Day 24 - Not Much to Say

I don't have much to say today. I had meetings all day at work, and take a look back at yesterday's post to see why today was a sad day on top of that. I was hoping I would be okay today around 4 pm, but I did get a little teary at that time, and am still very sad for what had to happen today.

On my way home from my meetings, I really wanted to stop for fast food to comfort myself, but instead I came home, had healthy(ish) tacos and guacamole instead. I am indulging in some vodka tonight to pay a toast to the late Bandit the dog, but other than that I'm pretty on track for the calorie count for the day. I was a little under the past two days, so I feel okay about going over a bit today.

I'll write more tomorrow, but for now I'm just going to drown my sadness with comedies on the DVR, and probably go to bed early.

Peace out, girlie scouts!

Days 18-23 - Catching Up!

Whew! I've missed writing, but it has been a CUH-RAZY week, and it's not really letting up until next weekend. Work has been nuts with lots of meetings and presentations and conferences coming up. Home has been crazy with keep things in order, cleaning, organizing, laundry, etc.

But, all of this is a good kind of busy. I really love my job, and really love what I have going on at home, and REALLY loving my hobby of dog training once a week. I'm loving the dog training so much that in fact, it will become a more regular hobby in a couple months! More about that at a later date (Mom, I'll fill you in before I post on the blog, no worries :))

So, how's the healthy eating going with all that? Really well, actually. I've lost a total of 5 pounds, and even with a really indulgent food day on Sunday, I've managed to maintain that loss.

I'm lucky that my wonderful husband is starting to go along with the healthy eating, and I'm happy to report that we have found multiple meals that we can both eat and be happy with, and I don't have to fix a second side! I'm also learning to cook just enough for each of us to have a healthy portion so we don't overeat as much and don't have leftovers that are hard to keep track of.

Tomorrow brings a long day at work with a retreat with our Board of Directors. It will be a 10-12 hour day including travel, and I'll have both lunch and dinner provided, so I hope there's something that will keep me satisfied and still be able to stay within my calorie count, or close to it. While I know I will be tired after tomorrow, I'm actually a little happy that I'll be busy and focused all day on work. I'm happy because something very sad is happening tomorrow, and I should be busy enough that I won't get emotional in the middle of a meeting.

Tomorrow at 4 pm, my family's last family dog is going to a better place. Bandit has been with our family for over 10 years, and has been a wonderful addition. Her goofy tricks, looks and attitude are always enough to brighten my day. It will be very odd to visit my parents in a couple weeks and not have her greet me with a big smile and by showing me her belly. I'll miss her sitting up like a big girl to get her 8pm Greenie, and I'll miss her sliding across the kitchen floor to retrieve her stuffed squirrel. I will really miss Bandi, but she's been in a lot of pain lately due to kidney and bladder issues, and it's time to end her suffering. She's led a full life, and we can't be selfish and keep her alive just to keep bringing us smiles and laugh. I will miss her, but am very thankful that has been such a big part of our family.

Here's one of my favorite pictures of Bandit to make you smile, and for me to smile when I look back through this blog. (Sorry Megan and Mom if this made you cry, I was crying while writing it, too).

Now I'll sign off for tonight, and hopefully have enough energy to write tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Days 16 & 17 - Whoops!

I totally forgot to blog last night. I got busy doing some work, and went to bed without even thinking of the blog! So, let's start with a recap there.

I had a protein shake for breakfast. It kept me full til lunch. I took some leftover chicken chili for lunch, but I didn't feel hungry for that by the time 1pm rolled around. So, I had a microwavable taco bowl meal that I'd been storing at my desk. It wasn't that great. I don't really miss those kinds of meals. For dinner, I had spaghetti squash. It's one of my favorite dinners, so I got to fill up and have a good meal. I did well, and felt good going to bed.

Today was another good day, too. For breakfast I had a shake again because I was running late. It was good again. I really don't mind the shakes. For lunch I had a southwest chicken salad from Wal-Mart because I had to run some errands over lunch. It was actually really good! I had some Pretzel Thins on the side for a little crunch. For dinner I made chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese, and had a cheesy broccoli pasta for a side dish. It was really yummy. For dessert tonight I had some cinnamon almonds which will tide me over until bedtime.

