Tried To Be Good...It Didn't Really Happen

So...yeah.  That's pretty much the day in a nutshell.  I'll give you the slightly abridged version also.

Got up...breakfast...did some Wii Fit.  Tried out the new feature where you tell it what you want to work on and it gives you 3 things to do to focus on it.  The one I built for myself is a little more intense though.  I might stick to it on the off days.  Had a light lunch and an afternoon smoothie...and that's where it kinda went downhill from there.

We were just going to have a light dinner, some cereal and fruit...but the want to be bad sort of overwhelmed us this evening...once again, you see the pizza, you want the pizza.  Now, today is one of our off days (on days - gym; off days - dog walks), so the calories for today that we gave ourselves are lower.  For me, for on days I chose 2150 calories (based on what i calculated from the Mifflin-St Jeor formula) and 1800 calories for off days (Kurt chose 2200 and 1900 calories respectively.)

So because of a decent morning we had a little wiggle room, and for 45 minutes we discussed and researched what we could get away with for pizza (and steak fries, because I love their steak fries) and still not go over too much (keep in mind, we are only talking about calories...fats, sodium, carbs, etc. - we're not even considering those anymore)...and with the order of a small cheese pizza and a side order of fries, we decided today would be a cheat day.

It was fabulous!!

At this point, we both are about 800 calories over our allotment for today...which is kinda sucky...but we knew what we were doing, we thought about it and chose it - and that's one of the differences between before and now.  Before, there was no hesitation.  So we're growing :P

We did take the dogs for a ±1.6 mile walk about and hour and a half after dinner...which at least burned about a quarter of what we were over today...and tomorrow will just have to be a new day.

Anyway, more tomorrow of course. Amy, thanks for the link...we will definitely take a look at it and see if it'll work for us.

Long Day of Sitting and Waiting

Not a lot to talk about today.  We did some Wii Fit this morning but we spent most of the day sitting around waiting at both the Social Security Office and the DMV (which of course most of the waiting was at the latter.)  We brought a snack with us when we left, but we didn't really think about how long it usually takes at the DMV, so 4 hours after our snack, we had to get something out of the vending machine there.  We tried to be good, and the best we could do was Chex Mix...I figure at least it wasn't candy (not that candy would have done anything for our hunger.)

So when we got home we had some leftover stew we made Sunday (which wasn't really as full of carbs and sodium as I would have thought) and a salad ... and I started to think about how I saw...at Costco I think...that Wii Fit had a new game...Wii Fit Plus.  So we looked it up and it essentially has all the same Wii Fit stuff, but with some new features, such as weighing the dog, how many calories its estimating you are burning and setting up a training schedule so there isn't time between trying to choose what you want to do next (we were sold just on the dog feature.)  Best yet, we traded in some of our Wii games that we don't play anymore as well as the original Wii Fit game and the new game was free ... actually we still have a $6 credit (YEA!!)

Of course we played with that this evening, but we also went on a 1.87 mile walk with the dogs after dinner...because we intended on having a little dessert tonight - strawberry cheesecake yogurt mixed with fat free whipped cream in a graham cracker crust (thanks Aunt Teri), which really doesn't have as many calories as we thought...±180 calories which really isn't that bad (although I know there is a bit of sugar in there).

As for the responses we got yesterday...thanks Cassiopeia for letting us know about the whey protein...we're going to look into that.  Also we did start daily plate yesterday morning.  Merirae has been suggesting it for a while, and I already had a log in for it (which was funny because the last time I put in my food log, it was almost exactly a year to the day).  It really has been helping to see what we are eating and what we can have.  Also thanks Lisa for your advice...and for also reminding me that I bought fruit so I could make smoothies (we cut up strawberries and bananas and put them in the freezer this evening.)  We'll make them after the gym tomorrow to replenish our energy.

That's all for now...more gym tomorrow...but you'll hear about that then.

Its official

Today we are officially legally married.  The certificate FINALLY arrived in the mail.  Now I can go and take care of all my crap...SSI, DMV, bank.  I'll do it Monday after we go to the gym.

So the last couple days, I...maybe Kurt but he isn't here at the moment for me to ask...but I have had such a sweet tooth.  I am craving sugar like mad.  And I'm trying to be really good and use fruit as a sweet substitute, but it isn't working.  And that leads me to where Kurt is right now.  He's getting ice cream for me (well, us, but mostly me).  But only because we just came back from a 2.15 mile walk...that was the deal...walk a good distance and you can have ice cream.

