A bad case of the Ishoulds

Yup, I've got it pretty bad. It's a terrible disease the Ishoulds. Really,  it's just another manifestation of lazyassery.

I sit around and say:

I should go run. 

I should do some sit ups before I lose my lil' two pack.

I should go to the gym in the building and use the weights there. 

I should face Jillian and do the 30 Day Shred again. 

I should try to eat something healthy.

I should drink some more water. 

I should, I should, I should.  Blah diddy blah blah blah. Talk is cheap, lady!

The terrible thing about the Ishoulds, is that it rarely translates into any action. There is no will in a should. No determination. And it almost makes the lazyassery worse because I know what I should be doing!

Tonight, I did something though. No, not Jillian...though I still have her on my horizon. I decided to ride the bike for a change. I haven't done that since I started running, so really it's been MONTHS since my ass was in that seat. When I bike I always use free weights to work my upper body at the same time. I started out last year with 2.5 lbs, then 5, and now I am using 8s. I will get 10s sometime as well. I could tell biking uses different muscles than running, 'cause my legs were sore! But then my knee started to bug me...and then it started to hurt. That scared me. I don't want anything to interfere with my running. I am already struggling with a pulled muscled just below my butt that throws off my stride and makes me feel totally gimpy. My run for charity is July 10th-- rapidly approaching! I will post again about that soon.

Mostly I need to get rid of the Ishoulds and get my ass moving more. Just do it, don't freaking sit around at talk about it!

Close on the heals of the dreaded Ishoulds is a little what was I thinking? This past weekend was one of a bit of excess. I went to this acoustic show with some friends, and ended up not having a chance to eat dinner until 9. Did that stop me from consuming, oh...let's say 5 drinks? Nope! Am I new here? Do I think drinking a crapload of booze on an empty stomach is a good idea? Apparently the wild and woolly ways of my twenties are so far behind me that I've forgotten the hard-earned lessons of drunken nights and hung-over days. What's worse is I ordered a drink AT the bar to continue to put myself into the booze soaked hole I was digging. It was half-way through my second, and when I was mostly finished with my food (1/2 of which I gave away) and I started to feel really inebriated. The group of us then left to hit a different bar...happened to be a peeler bar. On the way I kinda sorta had to well...you know...um...yes. That. Ick. The rest of the time at the bar was spent admiring the bathroom and wanting to die. The peeps kinda hung out in the parking lot to chat with some girls that came from the other bar, and I just sorta crashed in the jeep. And wanted to die.

I was basically a write-off for the entire evening, and I have no one to blame but myself. I KNOW drinking on an empty stomach is a bad idea. I have no idea what possessed me. Stupidity, mostly.

So I'm going to be mindful of that kind of action in the future. At 36, I'm just too old for that shit.

While I was out that night, my friend Chrystie offered for me to try on her gorgeous corset. I've never worn one before, so I was curious to see what it would look like. Here are some pics. She said she coulda gone in tighter, but her corset was a bit big for me, though I think it fit nicely...plus I need to breathe! I think I am in love with corsets now! The only prob is the sitting down is sooo uncomfortable. But here it is, please forgive my inability to pose. It's just...wow. Sad.

If I were a bit braver, I woulda tried it sans brassier. ;) Maybe next time!

So off I go, running tomorrow, and Friday I "play golf" for my staff year-end social. We usually dress up in costumes for the event ('cause we take this shit seriously!), and this year we are trying "Ladies Who Lunch"...so nice dresses, some costume jewelry, and maybe a floppy hat or two. On a golf course. Should be fun! I will take more pictures than anyone would ever want to see, don't worry.

Later!

Pride, pranks and purchases, oh my!

Could it be? No...it can't. It's unthinkable...it's beyond thought. Really the human brain doesn't have the synapses to wrap around this idea. It's impossible....improbable....and some other im/in word I just don't know. But...still there it is. I think it's official. I have completed my last three 30 minute runs of the Couch to 5k program. I AM DONE!

