Monday, June 28, 2010

This is how I feel today


Thanks to a whirlwind of a weekend, this is how I feel this Monday morning: tired, crabby, tired, want to be left alone, tired.

So much happened this weekend. It was a ton of fun, but it definitely wore me out. Here's a list of things that happened:

1. My company picnic at the zoo.
2. Summerfest.
3. Not the gym.
4. BBQ with the family.
4. Spent 12378569784 hours in the sun and have the sunburn to prove it.
5. Brewer's game.
6. Lots of dog walks.
7. No sleep.
8. Lots of beer.

So, because I just want to be left alone this morning, I'll tell you all about my weekend tomorrow.

For now, I have a busy day of counting down the hours until I can sleep.

Happy Monday!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Cheese fries ...

... will be the ultimate end to this journey of weight loss.

I just know it.

They're so delicious. So cheesy. So irresistible.

Went to the Brewer's game last night (which they won so it was awesome). I had a small dinner beforehand, but wanted to save some calories for a few beers, so I was still hungry.

As we're walking to our seats, my nose catches a wiff of the most glorious smell I've ever smelled.

I follow my nose, and it leads me straight to a tall stack of hot waffle fries smothered in gooey, cheese.

I turn to Matt: "Are you hungry? I'll get some waffle fries and we can share them."

I'll give most of them to Matt. I thought. That way I can have a few and satisfy the graving. I won't eat a ton of them.

Ha. Who was I kidding? It took all my restraint not to lick the cheese off the bottom of the bowl.

Note to self: If I don't buy them, I won't eat them.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

What does this even mean?

Matt and I were out for my friend, Brianna's birthday on Monday night and he ordered a bottle of beer. Does it mean anything when you order a bottle of beer and it shows up like this, with the label upside down? You know, in a "Find a penny, pick it up" kind of way?

I think we're about to hit gold. That's my prediction. Stay tuned to find out.

That same night, we experienced terrible, terrible thunderstorms and were on a tornado watch for most of the night. A tornado actually touched down by the airport and another one a little ways away, taking out quite a few homes.

I hate tornadoes. That should go back to Oklahoma where they came from and never return.

Ya hear me tornadoes? Get out and stay out!

As far as the weekend goes, pretty uneventful. Did a lot of sleeping.


Well, Matt and Jax did a lot of sleeping. Recently, I've been blessed with the unfortunate skill of not being able to sleep in on weekends anymore. It's torture. So, I'm usually up cleaning, grocery shopping, and going to the gym, and Jax takes my place, leaving me really crabby in the afternoon from lack of sleep.

Matt loves when I'm crabby.
Just ask him.

We did have sometime to go out. Friday, went out to a local bar, and I definitely enjoyed myself.

Well, enjoyed myself on Friday. Saturday, was another story. Let's just say I was a little disappointed in myself for enjoying myself so much on Friday.


Here's me with my friends Michelle and Megan. We had a blast.


On another note, remember last week when I was sick? Well, that darned cough I had turned into a bronchial infection.

Believe me, it's as sexy as it sounds.

And, always being the coolest kid around, I'm now finding relief in an inhaler several times a day. It's helping the cough, for sure, but it's not helping my cool points.

As far as the weight goes, I've been working hard and it shows.

130.6!!!

I'm really excited to hit below 130. I feel like weighing 12-(insert any number between 0-9, pick something closer to 0 if you love me), is so much less then 130.

It's like one of those things, like 23 seems so much older than 22.

Know what I'm sayin'?

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The 134.4 blues

Apparently my body is very comfortable weighing 134.4 pounds.

Weighed myself at the gym yesterday and that’s what I came in at.

So, just shows I need to step it up, which I haven’t been doing these past few weeks. Also, I haven’t been getting to the gym very much since I wasn’t feeling well last week and over the weekend just decided not to make the time for it.

Lesson learned. Priorities re-aligned.

I’m going to try to step it up these next few weeks. I’m officially setting the small goal of being under 130 by the end of June. So, that will require just over a pound for the next three weeks.

I can, no I will do it!!!

Now, just have to practice my restraint before the inevitably tempting Father’s Day brunch.

I’m mentally preparing as we speak.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

As my father would say …

Life’s not fair.

And, I would say it’s not fair that I have a much slower metabolism than some of my friends, boyfriend, and definitely my dog. And, yes, I am whining about it. Right now. Hmph….

Seriously, it’s not fair that some people can eat whatever they want and it goes right through them, instead of straight to their hips/thighs/midsections. It’s especially difficult when you live with and cook with someone who can eat anything and doesn’t gain a pound! Argh!!!

Oh well, I’m over it.

