Uggg

Just a quick note before I head out for the day...

So we have been in the thick of things with work...long hours, not a lot of time, not a lot of drive when we do have time...and we've struggled in the past 2 weeks.

We've done better than we have in the past 2 weeks with our cheating than we use to in the past, but still we've been bad.  Today is our weigh in day for our competition...and it isn't going to be good.

We though it would be easier since we were lacking in drive to shop on a daily basis, and it seemed to be working pretty well...but it also allows for cheating more...so

Today on the way home, we're going to get back on track...go grocery shopping...and hopefully we can turn ourselves around.  We both have been enjoying the weight loss and the feeling better...and we would like to keep it going :)

That's all for today...

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,

I've Been Falling Behind on my Job

I guess now that throughout the summer I will be only getting to update about once a week...so I'll just have to remember everything that has happened since the last time I blogged.

I was mostly good this weekend with my parents and siblings being here.  And I believe that they enjoyed all the food I made for them: baked banana oatmeal, chicken nuggets, honey mustard chicken on cauliflower "rice", frittata, and dry rub burgers (which really aren't so dry rub anymore, because I like the seasoning better mixed in with the meat).

I had a couple of cheater moments this weekend...there was a chocolate bar at the food co-op that looked really good - chocolate with almonds and toffee, and I had a burger when I went to the airport to pick up Kurt...but all in all, I was pretty good.  Kurt and I were talking about what he ate while he was away...and well, he was less good, but he still tried really hard to not give up entirely.

Our biggest challenge to date has happened now though.  We both are "sick".  Kurt got off the plane with a low grade fever and sore throat.  I am not sick (as told to me by PA I saw yesterday) but I'm having the worst allergies EVER - which is causing me to be completely congested with a sore throat as well.

As a result, neither of us has the energy to want to make food.  Last night we cheated with a pizza, but tonight we are going to try to not do that again.  It's so easy when you are not feeling well to say "whatever" and just get something quick and easy and not good for you in the least bit.  It's definitely going to be a struggle until we are feeling better. 

We need to go grocery shopping.  The funny thing is we haven't gone in a week and a half, but we had enough left over stuff that we haven't needed to.  When I was putting the dry rub burgers together to freeze before my parents got here, I realized that I already had 8 in the freezer...so I cooked all the new ones, plus those 8 and we had extra for our lunch and dinner on Monday and our lunch again yesterday.  I also found an extra lb of ground beef in the freezer which we are making meatballs with for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch and an extra thing of pork chops for tomorrow.  So I started thinking that even though we spent a little over $200 on our last shopping trip, it actually lasted almost two weeks.

On the way home today we have to run by the grocery store...but I don't think it's going to be a full trip...just enough to get us through Saturday so we can go back on our weekly schedule - essentially fresh fruit and vegis, something for dinner Friday and side dishes.

So, now for some good news!!  Monday was 8 weeks since we've started our "life change".  In 8 weeks, Kurt is down 18 lbs and I am down 20 lbs.  YEA!!  We've had a lot of challenges and we've struggled quite a bit, but we're headed down the right path...so we need to keep on keeping on. 

That's all for now...time to get ready for the day...after I put up some of the recipes that I've been promising for a while!!

I am Blaming the Solar Eclipse...

for everything. Mostly that for our bi-monthly weigh in, Kurt was up 0.6 lbs and I was up a whopping 2 lbs!!

Meeeehhhhh!

And where does the fault lie? With the solar eclipse...yea!

Ok...I know it was us! We've been struggling quite a bit over the last 2 weeks. The whole "more life...less work...work is not worth you're health" thing is really proving to be much more challenging than anticipated.

Not only is it the time constraints, but it also ends up being getting over the funk of a bad day.

Saturday, for example, we needed to go grocery shopping but first we had some favors we had to do first. Before that was over, we had a business phone call that was, I'll say, less that peachy. Basically, we suck at our job...but I won't bore you with the details. The problem with me (and I think it affected Kurt in a similar way) is that I tend to shut down when I'm in a funk. So what was a need to go grocery shopping turned into let's just go out and get food for lunch and dinner.

The three things that are wrong with the situation: 1. it's not worth letting the outside forces affect us in such a negative way; 2. going out to get a fast meal should never be the option; and 3. if you ate 2 meals a day like the ones we ate Saturday, not only are you loading your body with crap it doesn't need, but you could spend upwards of $1000/month on just lunch and dinner!! Nothing else!!

So, we are struggling to get back on the wagon today (yesterday we each had a sushi roll for lunch - in comparison to Saturday, not bad, but not great).

It's going to be a hard week for us both. Kurt is out of town for his MorMor's memorial Thursday to Sunday, so he really isn't in control of the meal planning while he is away (even though I know he will be given good options) while I am home and will be trying to convince myself that, Yes...I need to cook something for dinner and not just airpop some popcorn and call it a meal...at least Thursday and Friday. I have people to cook for Saturday and Sunday :) YEA!!

On a final note, groceries were a little on the high side this week...about $210. We needed a couple of pricy things this week (maple syrup is just WAY too expensive) and I'm cooking for an extra 4 people this weekend so the price goes up a bit...but really there were a couple of sales I couldn't pass up for things I know I can use in the following week.

I'll let you know how we fare this week...and I'll try to at the very least get some more recipes up...we've just been pretty busy.

Waiting...Waiting...Waiting...

Good morning all...and welcome to Monday!!