This non-running girl...the same one who has avoided running at every turn in her life. This girl who would rather do anything than run, who thinks people who run in the rain are bat-shit crazy. THIS girl can now run thirty freakin' minutes without dying, collapsing, puking or generally melting into a big mushy pile of UGH. For reals?

Yup.

So I guess I have to say, the Couch to 5k works. If I can do it...anyone can. Well, barring any physical impediments, like bad knees and flat feet like the poor hubman. :(

I am still trying to eat less, and am running every other day, but haven't lost any more weight yet. Damn. It. I also haven't added any Jillian flava to my workouts, which I really need to gather up the balls to do. I know even if it hurts the first few days, it will go away. Running on Jillianized legs scares me though.

Today was the last day of classes at my school...bittersweet time. I am glad I don't have to teach for a while (once again, yay summer school!),  but I am sad to see them go for two months, and even sadder to say goodbye to the students not returning next year. Boo. It was a bit funny to see the second grad prank this morning though:

They actually guarded the stairway to make sure no one took it down before class changed and everyone could get a good look at their masterpiece. They did clean it up after..awww sweet grads. This was number two, as I said. Prank number one was a bit odd. A bunch of gr. 12 girls. all dressed in black sweats,  kidnapped some boys out of their beds, dressed them in shorts and bras, put panties over their heads and wrapped feather boas around them, then zip-tied their hands to a fence and made them stand at a bus stop while all the kids rolled into school. Oh and there was a blow-up doll in there somewhere, too. Sweet gals. The best part is that they called the boys' parents first to arrange the kidnapping. Thanks mom, for the mortal humiliation.

Here's one of my favourite classes- English 10:

And a bit sillier. :)

And one of me in the cute dress...this is my classroom door. We one a prize for decorating it with POWER, our school code of conduct acronym.

And finally, after all the goodbyes I got off work early and did what I do best...shopped! I scored this top I had eyeballed online at my favourite store, Ricki's. In the same complex, another store was having a sale, and I got a cute vest for $15, and a skirt for the same. The skirt I'll show ya another time.

The vest:

I think vests are super-slimming!

The back is cool, too.

Gotta see the side view...

Hee hee, nice face! 

Hey, whassup?

 And the top:

Girl needs a new pose!

Tired of my blurry self-portraits. Made the man take this one. 

And yes, I know you LOVE my shower curtain!

Hope everyone is having a good week. And THANK YOU for all the lovely compliments on my side-by-side pic. :) Loves you!

d

A cool side-by-side look at my shrinkage.

My sister and I tried to re-create the picture on the right, taken at my stagette party. When I saw this picture, I almost fainted. Did I really look like that? Wow. I felt this one had to go on my blog sidebar as a reminder of where I once was, and where I never want to be again. I think there's a pretty noticeable difference! Check out how my stomach no longer hits my upper thighs. Also, you can see my entire face, even with the hair there. Don't even get me started on the fat rolls. Oyyy. So glad to see they are gone! 

My measurements have changed a LOT. 

Chest 48---40

Ribcage 39---34

Waist 42----32.5

Hips 45----37.5

Arms- 15.5---11.5

Upper Thigh 32----23.5

Calf 17----15

In other news, I won an award! Yayyy for me! :) The smoking hot Jessica at Jessica's Jaunt bestowed upon me the Beautiful Blogger award. Thank you Jessica! As with most of these, there's a catch beyond glowing in the bask of the glorious award winning.

The rules: pass the award on to 7 bloggers and write 7 things about myself that you did not know!

First, 7 things you do not know about me. This is kinda hard, because I've overshared so much with you all! So forgive if I repeat. :)

1.  I was in an episode of 21 Jump Street when I was in high school (after Johnny Depp left...booo) .

2. My cat tried to swallow a needle once and it cost $1000 to get it out.  Technically not about me, but it tells ya I'm a sucker for kitty cats! But now that bitch owes me.

3. I've always kind of resented being tall. Makes it a pain in the ass to find pants long enough (let alone PLUS-SIZED pants long enough), and I was taller than, like EVERYONE in elementary school. It's not so bad now, but man, it messed with my head!

