Had a Female Dr appt yesterday…JOY! Nothing like being felt up by my RN. She’s really nice though. Since my doctor is so popular, I normally go to her RN because she has more availability. It would have been November before I could get in to see the actual doctor! Me and Judy (RN) talked about my weight loss with diet and exercise. She said it sounds like I have a good idea of what to do…Yay me!

We also bonded by talking about the runs we both did. Her a half marathon of “Rocking in Seattle” or something like that, a run from Tukwila to Seattle, and me doing Bloomsday with Justin. She told me to not get depressed about gaining the weight back after Bloomsday, so that was nice. I also can never place it, but Judy reminds me of someone I know. Same type of mannerisms… ah well. Guess I’ll forget after a day or two until I see her next. I am just hoping my results come back fine…I’ve had a few abnormal results over the last 4 years. The abnormal cells go away by themselves each time, but I hope this year is normal. That would be nice to not have an abnormal every two years…ugh.

Breakfast today was Grape nuts with a banana and a fiber one bar (pretty sure that makes my fiber for the day up to 25++ grams…woo me!

Lunch is with Carly and Krista somewhere in B-town. I’m hoping to talk her into Subway, since I know the calories I’m consuming there. If nothing else, maybe Red Robin (they have a full nutritional guide as well).

Today you get to help me make my decision on dinner! I have a few ideas for you to choose from. I could make:

1. Chicken with Green Giant Steamer veggie packet over whole wheat pasta
2. Beef stew chunks with cooked veggies (didn’t do this last night) with a small side of whole wheat pasta
3. Whole wheat pasta with low-fat marinara sauce (so whole wheat, low-fat spaghetti) with a side of Green Giant Steamer veggies and/or salad
4. Turkey Panini with low-fat cheese, side of fruit and raw veggies/Green Giant Steamer veggies

What is your vote?

So my breakfast this morning is as follows:

• Half a pomegranate
• Yogurt with Grape nuts mixed in
• 1/3 cup of Grape nuts with 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1 cup skim milk

My mid-morning snack will probably be a banana + fiber one bar. Lunch is a turkey sandwich made at home with lettuce, light mayo and mustard. at 2 I have a female Dr appt…oh JOY! Then when I get back, I’ll have my afternoon snack of canned pears (maybe only half the can, depending on caloric and fat intake).

Now…I had a screw-up and had to take out a part that I had in the blog earlier…Actually, I will just make it a blockquote because I will use it tomorrow:

Today you get to help me make my decision on dinner! I have a few ideas for you to choose from. I could make:

1. Chicken with Green Giant Steamer veggie packet over whole wheat pasta
2. Beef stew chunks with cooked veggies (didn’t do this last night) with a small side of whole wheat pasta
3. Whole wheat pasta with low-fat marinara sauce (so whole wheat, low-fat spaghetti) with a side of Green Giant Steamer veggies and/or salad
4. Turkey Panini with low-fat cheese, side of fruit and raw veggies/Green Giant Steamer veggies

What is your vote?

I actually have dinner plans each Friday with my friend Paul from work. He has a Doctor appointment after work at 6, so between 5-6 we go to get some Mediterranean food (I introduced him and now have created a monster who loves lamb…my bad). I am going to get either a Gyro Salad or Chicken Souvlaki, switch it up a bit from the regular Gyro I tend to get. Or I guess I could even get the Hummus plate along with the Greek Salad…that may be quite delish. I guess I’ll decide on that later.

1. Gyro Salad (Lamb & Beef mix on top of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olives, feta cheese, topped with tzatziki sauce)
2. Chicken Souvlaki (Freshly grilled chunks of marinated chicken on a Greek salad, served with tzatziki sauce, french fries and warm pita bread – Paul bought fries last time so I figure he can eat those if I get that plate)
3. Hummus and Greek Salad (Hummus served with warm pita bread, salad = Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, feta cheese and olives)

Which of those three would you choose?