Today was an off gym day...so we got up...and were a little lazy, but Kurt had to go to class at 10am this morning (only one more day of school for him - yea!!) and so after I watched Teri Hatcher on Regis and Kelly - which I've started watching regularly because its one of the shows on at the gym when we go - I did 40 minutes of Wii Fit with most of the emphasis on aerobic and balance.  I am trying to work harder on my balance so that I don't have such a hard time with holding the Yoga positions.

Then I had a hard time sitting still...so I went out and cut the grass.  It was such a beautiful day outside.  Then, I didn't have such a hard time sitting for a little while.  For dinner we had chicken and broccoli.  I've been a bit snacky today...I think that's part of my not wanting to sit still for too long.  But I've been trying to be good and snack only on fruit or string cheese.  I made some granola yesterday which is really good - but very hard to eat as a snack...and I also made blueberry muffins (recipes will follow).  And right now I have bananas in the dehydrator...which will be done in the morning.

And so after dinner we walked...with the dogs, who are a little out of it at the moment.  We saw two geese with three chicks and one of the adult geese was bleeding...it was sad.  We have Buttonz tomorrow night through I think Sunday, so long walks are not planned for the weekend, since he has a bad leg (but maybe a short one on Saturday, since Kurt says that he really enjoyed them).

So I've realized as typing that really I've been blogging about what's going on in the day, and that hasn't really left anyone much to comment on, although we've been appreciating and enjoying the support.  So I'm going to try to ask a question as often as I can for advice on something we've been thinking about.

There are two things we've discussed in the last couple of days, but I think I'll save one for tomorrow in case I have nothing to ask then.

If I'm feeling bad about having the ice cream after eating it tonight, does it seem logical to try to push myself a little further tomorrow at the gym?  The plan is to do the same as yesterday - 25 minutes plus cool down on both the bike and elliptical trainer.  Kurt and I both think that if we try to push ourselves longer than an hour, we're only going to regret that, and give ourselves excuses not to go...but what do you guys think?

Recipes:

Granola -

2 cups rolled oats 

2 cups french vanilla cereal 

(I had some for another recipe I never made that I got from the bulk section at WinCo...the original recipe asked for 4 cups of rolled oats...so I might try that next time)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup apple juice concentrate

2 Tbsp honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

±1 cup of your favorite dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, apricots, bananas, etc)

(I used raisins, because I had them available)

Mix oats, cereal, brown sugar, walnuts, seeds and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.

Mix apple juice concentrate, honey and vanilla in a small mixing bowl.

Drizzle wet mix over dry mix and stir to coat.

Spread on baking sheet and cook for 20-25 minutes at 375* stirring every 5 minutes until crisp and golden.

Move to container and add dried fruit

Blueberry Muffins-

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup applesauce

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour 

(it asked for 1 cup all purpose and 1 cup whole wheat, but I don't have whole wheat in the house right now)

1/3 cup sugar (it asks for a 1/2 cup but I wanted to be good about the sugar)

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup fresh blueberries

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Mix milk, applesauce and egg in a small mixing bowl.

Create a well in the dry mix and pour in wet mix.  Stir until all dry mix is moistened.

Fold in blueberries.

Bake for 18-20 minutes at 400* for 12 muffins or 10 minutes for 24 mini muffins.

Just a little warmer please...but not too warm

So there was really nothing to say yesterday.  We got up...intended to take the dogs for a walk...but in was freeze-your-butt-off cold yesterday...and after having walked out of Costco into the sleet on Monday, that was enough for me.  

I did make pizza for dinner last night tho (the better for you kind, not the I'm hungry order something kind).  We decided to make things a little easier on ourselves and we bought pre-made dough from WinCo.  It was really good, and so much easier to work with.  They have a whole wheat dough, but I wanted to try the regular one to be sure it was good first...next time whole wheat.  We also bought different sausages, and they worked so much better.  We usually get the Chicken and Apple sausages from Aidells, but at Costco we found some Pineapple Sausages from Evergood.  It was just like having a Hawaiian style pizza...so good.

