The Highs and the Lows

I slacked off a little on this weeks post.  Partly because I have information that I try not to give away regarding the weigh in competition that we are in - and I usually don't like to share our numbers until everyone in our competition knows what percentages that everyone was at for the weigh in...but mostly because I am on the computer SO consistently now that sometimes the extra 5-10 minutes it takes me to get out my thoughts on the week are too "painful" to consider continuing to sit at this desk.  I really get that "5-0'clock" I'm done twitch feeling when I don't need to be sitting here anymore.

So, regardless of everyone in the competition knowing their results (which I suspect has a little to do with my mom and stepdad's scale being at the house they are not living it - and they should just bring it to the house that they are living at) :

This last Monday Kurt was down 6.8 lbs from his weigh in 2 weeks earlier and I was down 11 lbs.  Yea!! :)

In all fairness...my drop was really only 8ish lbs because the day that we weighed in 2 weeks from this last Monday, I had gained 2 lbs from the previous 2 week weigh in...but the next day I was down 3 lbs from that...so my 2 (now almost 3) week ago weigh in was a little bit of a fluke.

But I'll take what I can get...and so will Kurt.  That was the high.

Now for the low...we've both fluctuated between 1 lb either direction this week.  We really haven't been the best this week - but at the same time, we haven't been awful.  He's still been getting over the remnants of his cold while for me, some days I really feel like I'm getting over my allergies...and others - like yesterday...they were very bad.  I didn't help that we were photographing a house that seemed to be coated in pollen.

All the bad things (before yesterday) really hadn't been awful.  I forgot to make tortillas this week, so we had to buy a bag of whole wheat ones at the store.  We wanted a little ice cream so we bought a pint of vanilla that we shared over 3 days and had a couple of Oreos with it (ok...that was bad - but we were really craving sugar this week).  There was one day that Kurt did not like what we made for dinner - "Breaded" Chicken - chicken thighs breaded in almond meal - so we didn't have the leftovers for lunch the next day...but to be honest with you...I can't even remember what we had...I think we split a small pepperoni pizza with white sauce and some cheesy bread.

Okay...now that I've really had a chance to think back at it...yeah...it was kind of a bad week...a bit more awful than I originally thought.

As for yesterday...I'm not even going into that...you don't want to know.  All I can say is I felt awful all night, had a hard time sleeping...and of course - we're going back to our regular routine today.

Today is grocery day...and of course I haven't even made my meal plan yet.  I finally got a greater repentance of my sense of taste and smell back so hopefully I can actually taste what I cook this week.  I think there were a couple of meals from last week that I would like to try again...Kurt said they were good...but I have only their texture to go on.  I'll post more recipes as I can taste stuff.  I'm sure I have a couple I can put up...but I really would like to get away from my desk for a little bit.

Last grocery day - we spent $144 - but it does not include the things we cheated with.  The amount we spend on groceries is usually the way we deter ourselves from cheating, because we don't want to through money  away ... this week, other than the leftovers Kurt didn't like...I don't think anything has gone bad.  So grocery-wise, not a bad week.

Until ... probably sometime next week,

4 Weeks In!!

Last night marked 4 weeks since we decided that we didn't want to change the way we ate and lived (again, and hopefully for the last time).  In these last 4 weeks, we've struggled a lot but have also have had many successes as well.

For example, we had a bit of a cheat night for dinner on Friday (pizza) and I think we've decided that our cheats have to be further apart.  We had decided that before, but always Friday comes around and we get tempted into something else.  This last Friday, though, we were so overly full and bloated with sodium that we decided that, at the very least, when it cheats, pizza is not an option anymore and that we have to do better with not cheating (even if it is once a week for only one meal - we need to try to extended it to once every two weeks for only one meal).  Of course, that may or may not happen this week as we do have visitors for the weekend...but we'll try.

In the past 4 weeks, I am down 17 lbs (12 from my official weigh in 5 weeks ago for our competition - but I put on 5 in the week between) and Kurt is down we think 15 lbs (because he didn't weigh himself when we started - but 11 from the official weigh in 5 weeks ago).

We're starting to have more energy (he gets it a bit more than I do), clothes are starting to loosen up a bit (some that I had that were feeling a little tight fit well now) and we aren't so tired after a long day of work as much as we were before.  Plus being on our feet for a long day is getting easier.