And, definitely think this is a great time to thank all my friends and family for being so helpful, supportive, and encouraging while I’ve been trying to lose weight.

I’d like to thank my dog, Jax for needing so many walks, making it impossible to just sit still or take a night off.
I'd like to thank the Academy ... ok, not them, they've done nothing. I’d like to thank every single friend and family member that has noticed my weight loss. Every time someone notices and comments, I’m inspired to keep going. I’d like to thank Matt for eating every healthy thing I make for dinner, and not complaining that it’s not cheeseburgers, country-fried chicken, or something else fatty but definitely delicious and coming to the gym every time I go.

Losing weight is definitely something that becomes much easier when you have the support of others. So, find a meeting, talk to your friends about it, or enter an online chat group. That way, there are others holding you accountable and you show, not only yourself, but also others that you can do it.

Also, I think weight loss stories of others are extremely inspirational. Check out this guy. He used to weigh over 300 pounds and how he competes in 24-hour races. (Yes, he runs for 24-hours straight!!! I think the only thing I could possibly do for 24 hours is sleep.) Talk about an inspiration. I'm inspired.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great weekend! Jax had graduation from his manner’s class. My little boy is growing up. I’m very proud of him. He’s definitely come a long way in the last few weeks and we have many other tricks we now know how to teach him.


The class instructors gave him a graduation bone and placed a few star stickers on his head. He couldn’t have been happier.

Here he is enjoying his graduation bone with the stickers on his head. He doesn't even have time to look at the camera.



Apparently, there's always something better to look at than the camera. I'm so proud of my puppy!

I’m sure he will be happy not to have to sit through that class once a week, too.

(Note: Weigh-in tomorrow. Are you on the edge of your seat?)

Friday, June 11, 2010

Health care reform

Sorry I haven’t been around in a while. I’ve been pretty sick this past week. I missed a few days of work and the days I mustered up the energy to get to work, I came home and slept immediately after. No gym and no real cooking this week. I just haven’t had the energy.

I am starting to feel better today and I plan on getting to the gym tomorrow. I’ll post a quick weigh-in sometime this weekend. My guess is that I’ve pretty much stayed the same. I haven’t been working out, but I have been eating right, so we’ll just have to see.

On another note, before I was struck with the plague this week, I managed to get a little shopping done.

For me, one the craziest things about weight loss is how you notice it. Sure, I saw it in the actual numbers, and felt better about myself, but because I look at myself daily, it is hard to physically see it. So, the actual physical validation of losing weight came for me in how my clothes fit.

Especially over the last few weeks, it has been harder and harder to find clothes in my closet that fit me. And, boy, is it a great feeling.

But, it’s also really frustrating. I know I sound ridiculous to complain about this, but I was getting ready for a night out a few weekends ago and I was really having a tough time finding something to wear. Every pair of pants I tried would fall down without a belt and my shirts hung off me.

I didn’t want to go shopping for new clothes yet for a few reasons. For one, I still want to lose those final ten (I think it’s like actually more like 7 now), so I didn’t want to buy clothes and then buy more in a few months. And, second most importantly, I don’t have the money to buy an entire new wardrobe.

Finally, this past weekend, after a few more ridiculous temper tantrums because I couldn’t find anything to wear, I went out and bought a few staple items: a pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, and a few tops that fit better than ones in my closet.

And side note, I am a size 5!!! I don’t think I’ve been a size 5 since like the eighth grade! It feels so great!

Which brings me to my point of the post. We hear all kinds of things about the problem of obesity in America. So, I think one way we could encourage people (read: women who love clothing) to lose weight is by offering them small shopping sprees to a department store once they hit their healthy BMI. Free stuff always motivates people.

It would’ve so worked for me.

I know it’s not a real health care initiative, but I think if I owned a department store I would offer something like that.

Macy’s? Boston Store? Kohl’s? Are you listening? I think I have a great marketing strategy for you!

That’s me. Solving America’s problems.

No sweat. All in a day’s work.

McChain 2012.

Only joking. I'm not the president-type.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

A confession

Dear World-

There’s something I really need to get off my chest. I really hope you can forgive me and not think any less of me because of it.

Yesterday, I ate a giant piece of cake. It was chocolate. It had lots of butter cream frosting. It was delicious. But, I feel guilty, terribly guilty.

I have an excuse. Ok, not really an excuse, I could’ve resisted, but I didn’t want to be rude.

You see, it was a coworkers last day at our company. She slaved over a big, delicious cake for us in honor of her departure. I had to celebrate the time we worked together by eating a piece of her cake.

It gets worse though. She also brought in candy. One of those awful bags that has a little but of everything. I ate 3 miniature Snickers.