Today, we were a little lazy getting up, but we eventually did, and we headed to the gym where we each did 25 minutes plus cool down on each the bike and the elliptical trainer - which for Kurt is normal and for me is usually torturous, because I get bored (especially because Kurt forgot to grab the headphones this morning), but today I was so fixated on the guys who were re-tarring the parking lot, that I didn't even know it was cool down time until the machine beeped at me.

I didn't have too much trouble with my feet falling asleep on the elliptical trainer today, unlike Monday, because I was going pretty slow to keep my heart rate down.

When we left, we experienced crazy dog syndrome...which is Oreo and Schroeder believing that because we have our shoes on, they are going somewhere too.  Not only that, but they have had WAY too much energy lately...so after we had dinner (steak and salad - and we're getting better with portions too, steak was palm size) we took the dogs on a short walk (just over 0.8 mile) but they are passed out on the floor...which is good.

Now just eating grapes (Kurt had yogurt with grape nuts - but eewww to yogurt, tried to see if I could eat flavored yogurt today, but it just has a rancid milk taste to me)...look at the book I got from the library (Eat, Drink and Be Healthy) and off to bed soon.  

There is one thing that has been great about getting up and working out...it forces us to go to bed at a decent hour.

Move along... Nothing to see.

Today has been rather non-descript activity wise.  I guess my last couple of walks has caused poor buttonz to become a little sore because he started favoring his leg last night, but by this morning he seemed to be doing much better. I won't be talking any longer walks with the dogs for the rest of the week so I don't injure my in-laws dog.  That would fall in the "things not to do to your in-laws" category. 

After going to school today and rescuing the dogs from the full bladders, I went on a nice 2 mile walk in the about 35 minutes.  Its amazing how much faster I can walk when I don't have to stop for a smell break every couple of minutes.  It was so beautiful outside today, its about 70 with a light breeze. I swear if Reno/Sparks was like this all the time, I would never ever complain about the weather being bipolar.

I figured since I wasn't doing anything super strenuous that should eat really well today, I had the last of the quiche's from our wedding reception. For those keeping track, that is 7 weeks ago. I had a salad that I brought from home for lunch and I still don't know what I am going to have for dinner, maybe some turkey burgers on lettuce. I figure that I will try removing as much bread from my dinners. I don't need buns with my turkey burgers, why offset the reduction of fat from beef to turkey when you are just replacing it with extra carbo's.

Anyways, its been a slow day so I won't bore everyone any further... Until later...

Damn allergies

Having every intention of going to the gym today, we woke up early.  However, given the weather issues we've been experiencing lately, I woke up congested and sneezing galore (although we were feeling better than we did last night from the pizza consumption).

I thought I'd try getting up, having a cup of coffee and see how if my congestion would lessen, but being up and awake almost seemed worse.  So we decided to walk the dogs instead, and I took a benedryl.  Stupid little air particles...WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GO AWAY?!!?

We didn't walk far today...a little over a mile in 25 minutes.  My congestion wasn't allowing me to breath through my nose very well and as we picked up the pace, I felt I wasn't getting enough air...so we decided at about .5 mile to turn back.  

We returned home, did some Wii Fit aerobic, balance, strength training and stretching...and of course by the time we were done, the benedryl had kicked in.  

Afterword, I made some oatmeal and cut up some apples for us.  Its just the regular rolled Quaker Oats (I can't eat the stuff in the little baggies and I'm a little too impatient for the steel cut to cook.)  I had this great idea that I would use the apple juice concentrate we had in the freezer instead of water for the oatmeal.  It is 100% juice...no added sugar.  And it would have been much better if I had really thought about the fact that it was concentrate and that I needed to dilute it with water.

So we ate some very sweet, viscous apple and cinnamon oatmeal and some apple slices, which I had to give half to Kurt because it was too much apple for me.  It was a great idea, and I think I'll try it again...remembering to cut it with water next time (in case anyone is interested, using some concentrated apple juice with water to mix pancake batter is really great too.)  Usually I try to eat my oatmeal with just some cinnamon, but oatmeal is a hard thing for me, because I don't like the texture...so I'm trying to look for ways to "spice" it up so I can get past that and eat it more often.

I have to go run some errands before I leave tomorrow, and clean the house a bit, but then I think we might try to get another ±1.0 mile walk in later this afternoon.