It's really nice to be back on track, and now I think I'm getting into the swing of things so that I can still have the foods I want, but just be mindful of how much I'm eating and keep my portions in check.

Thanks for hanging in there, and stay tuned on Twitter later for a full recap of my calorie count for the day!

Day 15 - Feeling Better

Yesterday was not great. Look back through the blog yesterday for reasons. But, today I am back on track! For breakfast I had a protein shake. For lunch I had a bagel thin that I split in half and topped with carrots and grape tomatoes. dinner was white chicken chili, and it was pretty good! I added beans in, even though I really dislike beans, but I didn't mind them too much in this chili. For dessert, I had an apple which I topped with some cinnamon and nuked in the microwave for 90 seconds.

I'm 388 calories below my limit for today, which makes up a little from yesterday. I didn't get time to do yoga today because I had to do some work after dinner, and then give my puppy a bath... not a fun task! He gets a haircut on Sunday, but he dug out in the warm weather today and got some really muddy paws.

Tomorrow brings a smoothie for breakfast, maybe chili for lunch (not sure yet), and spaghetti squash for dinner. Anytime there is spaghetti squash, I get excited for dinner!

I will have some more work to do tomorrow after dinner, so I may not get to work out again, but I'm hoping that starting Wednesday morning I can get my butt in gear and start working out in the mornings. I tend to do better that way, and if I get it out of the way, I can do whatever else I want in the evening.

That's it for me tonight. Thanks for the support on Twitter last night and this morning when I had a misstep. I really appreciate it!! Have a great night and fabulous day tomorrow, and I'll type at you later!

Day 14 - Not. Good.

Today was not a good day food-wise. Well, I was okay up until dinner. I had my planned english muffin for breakfast, made a quick, healthy stir-fry for lunch, and had some watermelon for a snack.

I had planned to make white chicken chili for dinner, but as the day went on, I got lazier and lazier. So, I didn't feel like making dinner when 6 pm rolled around. Soooo...... I made a very bad decision and asked my husband to go to Dairy Queen and get me a burger and fries. I full intended to eat the burger without the bun to save on carbs, but once I unwrapped the burger, I just inhaled it. And it was delicious. I ate the whole thing, and my fries. And I didn't stop there, even though I should have. I was craving chocolate, and found a full-size Snickers bar. And I ate it.

Needless to say, I am over my calorie limit for the day. I've been eating 1,500 per day, but today I had 2,000. I have been chugging water all day, so hopefully that will help in the long run, but I'm not excited at the prospect of tomorrow. I bet I will be hungry, and will stay that way most of the day.

I plan to do some yoga tomorrow night, so hopefully that will calm me down a bit and I can successfully get back in the swing of things. But for tonight, I'm going to finish a few more glasses of water, and head to bed after watching some more TV.

I am confident I'll be able to get back into the swing of things, but I haven't yet found a great way to deal with my cravings. I'm hoping that I can find, and get in the routine of eating, enough healthy foods that I start to crave those instead. I guess we'll have to see.

I also have to keep in mind that I knew this was going to be hard going into it, and that's why I set a goal of losing 1 pound per week, and I'm not out to try and starve myself just to lose weight quickly. In the end, I want this to be a lifestyle change, but I do hope I get to keep some days of indulgence like today.

Have a great week, and I'll be back online tomorrow to post!

Day 13 - I Gave In

Weekends are tough for me. I had a big craving today, and I gave in. Today started by sleeping in, so I didn't eat breakfast. Lunch was a brown rice, avocado and tomato salad before heading off to work on some dog training. After dog training, I headed to Hobby Lobby to pick up some framing supplies for a friend's art I have hanging around (well, I will have hanging once I get the framing done :)).

