to try harder. we are leaving next wednesday for our trip and when we get back i need to be hardcore with my workouts and stricter with my diet. i will definitely be enjoying some delicious food in nashville next week, but i do plan on working out at least twice at our timeshares gym. that way i will feel at least a little less guilty about the fried chicken and bbq im hoping to eat :)

xxoo

ww's weigh-in: week 6

2.5 gain. a gain?? a GAIN??? yea, it pretty much blows. im very disappointed. i knew i would have a gain this week but not this much! i did it to myself though. alcohol? yep i drank it. late night bacon cheese fries dipped in ranch? yep i ate it. carrot cake cheesecake? yeppp, had that too. and all within 24 hrs. and all only 24 hrs before i had to weigh in. i think i need to change my weigh in days to friday instead of monday! i normally do very good mon-fri and then BAM! piggy mcpigg comes out to play. then i have no time to make up for it before my weigh in. i would be lying if i said i wasnt going to drink this weekend. you know that little thing called mardi gras? well its this weekend and its kind of a big deal to us louisianans. so we will be down in the french quarter drinking hand grenades, hurricanes and topping it all off with a couple lucky dogs. at least im being honest with myself right? i guess ill just have to be extra good until the weekend. because i cant NOT drink at mardi gras... right? i still have 3 mondays to weigh in before our trip so there is still time! im going to step up my workout this week also. here goes nothing!

xxoo

ww's weigh-in: week 5

image from weheartit

on monday january 17th i started weight watcher's. i didnt sign up or anything, im just doing it on my own. im following the older program... not the one that just came out. i have one of those little hand held calculators that tells you how many points something is and i bought a ww cookbook with over 500 recipes in it for dinner. to save us from spending a butt load and me having to cook every night, we eat the leftovers the next night instead of for lunch. i normally either eat a turkey sandwich or a frozen "smart ones" meal for lunch. it has the points right on the front! sooo easy! its a pretty easy program to follow. i really like it! i like that i can still eat "bad" food, just in small portions. and of course not too often! here is my weigh-in record so far:

week 1: 3.4 lbs lost
week 2: .6 lb gain
week 3: 1.6 lb loss
week 4: 1 lb loss
week 5: 3.6 lb loss

total = 9 lb loss

i really really wanted to lose 10 lbs by my 4th weigh in, so im pretty disappointed that im STILL not there. but thats also because i have been eating all my extra points every week (you get 32 extra points every week to use as you wish) and havent been pushing myself as much as i could at the gym. and i have nooo idea how i lost 3.6 this past week! i had a ton of mexican food & margaritas and a couple pieces of pizza this week. so if i can do all that and have that big of a loss, theres no reason to get discouraged! me and mike are going to nashville on march 23-26 to celebrate our 6 yr anniversary. i would LOVE to get to 15 lb loss by then. that leaves me 4 weeks. I.CAN.DO.THIS. im going to cut out all alcohol until then and really try not to use those damn extra points! im going to do a weight-in post every monday so y'all can follow along with me. wish me luck :)

xxoo