When I got back to the 425, I went grocery shopping with Britt… HEALTHY FOOD IS EXPENSIVE! I always knew that, but it is hard to be a frugal gal when you have to let out the wallet for the good stuff. I was quite surprised though, I didn’t break $100, and I figured I would. Now, for my most boring post ever, I am going to write my grocery list out…because I’m quite proud that I only bought one (possibly two if you count diet soda) truly unhealthy thing!

• Diet Soda
• Small bag of Frito Chili Cheese chips (shared with Britt)
• Head of Iceberg Lettuce
• 2 Cucumbers
• 2 bags organic baby carrots
• 3 Anjou Pears
• 3 Tomatoes
• Green Leaf Lettuce
• 3 Zucchini
• 4 Bananas
• 3 Green Giant Vegetable Steamers (all around 45 calories per serving (3 servings a piece). Delish.)
• 2 Pomegranates
• 7 Light Yogurts (fat free)
• 2 boxes of Fiber One granola bars
• 1 Box Grape Nuts cereal
• Gallon of Skim Milk
• 5 Lean Cuisine meals (quick on the goes for lunch at work)
• Shrimp (yum!)
• Oatmeal
• 2 Cans of Pears
• Cottage Cheese
• 2 6-packs of Applesauce
• Grape Juice Concentrate
• Progresso Soups (2) + One Clam Chowder (for a cold day)
• Apple Juice Concentrate
• Light Fruit Cocktail Canned (2) – Good for snack in evenings/afternoons
• Orowheat Double Fiber Bread

PHEW! It is a chore to decipher receipt words!

Now, to add more boring to boring, my food list for today:

Breakfast was a serving and a half of oatmeal with a little brown sugar + Banana. Mid morning snack was a pear. I’m about to go grab my lunch of carrots, Tuna fish sandwich and a small bag of pretzels. Afternoon snack may be fiber one bar or some such thing. Maybe some more carrots. Dinner will be….hmm…dunno yet! But I do know I have many MANY tasty things at home to prepare. I haven’t had any real meat in a few days, so I may take out my steak cubes and sauteé them along with some zucchini, tomatoes and mushrooms. Add a dollop of fat free sour cream and it is delicious. A side salad and we’re set for dinner!

What are you having for dinner tonight?

Today for food I had Grapenuts for breakfast along with fruit, lunch was a Caesar salad (only half the dressing – dipped lettuce instead of pouring over top) with a serving of progresso Light Chicken Noodle Soup. Have drank about 3 Nalgene bottles of water thus far.

Tomorrow, after the DirecTV guy leaves, I’m packing up my car and heading off to the hometown. Call me crazy, but my girlfriends are having a little Wine and Pumpkin sleepover thing and I couldn’t resist going. We’re going to drink wine, carve pumpkins and just have an all-around dandy time! Excited. Especially since the two who had the idea are always the two hardest friends to get together with while at home. So I’m exceptionally happy now. Me and my 3 girlfriends. Should be fun. I told Megan that we should carve out some mini pumpkins and pour some pumpkin beer in and drink from it! Not sure how that’ll turn out. Depending on when I get into town, if Megan is free, we may go horseback riding! And if she is not free, I may meet N* for late lunch and/or early drinks. Good times! Also found out that I have the whole week of Christmas off this year…FOR SURE. That made my month.

Most people look at the lump sum of how much they have to lose and become overwhelmed by the number. Just keep setting those small goals, whether it be with your running, your weight loss or your diet because there’s gonna be times when you might just say screw it, but if you have your weekly and monthly goals written in a notebook or on your fridge all you have to do is look at them and remember what you’re aiming for.