4. I. Hate. Spiders. 

5. Horror movies with ghosts, ghoulies and buckets of blood make me very happy. 

6. I'm a horribly picky eater. It's kind of embarassing. I blame my parents.

7. Even though I have spent a year living a healthy lifestyle, I am so very afraid that I will slip back into old habits and gain the weight back. 

So there ya go! Sadly, that's all I have in me. I will pass this award onto anyone who follows me and wishes to claim it! I know, lame. But if there was an 8, it would be:

8. I am very, very lazy.  

So it looks like I am done with trainer-girl for the year. I will take her out for lunch on Thursday, but there are no classes after the 16th. No more teenagers?! Nooooo! I will miss them, but I am glad to have a break from 'em. I get kind of short-tempered and grumpy this time of year. I wish I could say I get a long break from them, but it's off to teach summer school July 5th! Whoo! But, before that I get to go to Whistler and stay here to relax a bit with hubby. 

That's all I gots for you today! Take it easy my fine friends. 

 

Boobies, boobies, wherefore art thou, boobies?

I was looking at some old pictures today, and I realized just how much the girls have shrunk! I used to be pushing a DDD, and now I actually own a C cup. Check out the difference. LOL, yes I just gave you permission to check out my boobage.

I squeezed myself into a size 13 skirt for this...check out the fat spillage on the right there. Eeep.

And this is about 210-215lbs

Taken this week at 170lbs.

Pants no longer pulled up past belly button- check. No more fat spillage- check...

aaaand smaller boobs- check.

They really started to shrink about 15 lbs ago. I know, the men are sad...whatever. Girls you know large breasts are a pain in the ass. Sore back, clothes don't fit. Blah. I actually wanted a reduction, but it seems I don't need one anymore!Anyone else experienced this kind of shrinkage?

Speaking of lost pounds, I have lost one! Yayyyy! My week and a half of re-commitment has paid off. One pound ain't so fab, but I'll take it.

Know what else is fab? I ran for THIRTY MINUTES today!! Whoooo! I finally hit the mark after trying for weeks to get back to where I was before I slacked off.  I feel like I am back on track and the running is getting easier.

I have had a couple sweet bloggers nominate me for some stuff, but I think I'll save that action for tomorrow. :)

p.s. I just noticed I am 12 people away from 7000 visits to my blog! If you are #7000, maybe lemme know who you are and how you found me. Thanks!

If I were never naked again...

I probably wouldn't lose another ounce, though that would make showering problematic. I am wondering if this is why I am not doing so well with the last 10 lbs.

In clothes, I look mm hmm, yeah, not bad.  In clothes, I think I look pretty trim.  I love buying new, flattering pieces for my ever-expanding wardrobe (so much so that I'm actually feeling guilty about it. I should be saving my pennies for our trip to Greece here, people!) Bottom line though, in clothes I don't feel like I need to lose any more weight. Nekkid is another story. I have parts that are still bulgy and my lower tummy, due to being much MUCH flatter, is suffering the consequences of some loose skin. I am really hoping that will go away over time. Not that all is so bad, despite the lack of weight-loss I think my waist is narrower, and my two-pack is a bit more defined. Could be wrong, could be delusional.

 Clothed

Clothed a little closer

Now for the scary pics...I took one a month ago, and the other today. This is what reminds me I am not finished!

Top: old pic                        Bottom: new pic

(I know the angles aren't quite the same)

So maybe I just have to walk around naked a lot to show myself that YES there are still some pounds to lose. Not that I ever EVER think I'll be some hard-body beach bunny-type. Maybe if I did this in my 20s it coulda happened. But at 36, with 36-yr-old skin, not so much.

I felt like crap warmed over last night, so I stayed home today to rest and be a big whiny baby. I don't want this cold to get worse, and work right now is stressful, so I know if I was there I'd be feeling it. This morning was bad, but perhaps my resting is working, 'cause I feel better this afternoon. Yay! I've managed to ward off several colds this year, so I'm hoping this will be another one.

And (sigh) I bought TWO new dresses for my trip to Greece. One is kinda sexy for a night out, and the other is more sweet for day. 

Kinda sexy, non?

A bit closer...

