Pizza

Yesterday I had a long day at work. I am trying to make sure I get information out to the teachers in my department in a timely manner. To do that I have to work a little later. I have the whole morning to work in my office but people come in and out constantly to talk to me, so I don't get much done. So, after a 10 hour day I really didn't feel like doing much.

Not doing much consists of not wanting to cook nor do any exercise. I didn't have a craving for anything in particular and I am really not a big fast food person. I always feel guilty when I eat anything from a drive-thru (except for breakfast items). So, I fell on my old staple.....pizza. I have a Westshore Pizza around the corner from my house. I told myself a couple of months ago if I want pizza I had to walk there which I normally do. It's a 1.5 mile round trip. Yesterday was not one of those days....one because it was raining and two because I didn't want just a slice. I normally get a slice or two so I can keep it under control. Yesterday I ordered a small cheese pizza so I can have some for lunch today.

I ate half of a 14 inch pizza. I probably could have eaten more but I stopped myself. I had to physically make myself stop. Now let me tell you, I had the calories so I could eat the pizza but man did I want to really overindulge. Now I have the other half for lunch today.

Hmmmmm I love pizza!

Before I go.....I have a question.......how do you feel about frozen meals? Lean Cuisine? Smart Ones? Healthy Choice? Are they a plus or minus on a diet?

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One day down

Well the first day with the kids is done....179 more to go. It wasn't so bad. It was a little hectic. I still don't why people wait until the last minute to register their children. I have 3 kids to do schedules for today who showed up yesterday. Seriously, do parents not know the importance of the first day of school?

Today I plan on wearing my tennis shoes since I did a lot of running around yesterday. I did so much running around I was too tired to do any official walking last night. I did do my laundry and that means up and down the stairs quite a few times. I kept moving but I need to do something to keep my heart rate up for an extended period of time to help burn those calories. :)

I wanted to share some discoveries. One is a food I discovered. I was shopping at Publix last week and this young girl was sharing a sample of some Mexican treats. I tried a corn pancake with white cheese on it. My first thought was "how fattening is this?" When I tasted it and it was moist and creamy I knew it had to be like a million calories. So, I closed my eyes and flipped over the package to the corn pancakes sitting on her counter. I slowly opened one eye and peaked at the nutritional info. Wow! It wasn't fattening at all. Sure it has some calories but not too many per portion. I read the ingredients and it was just corn, flour and corn syrup (I know there are a couple of other ingredients but I can't remember). Then comes the cheese. I knew this is where the fat has to come into play since it was a creamy cheese. I did the whole eye process again (by this this time the young girl thinks I am just a crazy old lady....I'm a teacher so I am used to it). Actually it wasn't so fattening and it was low in sodium. Score!

I bought a package of each before I left. It was a little expensive but then again I am at Publix. Next time I will look in a Spanish store. A whole pancake and 2 oz of cheese is 350 calories and I eat it as a meal....normally breakfast. So, check out corn pancakes and the cheese is queso de mesa.

My next discovery is eating food. I read an article that you should not watch tv or doing anything while eating. It is proven that most people eat more when they are distracted. I agree when it comes to snacks. However, I like the distraction when I am eating my meals. It makes me take my time and I eat slower. I make sure I put down the fork between bites. I make sure everything in my mouth is chewed and swallowed before putting more food on my fork. It's those little things that help you eat less. It lets your brain to catch up with your stomach or vice versa.

I am off to handle day two!

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They're back....

The kids are back. It is the first day back for kids. I thought I would be nervous but I am not as bad as I thought I would be. I think I am forgetting something though. I am co-teaching this year and I hope it works out. I have always been with good teachers in the past. I am teaching with new teachers and I like them both personally but not sure of their teaching style. I think I am pretty flexible and fit right in.

I am heading back to school 15 pounds lighter than I left. My hair is 6 inches shorter and about two shades darker. I like starting fresh. The only thing I didn't get is new school clothes. I didn't want to buy clothes until I lost a little more weight. However, I am fitting clothes I haven't worn in a while so they will be like new school clothes.