I made it through all of these activities pretty okay. Then, I got hungry after shopping. That's where things went off kilter. At this point, I should mention that today is weigh-in day, and this week I only lost 0.8 of a pound. So, I wasn't feeling so great on my progress. Therefore, when I got hungry after shopping, I was weak and gave into a craving I've been having for Hu Hot-esque food. I wanted noodles and salty, oily sauce sauteed on a big circular grill. Since I was in Des Moines, it was easy for me to give in to the craving and eat dinner at Bang Bang Mongolian Grill. According to the calorie calculations I did, I still did pretty well over all on the day on the calorie count, but I'm hungry again and it's almost bedtime.

I know that there will always be temptations like this, and I need to learn how to eat the foods I crave, but not go overboard. I think I did okay on that tonight, and hopefully tomorrow I won't have cravings since this one has been fulfilled.

I have to do some work from home tomorrow, so I should be able to stay busy and not over-indulge. I plan to make white chicken chili for dinner, will have some type of leftovers for lunch, and probably an english muffin for breakfast. Stay tuned on Twitter later for an update on my calorie count for the day!

Days 11 & 12 - Holy Moley...

Wow. The past couple of days have been a whirlwind! I didn't get to blog yesterday because I was out of town late last night. For those of you who don't know, I'm studying to become a dog trainer so I can do some classes and private lessons on nights and weekends outside of my regular job. It's so fun!!!

Anyway, I didn't blog yesterday, but it was a good day food-wise. I was way under my calorie allowance because I had to eat on the road to the training class, but I didn't get hungry, so that was good!

Today was pretty hectic. There was a meeting at work that I had to present for, but I didn't know when it was going to happen. So, I was a little on edge (or just heightened alert) all day. I also had lunch provided by work, so that was interesting.

I started the day with yogurt. It was yummy!

As mentioned, lunch was provided by work, and I did well with that. It was chicken, baked beans, potato salad, coleslaw, rolls and a brownie for dessert. I had about 4 oz. of chicken, a little spoonful of coleslaw, a roll, and half my brownie. I passed on the beans and potatoes to save calories (and because I don't really like baked beans or potato salad :)).

Tonight, I had what is becoming the Friday regular: cauliflower pizza! The recipe I found for this is so quick, easy and DELICIOUS that even my hubby likes it!

Tomorrow I'll be traveling out of town again to more dog training things, and Sunday I'll be working on some training videos for a website I built this summer. So, I should be able to keep busy and not be the boredom-hungries.

I hope you have a great weekend, and I should have time to blog tomorrow!

Day 10 - Grandma's Cooking

Well, today was nuts. Work was crazy... I was very busy today, and that's probably a good thing. If I stay busy, I tend to not notice my hunger or get hungry just out of boredom.

The day started with yogurt for breakfast. Lunch allowed me an avocado, tomato and brown rice salad which was UNbelievably good. I really do like avocados, and I'm so glad they are healthy for me!

As I mentioned last night, today is my Grandpa's 97th birthday, so I had dinner out at his house and got to enjoy my Grandma's cooking. She made ham balls, potatoes gratin, corn, and toffee cake. All of it was REALLY yummy, and I was good to only have one ham ball, a small scoop of gratin, and a small piece of cake. Overall (as you'll see on Twitter when my daily calorie log is posted), I didn't go too far over my calorie limit, which is great! This is good practice for having self control when I visit others for dinner, or go out to a restaurant.

I'll leave it short today, since I have yet another headache creeping up. I'm not sure what is going on, but if it continues into next week, I'll need to see the doctor to see what's going on. Let's hope it's just my normal headaches and nothing serious!

Have a great week, and I'll write at you tomorrow!

Day 9 - Going Strong

It has been just another Tuesday. Lots of meetings at work, but I stayed on track!

Breakfast was fresh blueberries. They are one of my favorite fruits, and I was happy to find some at the store this weekend.

I had lunch with some folks from work after a meeting, and we went to a Mexican restaurant. I was very well behaved and got a small taco salad, and I didn't each any of the tortilla bowl or the chips beforehand! That is quite the accomplishment for me, because chips and salsa are my favorite parts of a Mexican restaurant visit. But, I really enjoyed my salad, and was happy I made it out without over-eating!

For dinner we had some leftovers, so I had Caribbean tacos again. They were just as good as last night!