This one is kinda sweet n' sassy with the fuller skirt.

I apologize for the craptastical quality of these pics. It's the only way for me to get close to full body, and the flash won't work with the mirror and all that.

You should probably go look at something uplifting now, like puppies, kittens, or dudes getting hit in the junk by baseballs and other airborne objects, to get the image of my abdomen out of your head.

Take it easy y'all and enjoy those kittens! Wait, here lemme help with the first one...

 

All together now... 

Awwwwww!

Oh, oh, oh! I almost forgot! I got my 100th follower! Whooo! Thanks to this gal for joining me!

Germs can suck it

I feel the ick coming on. Perhaps second to only injury, illness is something that strikes fear in heart every health-seeking weight-losing person out there. Sick=inactivity. Sick=having no appetite and eating poorly. Sick=suckage. And worst of all, sick often= weight gain. BLARGH! I am fairly lucky that I don't get sick often, especially considering I work with a germ-infested heaving mass of teenagers. But still...I am afeared.

I have heard stories of people in blogland getting sick and gaining weight, then struggling to get back on track with lowered energy. NO, I say. Non, nein, nyet. Not happening. Not to me. Frack, if it were only that easy. We'll see if this ick takes hold or not. Maybe mind over germ will work!

So I got another email from the Nutrisystem people. This woman had asked me before for screenshots of my "analytics and metrics". Say what now? I don't speak computer at the best of times. Thanks to my friend, google, I figured out it meant the tracking of activity on my blog. Erm. Ok. I don't really do that. Like what do I care about that shite? I just put in the nifty feedjit thing that tells what city and country people are coming from, but that's just for the cool factor. I have a hit counter, too, but that was just curiosity. I don't have a proper program to give me all the info. Well, I do NOW. I used Blog Tracker 'cause it's free and seemed easy enough to implement. Problem is, the info is all starting from today, so I don't know how useful it would be to the Nutrisystem peeps. I figure they just want to see if anyone reads my blog, and maybe where they are from if they do.

To be honest, I don't really care that much about being chosen. It seems like a good chance to try the system, and I have heard good things, but I've heard bad things too. Dunno. I think I'd do a good job blogging about my experience, which could be interesting for y'all. I guess I'll see what happens!

Today is my workout with trainer-girl. She's so upbeat and awesome. Last time she was down because her sister's boyfriend had been killed the night before. They'd been together for 6 years, so trainer-girl knew him well. Plus, her sis was pretty devastated, so she was worried about her. There's been a lot of shootings around here lately. Mostly gang-related, but dang if it isn't out of character for around Vancouver. Well, I guess not so much anymore. She said she didn't think he was in a gang or anything, but the police seem to think it is gang-related.

I hope I can make this training session work. I'm feeling worse and worse as I write this post. Tired and achy, headache and scratchy throat. Whee.

Tomorrow, I hope HOPE HOPE I can run my 30 minutes! I did a stellar 26 minutes yesterday (that's up 9 from my average of the last two runs!). I was tempted to go for 4 more minutes, but the couple pieces of cheese and carrot sticks I ate at my staff meeting an hour before turned into a giant bowling ball in my stomach. Holy barfy feeling, Batman. Stupid cheese

I think that's all I have in me for today. I'm gonna go battle some germs. Die bringers of disease, snot, fever, sorrow and suffering! Get thee hence to yon wandering teenager (heh heh)!

OH! And 99 followers! Ooooh so close! Who will #100 beeeee!?!??! Tell me, tell me whoever you are!

Truth and Consequences...damn them both

My weekend...hmm what can I say about it? Well, on Saturday I went out with hubby and some friends, and I drank (alcohol, that is) some. Dinner was a burger and fries, and I left most of the fries (yay!). But then I ate some tortilla chips and some two-bite brownies (boo). On Sunday, I ate a turkey dinner and a piece of pie. Ugh. Full. This morning my scale moved for the first time. IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!! Evil scale. I will weigh in officially tomorrow, so I'll see if that bitch was just messing with my head. I ate great ALL week and one weekend of slight snacking and a larger meal causes a gain? Puleeze.