So SUCCESS!!

Cravings are slowly going away...and randomly one comes up and you think...REALLY, that's what I want.  And we've been trying hard to quell those cravings with other things.  We made some blackberry sorbet a couple days ago, and the tartness is kind of a nice change from the sweetness (I think I need to look at something that is a little less seedier though).

Yesterday we stopped by the Great Basin Community Food Co-Op which reminded me a lot of being in Santa Cruz again.  Some things were pretty pricy - raw unpasteurized almonds for $12.99/lb but other things weren't as bad - 32oz of local raw honey for $10 and some change.  We picked up some honey mustard salad dressing (which does have some cane sugar in it - but I tried to make a honey mustard vinaigrette and it was awful and I need a salad dressing).

My favorite thing that I TOTALLY want to go back for when I'm ready...refrigerated ladybugs!!  They were so cute - and depending if I actually get the garden in shape this year (because my seedlings desperately need to be transplanted), I might have to get some.

Last thing before I go (since I have to get ready for work) - our budget.  We went grocery shopping last Thursday, and we though there was no way we were going to get out of there under our budget because we bought a ton more meat than usual for this week (ground beef, pork chops and chicken breasts - more chicken than we needed but we figured we could use it the next week) and it still came out to about $142.  We were stunned.  Of course now that we went to the Food Co-Op and seeing the prices of meat there I'm starting to really thing about the meat we've been buying at the grocery store...but more on that later.

Ok...I lied...two things

1. Celery has become to salty to us...especially after reading how much sodium is in celery...we can taste it now!!  Suggestions for other vegi snacks to take out with us (to go with our carrots)

2. Dry-Rub Burgers...mmmm...check it out

We Need A Little Magic

We need a little magic spell that give us the will power not to long for certain food items we have given up on.  We had a few temptations this week, and I'd like to say we didn't give it, but we did a little yesterday.

Thursday we stopped by a 7-Eleven and although I was really wanting a Slurpee (not the intention for the stop - we can drive past one without longing to stop), we just grabbed some mozzarella cheese sticks instead.  However, yesterday, Kurt had to pull off the street to make a phone call and of course we ended up in the Jimmy Johns parking lot.  I have an obsession with Jimmy Johns that has been lessened since moving from Las Vegas by the fact that they are all on the other side of town.  It had been a long time since we had eating had a sandwich from there, so we gave in to the desire.  We also gave in to a little non-authorized chocolate for dessert. :)

They are still as awesome as I remember...but still I can live without them regularly (considering we have been anyway).

The reason we need a little magic to keep up my will-power is really because we feel like crap after eating that way.  For the rest of the evening, I couldn't get comfortable - it was as if all my limbs were restless...which Kurt pointed out that he hasn't felt that way since we've been eating better, and I can say the same thing.  And it's too aggravating of a feeling to suffer from just so I can have something I really shouldn't be eating.

Another reason to be good!!

We haven't posted very much this week.  Not a lot has been really going on.  I've been trying to find new meals to make so we don't get tired of the same stuff.  Most are good (Taco Salad and Frittata)...some just don't make it (Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes - the texture is just off).  I'll try to get a few more recipes up this weekend.

Today we're going to spend some time working on the house and going for a walk...or a bike ride.  I've got to look through some of the stuff I have so we can also start working on building muscle until we decide that its time for us to get a gym membership (I don't trust myself with gym memberships anymore, because at some point I always stop going and then it's just a waste of money...so I have to build up to going to the gym).

I did say that I would keep an update of budgeting for the grocery store.  This week was AWESOME - partly because I found a lot of meals for this week that serve 8...so we have 2 dinners and 2 lunches from one meal.  This week we spent about $135 and it included stocking up on a few things that we didn't need immediately (coconut oil - we still have half a container, but it was on sale this week; toilet paper; whole wheat flour - I was getting low but I need to make more bread and tortillas) and a couple of more pricy things that were needed but will last a while, like vanilla (which I really just need to order some beans to make my own).

This week was definitely easy on the budget. If I was to factor in our dinner last night, it would take it up to $150 which is another reason why we don't want to do that anymore - considering that is 1.3 days worth of what we bought in groceries!!