Torture!

This is what sat in front of me ALL DAY today during the training I am doing in Auburn, NY (South-west of Syracuse).

The scent wafting up from the box was DIVINE. The sight was BEAUTIFUL. The taste would have been DELICIOUS. But the after-effects would have been HORRIBLE!

I am proud to announce that after enduring 8 hours of torture....I walked out of that building not having eaten ANY of these donuts. I am sooooo proud of myself.

Walking Challenge

My hubby and I started a new challenge today. We got the idea from my sister and her hubby.

They both wear pedometers, which keeps track of the amount of steps a person takes in a day. At the end of the day they see who has walked the most steps and that person is declared the daily winner.

My hubby and I need to get better about the exercising aspect of our weight loss journey. We are both rather competitive (scratch that - I am horribly competitive!) and we thought it would be fun to try.

Here's the difference. My sister and her hubby do it for bragging rights. My hubby wants prizes (groan!). So we are going to keep track of our daily step totals. Whomever walks the most steps each day wins the day. At the end of the month, the person with the most days won, wins a reward. I am not sure what my hubby wants if he wins, but mine will consist of a manicure or pedicure usually. If I am really feeling confident I am going to take 2 months of winning and get a massage or something like that.

It should be a good time. Gotta go...I have been sitting at this computer for far too long!

Traveling + Medifast Continued

The previous post was getting too long, so I figured I would post the results of the day in a new quick post.

The end of the training came and went. I began to feel MUCH better after we were headed back to the hotel. My co-worker decided she wanted to try the infamous restaurant "Juniors." They are famously known for their cheesecake. My co-worker was great and said that she would order something "to go" if I needed her too. And she would let me have only a BITE of her cheesecake so I could try a bite but nothing more.

I did decide to eat dinner with her at the restaurant. (I know, some of you might be cringing right now thinking I caved, but that really wasn't the case...trust me!) I had gotten back to my hotel room to change before we walked over and I ate a few pieces of my chicken that I had brought for my dinner that night. I wanted to take care of the hunger pains so I wouldn't go crazy when looking at the menu. We swiftly walked to the restaurant to burn some of the calories we were about to eat. I took a long time looking at the menu. I immediately said I would not get a chicken sandwich. It came with fries - I cannot resist fries. I was going to get a turkey sandwich, but it really wasn't speaking to me. What was speaking to me was a BBQ chicken salad with Southwestern Ranch on the side. That is what I ordered and it was delicious! Yes the BBQ wasn't awesome for the diet. I did put a little salad dressing on - I regret those wasted calories now because I would have been fine without the dressing. And I did eat a dinner roll (oops!).

As we were waiting for our entree's we saw a waiter walk by with 2 of the BIGGEST slices of cheesecake we had ever seen! Our eyes BUGGED out! We couldn't believe the monstrosities that were being served as dessert at this place! A staff member saw our reactions from a distance and started to giggle. We asked if those were normal size pieces and she shook her head yes. (No wonder why America is as fat as we are!) Right then and there we decided to split a piece of cheesecake.

It was delicious! Probably the best cheesecake I have ever eaten or will ever eat!

So yes, I ate off plan that night. You may think I caved under pressure but I really, truly did not. I felt good about the decisions I made. I do not regret anything except using the salad dressing. I am happy with how I acted.

I need to take these learning experiences and build from them. I am slowly learning how to handle myself in different situations when it comes to food - and I am proud of how I am making decisions.

Traveling + Medifast

I wrote this entry while on the road last week when I had little internet service. While it did happen last week, I thought it would still be good to share. And I can give you an update with what happened.

I travel for work. Sometimes a little, lately it's a lot. I find myself between a rock & a hard place when it comes to being on the road and staying true to the diet. When I go somewhere I like to go exploring. I like to see local treasures, sight see, try new restaurants, take advantage of everything. Right now I don't trust myself in a restaurant. I usually have a plan of ordering something good for me or planning to eat only a certain amount of things on the plate. But things never seem to go as planned.