I did manage to do my run, albeit a bit belatedly. I was supposed to do it Friday but was seriously tired after work and crashed hard on the couch. Lame, I knows it. So Saturday after tutoring, I dragged my butt outside to run. I only had time for a once 'round the block for 17.5 minutes. But, that did show my that in the last four weeks, I've picked up the pace since that run took me 20 minutes before. Whooo! Consequence for not running on Friday was not Shredding on Saturday. I know once my legs are used to the workout, I will be fine doing it any time with no ill-effects, but I am seriously not wanting to have messed up jelly-legs when I have to run. My legs get tired too quickly as it is! I will start shredding though...you know if I say it, it will be so.

I have to run again today, and I am going to make myself go through the park, guaranteeing that I will exceed 20 minutes.

In other news, I am approaching 100 followers! I hope that that lucky sap who clicks "follow" and hits that number will comment and tell me who he or she is. And thank you to all my lovely followers for being there with me along this path to less fatassery (yes, even you lurkers who NEVER COMMENT!).

Here are some pics...complete with multiple examples of the patented "Tammy Self-Portrait", to which I should add "and friend with head cut off". I'm just that good.

Chrystie in her cute lil' bachelorette pad.

Mike!

Hawt.

Chrystie blowing bubbles at the pub. Just 'cause.

Me n' hubby. :)

Me n' Cory- who has bitched about me cutting off his head.
I maintain: The top of your head ain't that great anyway! :P
Besides, I look cute, and that's all that matters.

Yam Fries...I love you

(Not my yam fries)

I baked some of those sweet orangalicious bad boys for the first time last night, and mmmmmboy were they good! I didn't want to have them with ketchup or solo, so I tried making a garlic aioli. We used light mayo (45 cal for 2 tbsp), 3 cloves of garlic, a hint of chili powder and a splash of lemon juice. Totally delish. I tried to go easy on the stuff because, well, still mayo! I was a bit disappointed that the fries didn't get crispy, but a chat with my friend the home chef and we figured the oven temp was too low. I will try them again, despite the amount of cursing that was done while I peeled and cut the yam. Holy crap was that annoying! I couldn't peel some parts due to the freakish shape of the thing, and then cutting it was like trying to slice into a tree trunk. I shoulda taken pictures of the hatchet job I did slicing them. Oh well, they still tasted amazing...and were super filling! I gave hubby way more than me, and then I was eyeballing his greedily once I tasted them. But in the end, I couldn't even finish mine! The rest of dinner was a spring mix salad with five small croutons (yes, I counted) and light dressing and a small BBQd chicken breast. I was STUFFED.

I have been eating super well this week, and I am proud 'o me. Nothing baked or in bar form for this girl! The great thing is I haven't been longing for baked goods at all. At. All. Total switch from the past few weeks, where I wanted baked chocolate anything for my next fix.

Some of my eating transgressions of the past few months (all things I would say no to before):

• buying cookies at Mrs. Fields- 6 minis- and eating them all (did that twice)
  
• buying a giant chocolate muffin every Sat. at Bread Garden while tutoring and calling that lunch
• buying a slice of pizza in the lounge every Friday after I'd already eaten lunch.
• having two (small) pieces of pie in the staffroom on two separate occasions, and one piece a third time
• snacking on yogurt bars, granola bars etc. instead of fruit/veggies
• eating handfuls of chips whenever they are presented to me
• eating fat-free pudding cups with Go Lean Crunch cereal sprinkled on for dessert instead of my single chocolate square (or in addition to TWO chocolate squares)
  
• eating husbands 90 cal fudge pops instead of my single chocolate square.
• eating most of my french fries when out instead of only a few (don't try to take my fries away from me...I'll cut you).
• making choco cake in a cup- did that three times? Somthin like that.
  

So yes, you can see that all these little extras added up to me not losing any weight. And they truly are extras. I wouldn't eat these things while I was losing those 60 lbs. I didn't GAIN weight until I stopped running for that 1.5 weeks. My food and exercise kept me in balance. Now, I am back to trying for a deficit. So far the school scale has me down nearly a pound. I will weigh again on Tues to see for sure. Home scale (you know, the evil fucked up one) shows zero change.