So first thing is your nutrition, probably the number one killer for why people cant lose weight. Your breakfast lunch and dinner sound fine but I’m pretty sure its not enough calories for you. Try not to drop below 1500 cal. Your goal should be between 1500-1700 a day especially since your working out a couple days a week. If you drop too low your body basically goes into starvation mode and holds onto your body fat and if it doesn’t have enough nutrition from food your muscle tone is the first thing to go. No bueno. Try to split your calories up into 5-6 meals a day- that’s breakfast, lunch and dinner and then snacks in between which are basically just smaller meals like yogurt and fruit, or a small chicken salad, or some cottage cheese with fruit. A good way to do it is write out your day starting with breakfast and every three hours plan a meal then set reminders in your phone for every 3 hours so you’ll know u have to eat again. For the first couple weeks, write down everything you eat in a food diary (include calories, protein, and fat, try to keep your sodium and sugar intake low). It’ll also help hold you accountable and make you see how many calories you’re taking in.

For your workouts try to run 6x a week for an hour and lift weights (if you haven’t started already) 3-4x a week for 30 min. Running is by far one of the best ways to lean up and lose body fat. But lifting weights is going to help u become stronger for running and build up muscle which inevitably will help you lose more body fat which is the ultimate goal. I don’t care what that scale says, if you’ve dropped 20lbs but its all muscle that’s a sad day. : ( Write down your running program for the week so say your doing an hour of running warm up for 5 min at 3.5 then run for 10 min @ 5.0 w/ a 2 incline then speed walk at 4.0 for 2min then back up to 5.0 for 10 min etc. That way you know how you’re progressing in your running.

Make sure your pushing yourself and get out and run on the streets as often as your can. It challenges your joints and muscles more when you’re running outside then if you’re running on the treadmill. I know you’re busy, but shoot for getting out on the track or outside once a week.

I hope this helps. If you need help with workouts or anything let me know, it’s not a problem. Oh, only weigh yourself once a week. Same time, right in the morning preferably, and if you can, measure yourself every three weeks. It’s more accurate then just weighing yourself. Many times the scale wont change but measurements will. Keep up the good work and remember, don’t lose sight of your goals!

Soooo, that is what Andrea has to say.. Any thoughts? I think what I’ll do is tonight, after I get done with my workout, I’ll go home, write out a schedule for food intake, and plan my meals for the week (maybe this will become a Sunday evening ritual?), then go shopping at Fred Meyers (unless anyone has a pointer for some good, yet inexpensive, produce??). The meal plan I had told her about, that she said would be too little calories for me, would be Cereal for breakfast with some fruit, a sandwich for lunch accompanied by a salad or fresh veggies, then soup, some veggies, and possibly a serving of whole wheat or lean protein for dinner. So Andrea said to add in some small meals between each.

What do you think about this for my first week (obviously subject to change if I get super bored with some foods):

Breakfast: Cereal (healthy like Grape nuts or Go Lean Crunch) & Fruit

Mid-Morning Snack: Yogurt & Fruit or Cottage Cheese and Fruit

Lunch: Type of sandwich, veggies, maybe glass of milk

Mid-Afternoon Snack: Salad of some sort. Even if I did an egg-salad w/ fat free mayo, that would be good.

Dinner: Soup with a side of veggies, whole wheat bread or pasta and something else should I feel the need.

This is all bare bones, because I would mix and match according to how much protein, veggies, fruit, & whole grains I have in a day. Any thoughts?

I had a fun filled weekend with Emily, Kristen & Chad.

Saturday started at Star Life Cafe in the U-Dist w/ Emily, then we were off to the Troll and then to the Zoo. Very interesting. Lots of pictures!

After leaving Emily’s, I headed off to W. Seattle for dinner and drinks with Kristen. We went to a place called Talarico’s and shared a Greek Salad and each had a slice of their pizza… It was thin crust and loaded with mushrooms & banana peppers, with some Peperoni as well. It was quite delicious. Also was a 14″ slice of pizza…insane!