For dessert, I had a new type of yogurt that tasted like red velvet cake. It was awesome, and I might have found my new favorite type of yogurt. The only downside is that I don't think I can find them in this area, and I will have to travel about an hour to get any.

I also had a fudgy peanut butter chip Vitatop. If you haven't heard of these, Google them. They are so good, and full of vitamins and fiber while tasting like muffins! So good. Did I mention they were good?

After dinner, I did some riding on my stationary bike and some strength exercises. I might have trouble walking tomorrow, but it felt good.

Tomorrow brings a normal day in the office at work, and I plan on yogurt for breakfast and an avocado salad for lunch. It's my Grandpa's 97th birthday, so I'm having dinner with him and that is TBD. But, I'm sure I'll be able to find something that I can eat and stay within my calorie limit.

I hope your week is off to a great start, and continues being great!

Day 8 - Another Monday

Well, it's Monday. I sometimes have a hard time getting out of bed on Mondays. I really like having weekends to myself, and it's hard to get back into the routine of going back to work. But, today wasn't too bad. I crawled out of bed on time, and was even early to work!

For breakfast, I had some lime yogurt with some add-ins. Chobani makes these, and they are DELICIOUS. I forgot to get a picture of it, but the next time I have one, I'll post it over on Twitter!

Lunch brought me leftover turkey chili, and it was pretty yummy. I also had two dark chocolate Hershey kisses to tide me over for the afternoon.

Dinner was amazing. Another one that will become one of my staples. Caribbean tacos with homemade mango salsa and coleslaw mix. Even though my husband didn't like the tacos, I will definitely be making them again, maybe some evening when he works second shift and I'm on my own for dinner.

I also got off my butt tonight and did some yoga. I had forgotten how much I like yoga! I felt the relaxation in my lower back, and it felt great. I will definitely need to start doing this at least a couple times a week.

Tomorrow will be a busy day at work, with meetings most of the day and travel between offices. I will probably have some fruit for breakfast, or a smoothie. Lunch is TBD, since I don't know where I'll be at noon. Dinner will be pork chops with brown rice.

Overall, I still feel really good, and on track. Thanks again for reading and sticking with me through this!!

Day 7 - 2.6 Pounds Down!

I'm actually writing this on Monday, but I wanted to keep this post on its own.

If you read my previous post, you'll note that I was working from home on Sunday, and was hoping to keep busy. By George, I was busy! I worked almost 8 hours, and I only had one snack. I didn't go over on my calorie intake, and I am very proud of that!

I had an english muffin for breakfast, turkey chili for lunch, and chicken gyros for dinner. It was a good food day.

As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I am only going to weight myself on Saturday mornings. Well, the result this week (if you haven't figured it out from the title) is that I've lost 2.6 pounds!

I didn't get yoga done on Sunday like I was hoping, but I'm going to get into the exercising habit this coming week.

Thanks for sticking through the first week with me, and look forward to another blog post (rather soon) about Monday!

Days 5 and 6 - On a Roll!!!

The end of the first week of my journey is getting closer, and I still am on track!

Yesterday I forgot to blog, so I'll catch you up. Some cereal started my day, I had a sandwich at lunch, and tried out cauliflower pizza for dinner. I didn't have any cravings all day, and didn't really get hungry between meals!

Today was a great way to start out my first weekend. I was busy all day, so I didn't have a chance to get bored and want to eat just because. I started the morning by going out to breakfast with my husband before running some other errands. I made the healthy choice and had yogurt, fruit and part of a bagel instead of my usual egg and bacon bagel sandwich. It was really good, and I was so happy the cafe had my favorite fruit today, blueberries!

For lunch, I had an avocado, tomato and feta salad. This was plenty to tide me over while I spent some time with my sister at the Civic Center in Des Moines watching The Book of Mormon. It was a great time, and I'm so happy I got to see this musical.

After the show, I went grocery shopping before heading home. I wasn't hungry, so I didn't eat beforehand. I made it through without buying too many extra things, and still wasn't too hungry when I got home at 7:30! I bought a sandwich, and decided I should eat even if I wasn't hungry so I didn't get a craving and over-indulge. So, I had the sandwich I bought and some pumpkin seeds.