I haven't heard back from the Nutrisystem people, so maybe they took me outta the running already. She asked me for a screen shot of my "metrics and systemics" or some such thing. Wha? I looked up that shit online, thank you google, and figured she means like my hit counter, # of followers, #of posts, etc. I asked her to explain, and she didn't write back. Maybe me too stupid for Nutrisystem people? Oh, so if you hadn't figured it out, I said yes, consider me for the program. I figure I can still say no if I don't like what I hear. A few people have mentioned their food is high in sodium. I checked out some info on a few foods, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert and added up the daily percentages. Didn't come out high, but that's something I'd ask about for sure. The other thing I don't love is all the baked goods. Here I am on the baked goods wagon all happy with myself, and this is what I am faced with: cake, brownies, cookies, muffins, scones? Yipes. Sooo yeah, we'll see where this leads.

I am sad to say that despite my video, I didn't win Tricia's awesome 300 things giveaway. However, because she is such a rockin' generous chick, she is giving me a consolation prize 'cause I was the only one who did a video. Yay! You can check her blog to see what it is. ;)

I guess that's it for me today. Have a fabuloso weekend.

I'll leave you with some pics from the wedding...

Waiting for the ceremony to start. My sister is sooo mature. Hee hee!
Sorry honey for cutting off your head!

The (wayyy too) gorgeous bride and groom. I've known the groom since we were 4.

Me by the fire that warmed up my freezing azz. Ahhhhh.

Shout out to Tricia and a video

This is my official video to garner entries into Tricia's 300 things giveaway that is celebrating her reaching 300 followers. Whoo for 300! You should follow my advice in the video and check out her blog here. Just could ya please excuse the frizz-o-rama mess that is my hair? I got caught in the rain that day, and really didn't pause to see the aftermath before recording. Ugh.





Love ya Tricia-baby!

Chickened out...for now

Yup, I chickened out yesterday. I know. Sad. I didn't face Jillian M. and her dastardly and debilitating 30 Day Shred DVD. I did an excellent workout with my 17 yr-old trainer-girl (she's a student in my class who wants to be a personal trainer, so she's working with me to gain experience). She scared me a little after our session though. She said, "Next time I'm increasing the intensity...I'm gonna make you sweat. No, I'm gonna make you CRY." Um. Eeep. Being the sweet girl she is, she quickly backpedaled and said, "Well, I won't make you cry, 'cause that's mean, but I will make you sweat!" Yayyyyyyyy.

So anyway, I dragged my tired ass home and then considered the DVD. The last time I started out with Jillian et al. my legs were useless masses of pain-filled jelly for a few days. So my brain conspired against me and convinced me that doing the Shred the day before a running day would be misconceived at best. Perhaps I should start the torture Shredding on a Saturday as to have a bit of a break before running. I'm afeared of the Shred.

I just read Lyn's post at Escape from Obesity, which you can read here, if you haven't already. She mentioned The Bethany McDonald Memorial Blogroll, which is a place where bloggers can connect and hopefully form friendships and gain support in their struggle to lose weight. Such an amazing idea! So I hope you will take a minute to check out some new blogs, and hopefully follow them and comment on them. Lend your support to a blogger in need, or even one who's doing great and on a roll!

Huh, that's interesting. I just received an email asking me if I'd be a blogger interested in working with the Nutrisystem program. All I know right now is she said I'd receive free food, counselling and a maintenance program. Hrm. I've asked for more info. What do y'all think?

Slip sliding and clawing my way back up.

I am feeling very neglectful of my little blog these days. Here I am to rectify!