And, 5 miniature Twix.

And, 7 miniature Milky Ways.

And, maybe it was more like 8 Snickers. Who’s counting anymore at this point?

Anyway, I feel awful. It shouldn’t have happened. The candy and cake caught me at a moment of weakness.

Then, because I felt so bad, I went out with a friend and split a bottle of wine.

I know. I’m a horrible person. I’ll try, no I will get better at resisting temptation.

Starting immediately.

Eh … how about next week? This week’s already been ruined with my lack of control yesterday.

Ok. You’re right. Starting immediately.

Thanks for forgiving. I will be spending my afternoon saying Hail Marys.

Sincerely,
The now resister of temptation

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

My new favorite dining experience

Ok, so as I mentioned yesterday, Matt and I had dinner at this restaurant called La Merenda on Saturday night. It’s a tapas restaurant. And, oh boy, did I love it. Not only was the food delicious, but I love the tapas style of eating.

Tapas is the Spanish name for appetizers or snacks. The style of eating is designed to encourage conversation at mealtime, instead of focusing so much on the meal.

When we first sat down and were getting ready to order, we asked the waitress how many tapas she thinks we should order for the two of us. She encouraged us to just order a couple and then continue ordering until we felt full. Can you imagine that? A restaurant wanting you to sit and enjoy the meal, instead of trying to turn the table quickly?

It was so great to be able to sit and talk and not be rushed out of there. We had a number of delicious tapas, including tostadas stuffed with pork and apples, fried polenta, Korean short ribs over rice, and a few others. I wanted to try everything! So, I will definitely be going back to do a full tour of the menu.

And, the best part was, I wasn’t completely stuffed after eating. I was full, but not overflowing. You know that nasty feeling you often have after eating at restaurants because the portion sizes are way too big and you felt obligated to keep going and then you regret it? No regrets and no nasty feeling at tapas restaurants.

When they talk about the obesity crisis in America, one of the main things talked about is our distorted view of how big a portion size is supposed to be, and restaurants definitely play a huge role in that. Tapas should become the new standard at restaurants. You won’t feel guilty about eating too much and you’ll be able to try a variety of things.

So, if there’s a tapas restaurant in your area, check it out. It was a great experience.

Oh, and save room for dessert. We had a tres leches cake that was to die for.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Back to reality

Today. A Tuesday. But it feels like a Monday. But, worse than a Monday, because we had three days of weekend, instead of two.

Anyways, super tired and out of it today. It was a long weekend, an excellent one, but a long one.

Friday, not only did the Brewers win, but my tailgating food was a grand slam (sorry, awful baseball metaphor, I’ll never do it again). Here’s what it turned out like:
The chicken was delicious. Simply grilled with BBQ sauce before going to the game, then just placed on the grill in tinfoil and reheated. It was delicious. And, much better for you than burgers, brats, and more burgers.

Saturday night, we went to dinner at this amazing tapas restaurant called La Merenda. It was delicious and I love the style of eating at a tapas restaurant. I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow. Then, I dragged Matt to see Sex and the City II. And it was everything I expected, which really wasn’t much. It definitely made the list of good guilty-pleasure movies.

Sunday, we went to a friend’s graduation luau. It was a beautiful day to sit outside and visit with friends. This was my splurge day. There was delicious food and a ton of drinks. My entire family was there and so were lots of friends. It was a great day. (Also, there were a lot of people I haven’t seen in a while. AKA: a lot of people who haven’t seen me since I lost weight. And, I’m not going to lie, all the notice it got made me feel great about myself. And, less guilty about eating and drinking a ton, Oh well. I deserved it. I worked hard. Longest interjection ever).

Here are some pics from the party:
Here's me and the graduate, Brianna. Don't hate on the hat. You love it. You know you do.

Here's Matt and I. You can hate on his hat.

Here's Matt, myself, and my parents. Doesn't it just feel like the tropics?

From left, my brother, me, Brianna, and her parents.

As you can see from the pictures, good times were had by all.

And, finally, yesterday we had a picnic out my parent’s house with the fam. We played lots of cribbage, my brother grilled some delicious salmon, and Jax got to run himself ragged with the neighbor’s dog.

All in all, it was a perfect weekend. And, the best part, had a weigh-in Sunday morning at the gym, and came in at 134.4!!!! Yes! Hit the under 135 mark!

Think the splurging on Sunday and Monday may have put me up a half-pound or so, but since I saw 134.4 with my own eyes, we’re calling it that for this week.

I think I deserve a double-cheeseburger.

Just kidding. I’m reaching for a turkey sandwich as we speak.