I had planned on having a new kind of yogurt for dessert tonight, but I was not hungry after dinner, so I decided to skip it.

I'll be doing some work from home tomorrow, so I hope I keep busy enough to not eat out of boredom. I also plan to start trying some yoga tomorrow to increase flexibility and get myself moving.

Have a great Sunday!

Day 4 - Headache Night Cap

Overall, today went well. I had a Clif bar for breakfast (didn't have time for an english muffin), a yummy turkey/avocado sandwich for lunch, and turkey chili for dinner (I decided to wait to try the cauliflower pizza tomorrow). I drank 10 cups of water. I will be under my calorie limit by 100 calories. Pretty good day.

But, by the end of today, I had a bad headache, and that's just starting to let up now. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep well tonight.

A few more shows will be watched off the DVR, then it's bedtime for this gal. My new fitness tracker band tracks my sleep, and last night I got a 96%. But, I didn't really feel like I slept that well. I didn't have any caffeine today, so maybe I'll feel a little better tomorrow morning.

Have a great evening!

Day 3 - Can you Drink TOO Much Water?

Today was another day full of meetings at work. This actually turned out okay for a couple reasons. First, I didn't have the opportunity to be tempted by snacks. Second, I drank a LOT of water. I had 10 cups before I left the office! I had another 2 cups at dinner, and will have one more cup before bed. Hopefully I can't get hurt from drinking too much water!

Breakfast was good, but not sure I'll have the same thing again. I had an english muffin with a small amount of butter and peach jam. While it tasted good, I think it was too much sugar for a breakfast meal. I was kind of regretting it by 10:30. Oh well. You eat, you learn. Tomorrow I'm going to have an english muffin with avocado instead and we'll see how that does.

Lunch was pretty good. I had a kale salad with some raisins and pine nuts, topped with a lemon parmesan dressing I made. It was good, and held me over for the afternoon.

For dinner, I made stir fry and brown rice, which is one of my go-to meals when "dieting" because I can usually get full, and it tastes delicious. I've found that brown rice really works for me, so I go to it when the meal calls for it.

For dessert, I just had a chocolate chip vitatop. It's a high-fiber, vitamin-packed muffin top with only 100 calories. It satisfies my sweet tooth and saves on calories.

Tomorrow bring yet another day of meetings at work, starting at 7 am. So, it will be a long day. English muffin with avocado is planned for breakfast, a turkey sandwich with avocado and carrots for lunch (not sure on a side yet... maybe celery and peanut butter?), and I'm going to attempt cauliflower crust pizza for dinner. We'll see how that goes. I'll try to remember to get pics! I've been bad about that on Twitter the past 2 days.

On another note, my fitness tracker came in the mail today, so I can better track my steps, and be reminded to get up from my desk and move around throughout the day. I've decided on the Jawbone UP 24, which is water resistant, and will also track my sleep. I'm excited to start trying it tonight.

Overall, I still feel confident I can keep this up, even though I was craving french fries again today. I think that since I've cut back on carbs, my body is missing them. Not to mention the salt.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and a great weekend! Check back tomorrow for another regularly scheduled update!

Day 2 - Gimme French Fries!!

I had cravings today. I did pretty well yesterday, but today was tough. I have meetings all day at work, and had lunch catered in. So, I started the day without a full plan. That always makes me nervous when counting calories. I still ended up under my calorie limit, but it was TOUGH.

For breakfast, I had enough time to sit at the table and eat something, so I had some cereal with almond milk. That was enough to get me through the morning.

As I mentioned, lunch was catered in, so I didn't have a choice in the menu. I was lucky that it was sandwiches and soup, so I wasn't tempted by chips. I had half a turkey sandwich, and even picked off the cheese. I was lucky that the vegetable beef soup was broth-based and not cream-based, so I really enjoyed it. It was REALLY good. It came from my local cafe, so I'm excited to know I can still go there for lunch once in awhile and find something yummy and healthy-eating-approved.