You would think after yesterday's blog I would have stepped up and did my cardio. My excuses It rained all day. I worked late. A friend came over. Did that sound good? So anyway no laundry nor walking was done yesterday. *sigh* I guess I need to just make myself do it. Just to make myself feel better I didn't sit on the sofa and watch tv all night. I was up cooking dinner, coloring my hair, cleaning my kitchen, cooking my lunch for today and then blow drying my hair. I guess I did burn some energy. What I should have done when I was cooking my dinner was walking in place. D'oh!

It is time to start getting ready for those kids. Wish me luck!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

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Monday is here again

Ahhhh gotta love a Monday. How many of us think "On Monday I will get back at it. Yep yep yep....Monday is the day." Well, I have thought that so many times. What is the miracle of Monday? Why is that the day we decide we are going to either start something or start over on something? We should start right when we think about it. Why wait? Start now!

I try to keep that mentality. I am the queen of procrastination. I have no issue putting off tomorrow what I can do today. I continue working on getting out of the mind set and in doing that I have lost weight.

When it was time to eat something this weekend it wasn't my usual....I'll eat this now then make up for it on Monday. As for exercise that is a different story. I still haven't motivated myself to get back into my cardio. I am hoping I will get a chance to check out my friend's boxing class tonight. If not I am going to go walking while I do my laundry. That is my usual time to walk. I put my clothes in the wash, walk until it is done then put it in the dryer. I will also add in some swimming while the clothes are in the dryer. Yep that is what I will do if I don't go box the living crap out of someone. :)

I know it is a combo of eating right and exercising. That is the combination of losing weight. Yesterday I kept under my calories only because I had to think about it. I was cooking dinner last night and decided to make a nice lean burger. With that I was going to cook a pasta dish. I realized I didn't have any veggies planned. So I traded in the pasta for a nice large salad. I felt so much better and I got to eat the whole burger. :)

Making decisions like that isn't always so east. I didn't know going back to work would be such a big deal but the eating has been crazy. Every day a different group of people bring breakfast. Everything is covered in cheese and made with fattening meats. There is some fruit and other healthy choices but all that fattening stuff stares right at ya. *sigh* Then everyone wants to go out to eat for lunch since we won't get that opportunity when the kids come back. So, its burgers, Mexican, pizza, Chinese, etc. I am not ready for the kids to come back from a curriculum standpoint but I am ready for them from a eating one. I know it is all about choices but it is hard to resist some times.

Today I am going back to work with a new look. I decided to get a new hair cut since I am looking and feeling different by losing weight. I remember a long time ago a psychic told me you can change your destiny by making changes to yourself....cut your hair, lose weight, etc. So I am changing my destiny all over the place. :) So bring it on my new destiny!!!

Well have a great Monday!

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Sick and unmotivated

Sunday I started feeling bad and have slowly gone down hill since then. I have been zapped of energy, soar throat, watery eyes and achy. However, I tried to keep doing my exercises. I have done all my core exercises 3 times this week. I have switched them up a little. I decided to do my sit ups and push up on the pilates ball. OMG!! My stomach, arms and thighs have hurt for days now. I am not going to let that stop me. I don't believe in no pain, no gain but at least I know they are working. Monday I will say I did try to get in some cardio by walking and jogging in place. So that has put some serious cramps in my calves since I didn't stretch afterwards.....dummy!

As for my eating, it has been a little more difficult to keep within my calories. Every day we have had a breakfast and every day we have gone out to lunch. When you are a teacher you don't get the luxury of eating out so we are taking advantage of it until the kids come back. It has been Chinese, pizza, burgers, etc. Man this is hard on a girl.

However, I did try something different when we went to go eat Chinese. We went to a buffet and we all know that is overindulgence on a steam table. I went straight for the soup so the wonton broth would be a filler.....and well the wontons too. When I went for the regular food, I grabbed a small plate. It was the plate to put under the soup bowl, so it was even smaller than a salad plate. It really limited me on what I could take. I kept myself laughing by thinking....if I can't go wide on a large plate but let's see how high I can go on a small plate. I didn't do it though. We eat with our eyes first and we can fool ourselves into thinking we are eating a lot if the plate is full....so try a small plate next time you go to a buffet. I am glad I got the small plate because when I calculated my calories for what I did eat....phew! That was a lot of calories.