I am in Brooklyn this week for work. I am not 100% sure but I think Brooklyn is known for their bagels & their cheesecake. Ugh! I am trying to be good. I brought every single meal with me for the trip. It is easy to do that on this plan as long as their is a fridge at the hotel. I am proud of myself for that. It is getting hard though. It is my 3rd and final night here and I want to treat myself. I will say that I am being pushed to the limit. Because of scheduling conflicts, we are training for 9 hours today. Yesterday it was 5 hours, tomorrow will be 5-6 hours. So being in the training room for this long is a challenge. Whenever I am not up training the group or preparing for the next time I have to speak, my mind wanders. Most of the time it wanders directly to food. It also doesn't help when the trainee's bring bags of wonderfully, delicious looking potato chips to share with the rest of the group. I have been "hankering" for some Frito's and here comes 3 snack bags of Frito's, a couple more Lay's Potato Chips (also a favorite), and some Doritio's (3rd favorite). It was so hard to resist the chips. I even considered asking one of the trainee's if I could have ONE of their Frito's - just to experience the taste. My co-worker helped by yelling at me. She gave me a hard time about wanting to cave. I needed some tough love at that point.

I have to learn to resist these feelings and these temptations because I am going to be on the road a LOT the next few weeks. This is week 1 of 7 weeks of travel in a row. Tough right?!

I mentioned a few posts ago that I had met my challenge of losing 30 pounds in my "Race to 30." I don't think I have given an update but I conveniently forgot one of the major rules of the race. Turns out I now have to maintain my weight loss for one month. I totally get it, I completely understand the purpose of this rule - but I am not a fan right now. I have had two bad eating weekends in a row. Last week I was able to stay completely on plan from Monday - Friday morning so I was able to lose all the weight that I had gained over the weekend. I had the same plan for this week too but the temptations are getting to be too strong. I am really trying to resist the temptations but I don't know how much longer I can do it.

I also usually eat dinner around 5:30 or 6pm. The training goes until 6pm, we have to pack up, drive to the hotel, get a meal for my co-worker and then head back to the hotel to eat. That seems like FOREVER from now.

I usually can pull myself back in by saying, "You want to win. You can do this." I don't know if I can do it today. And this frustrates me! I feel like I haven't changed at all during this weight-loss journey. I am starting to doubt my abilities to keep these 65 pounds off. I have to learn to fight past these cravings.

I hope I can make it through today's cravings. I hope I can blog tomorrow to let you know I was successful, that I didn't cave.

This is a toughy.........

So there you have it. This was a day that I really struggle with last week. It is a long enough post so I will post another quick one to let you know how it turned out.

MIA lately

I have been MIA lately and I don't like it. I started a loooong stretch of traveling for work and I ended up staying in a semi "schmancy" hotel that feels the need to charge for WiFi in your room...I hate that! I had all these grand plans of catching up on internet related stuff while I had the time in the evenings, but thanks to my frugal mentality, I wasn't about to pay $14.95 for the internet/long distance calling package (who makes long distance phone calls from hotel phones anymore?!)....so I am playing catch up right now. I am on the road for the next 6 weeks as well...I better not run into this problem again!

Anyways, I have had an entry in draft form for over a week now and I had another one running through my head while at my training this week, so I decided to write it out on paper and then I would copy it onto the blog when I got the chance. I am hoping that chance is tomorrow.

Sorry I have been MIA but a lot has been going on. I will play "catch up," I swear!

Awesome find

I have been spending a lot of time lately thinking about "going greener," how I can save the world a little more, and how to reduce my "stuff."

I have also been finding some really great blogs that I like to read (someday I will take the time to figure out how to get a blog roll going on my blog so you can check out these awesome blogs too).
Anyways, I was reading the most recent blog entry from The Good Human and it was talking about, "On A Budget? Make a Big Eco-Difference With Only A Few Bucks." There were a few products I had heard about, some I really could have lived without knowing, and then my #1 find of the day! They are called "Flip & Tumble Reusable Produce Bags!"
I knew they had to exist, I just hadn't found them yet. They are mesh bags to use when purchasing produce bags!! I have worked hard to bring at least one reusable shopping bag on every shopping excursion, but I always feel guilty when I need to use a plastic bag for my produce.

I am thinking a new purchase may be happening soon enough to change this old habit though! That makes me happy!

Have you heard of these or something like them? What are your thoughts??

D-U-N...DUN!

YAY! This morning is turning out to be a great start to a great weekend!

Not gonna lie, I woke up with no confidence about meeting my weight loss goal for the day. I felt bloated and yucky. I was down and out and not wanting to get on the scale. But I did because I had to. I have been weighing myself every Monday and Friday since I started Medifast in mid-December...no matter what the outcome was. I was ready for a let down.