Confession: These past weeks, heck, months I've been playing the game a little less and less. I've been losing it, people. I slipped into maintenance mode a while back before re-committing to lose 10 more lbs (remember the great scale debacle of 2010? If not, read it here. You may need a tissue for the tears of pity). Since then, I've upped the exercise by running the Couch to 5k thing and weight training with my trainer-girl and all that, but the eating pretty much stayed the same. I won't say I've been pigging out or anything, but I have been indulging more. A lot more. I used to eat cookies or other baked goods maybe a few times a month. Now, it's a few times a week! I used to ignore treats and desserts for the most part, and now my greedy ass is circling them like a buzzard lookin' for some tasty entrails (ok, ew). Chips? I've eaten them. Pizza? More than two or three slices to be sure. Chocolate? Oh, I've indulged once or twice. Water? What's that again?? I give in. I cave. I don't say no. And I got so good at saying no! It's so true that the more you say no, the easier it gets, and, conversely, the more you say yes, the easier that gets. Dang it!

I haven't gained a lot of weight due to the nasty eating, but I have gained a pound or two. I took 2 weeks off the running and had two indulgent weekends in a row. First was the partay weekend (no gain apparent at the time), and the second was this past weekend. I went to the US with hubby and we ate at a buffet. I didn't really censor my eating much beyond I stopped when I felt kinda too full (NOT GOOD!). I tried to mitigate this large lunch with a small dinner (a wrap made from light Italian Flat-Out bread, spring mix, chopped tomatoes, sprinkling of reduced fat cheese and a bit of chicken). Although, I think that's the night I also ate some of the hubby's dang Easter chocolate he bought on sale and is hoarding. I still went to bed with a bit of a growly stomach. We also had a wedding to go to on the weekend. I ate a few little crustini appetizers, about 2.5 rolls (omg, so freakin' good hot out of the oven!), my main course of a LARGE chicken breast and a few roasted fingerling potatoes, and the lemon tart dessert. Ugh. Full. Again, small dinner to make up for daytime gluttony.

The aftermath of my indulgence?

• I am hungry. All.The.Time.
• I crave baked goods daily.
• I will give into cravings much more easily.

The worst part? I had all that shit totally under control before I started this mainenance crap.

Oh wait, it still gets worse...I almost forgot. I got super lazy and totally lost my running mojo for nearly 2 weeks. Last time I ran, I knocked out 28 minutes. After 2 weeks, I could barely do 17. CURSES! So I lost ground there too.

This week I have started a new phase. Yesterday I didn't give into any cravings. I ate only healthy snacks, and I ate only one square of dark chocolate after dinner.

Here's the plan:

1. Eliminate the following as snack options:

Yogurt bars (blah with the sugarfest and calories)
Package of oatmeal (see above)
Bag of Smart Pop popcorn (again, too many calories, not enough nutrition)
Cookies/pie/any other crap lying around the staff room
Crap from the vending machine (even if it gives only "healthier choices" i.e. no chocolate bars, and baked chips only).

2. Incorporate the following snacks back in:

Raw carrots
Humus (in moderation)
Bananas
Sliced red pepper
Almonds (10 max)
Unsweetened applesauce
Spring mix salad with low-fat, low-cal dressing

3. Drink a lot more water (at least two full 27oz bottles during the day and cups of home-brewed green tea iced tea in the eve).

4. Keep with running schedule despite being a lazy ass and make up lost ground so I can kick butt in the 5k in July.

5. Incorporate more cardio exercise on non-running days (hellooo 30 Day Shred, my old friend. Can't wait to get my ass kicked by week one again!).

My goal is to lose these pesky 10 (now more like 15) pounds by end of June, or at the very least by July 10th, which is the Underwear Affair 5k run.

Today has gone well so far! I've had a banana and about 4 gorgeous strawberry tomatoes along with my usual Kashi Go Lean Crunch (deliciousnesssss) cereal and meal replacement bar (I know they are too high in sugar and fat, but I'm way too lazy to make a lunch and it's portion/calorie control, and high in vitamins and minerals. Also, I lost 60 lbs eating them for lunch five days a week, so suck it nay-sayers!). I still have to drink more water (almost one full bottle down- way too slow!) and eat my carrots. And yes, I am very hungry right now.

Going to go work out with trainer-girl, and then maybe throw down with some Shred before hubby comes home (good distraction to keep the snack monster at bay!). I lost 6 lbs in Dec. doing the Shred every day, so I am hoping doing it, say, 3 days along with 3 running and 2 strength training days will help!

And awayyyy we go!