Not lots to talk about...just have a moment while my computer is processing photos, so thought I would check in.

I'll start off with new recipes that we are trying this week.  Kurt's mom brought a couple of cookbooks with her when his parents came for the weekend and we went through them to see if there were things that sounded good (whether they came ideally prepared or we had to change up the ingredients to suit the way we eat now).

Last night we made Joe's Special...it's kinda like Ghetto Asian Mac but without the Asian.  It was good...but I think it would be a nicer as a breakfast than a dinner.  I'll put it up soon.

Tonight we're making Zesty Caribbean Chicken...it sounds really good...hopefully it is!!

Saturday we did our grocery run...this week it was $159 - about $30 of it was necessities (dish soap, body soap, ziploc bags, foil, etc).  We had a lot of chicken left over, so we had to get very little - but we decided to go for organic chicken breasts instead and we also decided to get farm raised cage free eggs (both are a bit more expensive, but we are slowly trying to transition into better food now that we are eating better).

Anyway, like I said, not a lot to talk about, just a quick update.

Don't Judge Me

It has just been...a week! So much to do...so little time.

We've been a little cheatery this week - not really for the lazy factor (even though that's easy) but dinners this week have been ... eh.

We only went out once when we had our visitors last week...so only one "bad" meal where we tried to be good (but also had a sugar overfilled dessert), and we had very good dinners Sunday and Monday night....but Tuesdays dinner was not as good as anticipated. We had Pecan Crusted Chicken...and it needed a little something...more spices...more flavor...just something.

So as a result, we REALLY didn't want to have the leftovers for lunch the next day - we went out for Dickie's BBQ instead (mmm).

We had a good dinner on Wednesday - asparagus stuffed chicken which turned out better than last time so I'll get a recipe up for that - and finished those leftovers for lunch yesterday.

Of course, as the day progressed...the thought hits me...we didn't take anything out for dinner!!! I swear - as soon as I make my meal plans for the week, I am just going to put reminders in my phone to take things out the night before, as needed.

So, burgers and fries it was...and it was good...but not good enough to want sooner than later.

The problem I am finding is that crappy food actually causes me to become all congested...my throat is all phlegmmy and really won't recover until (hopefully) later tonight. That phlegm causes me not to sleep well also and so I'm lacking in the energy I typically have throughout the day.

My approach to this week - as of this morning - has been 'ok...it's kinda been like we've been on a vacation but now it's time to get back to work!'

Because we've been slacking this week, we've really hovered around the same weight all week. For our bi-monthly weigh in last Monday, Kurt was down 4.2 lbs, but I was only down 2.1 lbs. Time to really step it up a bit.

We've been "in the field" for some long hours this week so it's been hard, but we've been trying to formulate a busy season plan do we don't fall off again.

We've had a chunk of groceries left over from extra stuff we got on the last grocery trip so we didn't shop yesterday. Going tomorrow - which would probably be a better shopping day for us anyway. I'll do a budget update after.

I Swear To Not Become Crunchy Hippy Granola

I am slowly feeling the change...physically, intellectually and emotionally.

We've been watching a lot of Food Inc type movies on Netflix and some of them are good (like Food Inc) and some are just TOO preachy (like Food Matters). I am embracing this change in our lives...but I am trying to stay away from being too hippy tree-huggery because that isn't me and I shouldn't be forced to be so by those sharing their information with the world.

For example, in Food Matters there were two parts I very much disagreed with (to an extent): 1. People need to fix their priorities. Instead of paying for things like rent and a car, they need to buy better food, and 2. Raw food is the only way to go. The guys brother lost (I can't remember - something like 150) lbs in 8 months. Some days he lost 13 lbs.

Ok...so...yes - I think people do need to change their priorities...but rent and a car (minus if you really don't need one, which most households need one) are not logical ways of expressing the need to purchase better food.

As for the raw diet...I'm not opposed to a natural cleanse in the short term (7-14 days) but as a lifestyle, I disagree with only eating raw. I understand that many nutrients in food break down when cooked, but I feel you are missing access to some nutrients that would be harder to come by raw. The guy in the film did talk about some vegetables that you could get higher levels of certain nutrients than meat, dairy, etc., but some of the things I've never heard of and I don't even know where I would find them. Also - 13 lbs in a day...it may be build up in your system, but I don't understand how a loss that big in one day could be good for you.

Anyway, Wednesday we took our cousin Courtney to the GBC Food Co-Op and she was pretty excited about it!! So if we are able to start going pretty regularly, she has agreed to tag along (especially if she gets some honey out of it, I think).

I made my first raised bed yesterday. The downside...I think most of my transplants aren't going to make it...so I'll just have to start from seed again. Exercise of the day...leveling the area and lifting +/- 100 lb bags of soil around.

We went on our weekly grocery store run...a couple of meals this week had to get pushed into next week (don't you hate when you forget to defrost your dinner!!) and as we have visitors for part of the weekend...our grocery bill was $109 and some change + $17 for some things I had to pick up earlier in the week...so $126. Mostly all vegis and fruits...some chicken and ground beef. We have more chicken than we can use in the next week though so that will lessen the next bill.

Had the best Honey Mustard Chicken last night...I'll put up a recipe soon for it.

Other than that, we're just trying to take the effort to make sure we don't slack off with this as we are starting to get regularly busy at work. We have a couple of meals out scheduled for the weekend since we have company...so one of us will let you know how we fared with going out to eat (different than the regular cheat meal).

Have a great weekend all!!