I got on the scale and not only did I lose the necessary 3 pounds to win my race...I lost 3.4 pounds!!!!!

I really wanted to win this week because at 12:01am, Saturday May 8, 2010 I am no longer able to be considered a "twenty-something" :-( (It's funny that I am not having AS hard of a time as I thought I would be. I guess when you are surrounded by lots of people already over that hump, you really don't get any sympathy when you start to your little "freak out" session.) Anyways, my birthday plans are set to include some good ol' wholesome munching and I am not going to feel the least bit guilty! I don't plan to go extravagant and eat until the cows come home but I am most certainly not staying on plan this weekend.....hey, you only turn 30 once!

So, YAY! I met my goal. I have won the Race to 30 (pounds) and the age I guess. I am very proud of myself. And it is going to be a GREAT weekend!

"Radical Homemakers"

I am reading a fantastic book right now. I recently joined a book club and this is our 2nd book to read. I am so glad that it entered my life and I am only on page 67...can you imagine how I am going to feel getting further into it?!

It is written by a woman named Shannon Hayes. Shannon lives on a small farm with her family just south of Cobleskill (in upstate NY). To sum the book up, here is a bit of the write up on the back of the book, "Radical Homemakers is about men and women across the U.S. who focus on home and hearth as a political and ecological act; who center their lives around family and community for personal fulfillment and cultural change."

She goes around the U.S. to interview fellow Radical Homemakers to learn how they live their lives. What they consider important. How they are working to conserve the earth. How they focus on their family and community rather than material things. This "clip" from the book really spoke to me and I am hoping that it is true...

"The majority of Americans feel that as a society, we are too focused on working and earning money and not focused enough on family and community. Americans worry about our materialistic culture and fear it has negative consequences for our society, environment, and world. A large majority of Americans claim a willingness to take personal actions to reduce their consumption and materialism."

While I love working right now, I have always dreamed of being a "Stay at home mom." I am not sure how many children my hubby and I plan to have or when these children will come into our lives but someday I want a house full of activity (please refrain from asking us when that time will be because they are not coming ANY time soon!)!

For those that don't know, I work in the world of foster care and it has become a passion of mine. Even before I entered this field I always wondered why more people didn't adopt children...there are so many wonderful children and youth out there that need happy, loving homes. I learned early on in our relationship that my hubby was completely open to fostering/adopting children when the time came (I really did find a great catch!).

I grew up with a "stay at home mom" and I appreciated everything she did for us. She allowed us to try any sport/activity/group we were interested in. Our house always had 4-5 extra kids in it. And our friends liked being at our place. We didn't have a gorgeous home. We didn't have the latest gaming system. Heck we didn't even have cable! (And they still don't to this day) But you could tell it was a comfortable atmosphere with lots of love and laughter. It was a great place to grow up.

My hubby and I have done a lot of cleansing over the past few years. It started when we were moving in together. Taking a look at all of our belongings, we knew that it wasn't all going to fit into our new place...so we started to purge. We sold some stuff, we donated a TON, and we trashed what needed to be trashed. We still go through an occasional purge because we have realized that we don't need "stuff." This isn't what defines us. This isn't what brings joy into our lives. We are happy because we have each other. We are happy because we have amazing friends, family and loved ones in our lives. They are what make us happy.

So I am thinking that I am no longer striving to be a "Stay at home mom"....I have a new title....I plan to be a radical homemaker! I want to create a supportive, loving environment for my future family. I want to play a role in saving this planet. I want to only take in what I need. I want to live a simpler life.

Like I said in the beginning of this long-winded post....I am so happy this book, "Radical Homemakers" has come into my life and I just had to share!

Goals, goals, goals

I have a big goal that I want to reach this week. I joined a race called, "Race to 30" a while back. The deal was that everyone put $30 in the pot and the first person to lose 30 pounds wins the pot of money. I have fortunately been leading the race most of the time. I am so close to winning that I can taste it! My goal is to meet the goal and win the race by this Friday. I have been hovering for the past 3 weeks but this week I am going to do it!

How might you ask?

Well, I plan on eating "on plan" all week (yes I had a slip up or 2 yesterday...but today is a new day!). I will drink all of my water plus some. I will attend Zumba this afternoon. And I hope to get a few good walks in this week.

Friday morning is the official weigh-in day. Keep your fingers crossed and help me to "Think Thin!"