After lunch, I felt a little weak, so I allowed myself to have a small cranberry scone for dessert. It was also very yummy, and because it was about half the size of a normal scone, it didn't add too much to my calorie intake. But, sugar always gets my cravings started. After lunch, all I wanted to do was have a giant plate of french fries. With ranch. And cheese. And bacon. I curbed my craving with some pretzels - definitely a healthier choice.

Dinner. Was. AWESOME. I tried out a new way to eat Mexican, and made a chicken fajita bake. I portioned out chicken breasts into a casserole dish, topped the meat with 4 bell peppers, half an onion, and a few shakes of taco seasoning. I ate 6 oz. of chicken, about 1 bell pepper, some onions, and topped all this off with some lite sour cream, salsa, and an avocado. It was really good. It was almost like a taco salad, but without all the lettuce.

I haven't had dessert as of 8:30 pm, and I'm not sure I will tonight. I did allow for some sugar free chocolate jell-o, but I might not feel hungry for it.

Oh! I also exceeded my 8 glasses of water for the day, so that's awesome too!

I've decided that I'm only going to weigh myself once a week, on Saturday mornings. So, I don't know if I've lost any weight at this point, but I can tell you that a button up shirt that was very uncomfortable to wear last week was a little less uncomfortable today! Maybe I'm just less bloated from the decreased salt intake, but I'm counting it as a win for now :)

Tomorrow brings another day of meetings at work, and lunch will again be catered in. But, since it is just an internal meeting and located at my usual office, I will be able to take my lunch. I will have a kale salad with lemony Parmesan dressing (homemade!), topped with golden raisins and toasted pine nuts. The dressing tasted wonderful today, so I'm excited for this tomorrow already!

Until I write again, thanks for your support, and cheers!

Day 1

Today's start to the journey was an 8/10! I started the day with a Slim Fast chocolate protein shake because I needed to get on the road to work, and didn't have time for the breakfast I planned. But, it was good because it took me a couple hours to finish it, so I felt like I was getting more than I actually was. I also used almond milk to save some calories and get some extra calcium!

I was definitely hungry by lunchtime, and I think part of that was how excited I was for the meal! I chopped up an avocado, halved some grape tomatoes and combined them in a bowl with a little lime juice and feta cheese. It was delicious! This will definitely become one of my regular lunch meals, and something I can even be satisfied with when I'm bored on the weekends.

Dinner was also something I was looking forward to. I really like spaghetti squash, and I had some leftover meatballs from my hubby's birthday dinner last week, so that's what I had! I got some more vegetables, and some protein to hold me over and not go to bed too hungry.

I have a semi-sweet tooth, and usually like to end the night with some kind of dessert. For tonight's dessert I cubed up an apple, sprinkled on some cinnamon, microwaved it for 2 minutes, topped it with some redi-whip and enjoyed the crap out of it!

I wanted to do some yoga today, but since I came home with a headache, I focused on getting some work done, drinking water, and getting some Advil into my system.

To cap off the night, I'm off to create a weight loss "board" in my bedroom. I'm going to hang index cards with each pound I want to lose (including rewards every 10 pounds) so I can stay motivated, and can cross off the pounds I've lost and see my progress. I'll be sure to post a picture of it on Twitter when it's fully done.

Thanks for all your support, and here's to hoping that tomorrow will go as well as today!

Let's Get Started!

In 2015, I've given myself the goal to lose 50-60 pounds, averaging 1 pound per week. But, I'm not really setting out to be on a diet. Instead, I need to learn to change my eating and activity habits to make myself healthier. If I can do this, my hope is that I can keep up a healthy lifestyle and maintain my weight instead of feeling like I need to starve myself to stay at a healthy weight.

Many of you know that I have struggled with my weight for over half of my life, and it's time to get a hold on things.

I will be posting my meals daily on Twitter, so follow me there @ShannonLoses50. If you don't have Twitter, subscribe to this blog for a daily recap of my meals, and any comments I have on the day.

Also find me on MyFitnessPal, username shannonerb822.

I won't ever turn down words of encouragement, or tips and tricks that have helped you lose weight and keep it off. So, feel free to comment or mention me on Twitter with any kind words! Haters not welcome.

This is the year of no excuses. Here we go!