I really have to start thinking how to work in my cardio exercises. I like doing them in the morning but I am so not a morning person. It was easier when I was teaching summer school and didn't have to be there until 9:15. During the regular school year I have to be there at 8:20 which means I would have to get up even earlier. Oh heck no! I will have to figure it out because I need to start back incorporating my cardio. I am not going to lose with just my core exercises. I have to get my heart rate up.

Well, it is time to start getting ready for work. The parents are coming tonight with their kids for open house. I am so excited. It's a new adventure.

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Summer revisited

Now that my summer is over I want to recount what I accomplished and learned.

1) First and foremost, I lost 14 pounds. It was not easy but wasn't as hard as I expected.

2) So that leads me to the second thing I accomplished....to live a healthier life style. I eat the things I like but I eat in moderation. I think about everything I eat. If I over indulge or know that I am going to over indulge then I make sure I get in more exercise.

3) I learned that some things are not worth eating. For example, McDonald's Frappe. It was okay but definitely not worth the 560 calories.

4) Push-ups are not as bad as I make them out to be. I started out with only inch or two but now I can take myself all the way down to the floor. They really do make a difference. While I was driving yesterday I rubbed the back of my arm and thought I had a tumor then I realized it was a muscle!!!!

5) Sparkpeople.com has been a great website. I have learned so much about eating and exercise. I like the challenges.

6) Swimming burns more calories than walking.....only if you are swimming and not floating around with a cocktail in your hand. :) Make sure your heart rate is up and you can burn a lot of calories since you are using all body parts.

7) My clothes are fitting better or getting too big. Thankfully I have some of those tweener clothes to get me through. Not that I plan on putting the weight back on but I am going to box up clothes that are too big and hold for 6 months to a year or until they annoy me because they are in my way.

8) Last but not least, this life style is not as has hard as I assumed. It is all about watching what I eat and how much I eat. Once you become conscious of what you eat it all falls in place. As long as you tell yourself you can do it then you can. No excuses!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

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Vacation is over

I have been on vacation from work and from my healthy life style. I didn't do much exercising this past week. I decided to take this last week before I went back to work to just have fun. However, I always self consciously knew where to draw the line. I kept eating in moderation and tried to keep track of what I ate. However, I didn't do much exercise. I tried to keep moving but nothing official. Now I am back!

Since this was my last weekend before heading back to work I tried to make the best of it. The first thing I had to do on Friday was go weigh in at my doctor's office. And I am excited to announce I am down another 5 pounds. It probably would have been more if I had put in more effort but a loss is a loss is a loss. So that is 14 pounds for the summer and 32 pounds over all since the beginning of the year. My goal is to lose 8 more pounds by the time I go on my cruise at the end of September.

Since Friday was my last day of summer vacation and I had to celebrate somehow. And boy did I celebrate. Yikes! It started with dinner from Chili's. I have a new application on my phone called Foursquare. It is a neat application that lets me log into places that I am going to visit...restaurants, grocery stores, clubs, etc. Well, if you have this program you can get free chips and salsa at Chili's. So I stopped by there on my way home to get a salad and my free chips and salsa. Chili's has the best chips and salsa in my opinion. Anyway, I didn't get them for me. I got them to take down to the lounge at my complex. I shoveled in my salad and went to have a drink or two or three or ten. It ended up being more like 20! I lost count! I know alcohol is an empty calorie but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

So, Saturday I was hard pressed to get off my sofa. I woke up at 10:30 after getting in at 4:00 am. That was too early so I went back to bed and got back up at 1 pm. I had a list a mile long I wanted to get done but there was no way I was doing diddly. I finally made it out to my pool around 3ish so I can get a little color before going back to work. That night I was to meet my sister at the Derby Club for dinner. I was finally ready to tear up some crab legs. And did I! That and some salad. What a good time we had.

Yesterday was a mellow day and back to the grind of trying to keep track of my food intake and I threw in some exercise to boot. Not a lot but a little.

It has been a interesting summer and not the summer I planned. However, I didn't have to sit on the corner with a reflector vest holding a sign or sell water, and I didn't have to sit at my pool eating ramen noodles because that is all I could afford. Tomorrow I will reflect on all the things I accomplished this summer.

I have done the my morning exercises. Now it is time to shower and get ready for work. Have a marvelous Monday.

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