We then went to a pub called “The Beveridge”, where we met up with Ephriam, Kristen’s current interest, had a beer, watched the UW game, and chatted. Then, these two guys came and sat at our table and started talking to the three of us. Caleb and Anders. Both so cute and nice. Anders had to leave to catch the Ferry back to Vashon, but then Caleb came back, apparently looking for the 3 of us, and found us at the bar across the street called “Feedback”. He and I played some Mrs. Pacman and chatted. He was pretty amazing. About 6’4″, great smile, 32, loan officer…sigh. Ephriam even said he had asked about me. I gave him my number but I’m pretty sure I inverted the numbers…stupid stupid me. I’m so sad about it now.

Sunday Chad and I met in Redmond and saw the movie “Invention of Lying”. It was quite funny, but in a different way. A world in which everyone told the brutally honest truth? No thank you…haha although a little MORE honesty would be nice.

Monday I wasn’t feeling well but came into work anyhow. I have a slight sinus infection. Made me feel REAL great at work. So I took off early Monday afternoon, and took yesterday off to recuperate. Feel much better now. I irrigated my sinuses with a neti pot and all that. Good times.

So here I am today. At work. Yay me. And FINALLY writing again. Sorry about my absence, all.

Tomorrow I have plans with Emily. We’re heading to Starlife Cafe in U District, then off to the Fremont Troll, as I’ve STILL never seen it, and lastly to the Woodland Park zoo! So excited for it. It should be fun!

Sunday I have plans with my amazing friend, and blog-header-designer, Chad. We will be going to lunch and the movie “Invention of Lying“. Very excited for that. I love Ricky Gervais! So I am pretty much looking forward to my whole weekend. The key to the weekend is making healthy food choices, and making sure I get enough activity!!!

Wish me luck, both today and this weekend.

I finally got my internet and cable purchased today!!

This is the first time in over a year and a half of living in the 425 that I will have service of my own! Last year I just tapped off of other people’s wireless… Bad Andrea! Ah well. Should be nice, and I’m getting a killer deal of $84 for internet, DirecTV and a land-line phone (will help with the lack of cell service I have at my apartment)!

Now I will be able to blog at home as well, if I should feel the need! Yay me!

This morning, I woke up late (again) and had to scurry out the door after showering. I have run out of oatmeal, yet again, so I just brought a lean cuisine for breakfast. Not the greatest, but so far it has held me over. Thats good! I have already drank a liter of water, and I had  Subway for lunch with my co-worker/friend Ray! Got a food long Grilled Chicken breast on Wheat with light mayo, pepperoncinis, extra cucumbers, extra tomatoes, light olives, lettuce and salt, pepper, vinegar & oil. Tasty! Around 350-380 calories or so for 1/2 of it. I’ll probably save the other half until I get a hunger pain, or for tomorrow’s lunch, depending. I’m just trying to make sure I stay under 1500 cals.

My dad sent me a text requesting that I eliminate diet soda from my diet…just because of the sugar substitute (aspertame in this case) being horrible for you. I don’t really drink diet soda all that much. Try to limit myself to one a day, but even then, a lot of times I mainly stick to water. Lately it has also been my tea for my colonix. Maybe I’ll see how long I can go without diet soda, starting tomorrow, but that will be hard since it is normally my hunger stomper when I have nothing else to eat for the day… hmmmm…

I do know that part of my stress is learning a product we sell at work (new to me), and then my boss doing a faux-call and me having to sell him on it. If I do well, then I may get the opportunity to sell said product, which will greatly increase my sales each month. Darn. So stressful.

Part of me is stressed because I haven’t had a chance the workout the last 3 days, other than lifting weights here and there, doing some ball exercises, crunches etc. But not much. No cardio. I’m pissed. Tonight, I’m going to get to the workout room and do about 1 hour, if not more, cardio. EVEN if it is just walking. I NEED this…for myself.

My caloric intake has still stayed pretty low, around 1500 each day, which is nice. I think the low-calories is making my body feel more tired than I normally would be, just because it is so used to more calories, and working off that. Now it only has a portion of that. Eventually I’ll be used to it. I also brought little 5 lb weights to work with me. I know its not much, but I figure if I just lift those throughout the day, that may help with toning my arms a bit faster.

I wish I had the money for Lipo sometimes.