Foo.

Fact: I have cheated. But I don't feel bad. I mean, I kind of do, but not like "it's all over, I suck yadayadayada." I've kept up with one very specific goal this week and I feel awesome about it. So I'm going to stay/feel positive.

I worked out four times this week. Each time I spent 33 minutes on the elliptical machine (it has a weight loss program that automatically turns to 28 minutes of work out and 5 minutes of cool down.) and each time I felt proud of myself. I still do. I think anyone who works out after a full day of work deserves a FLIPPING MEDAL. It is so hard to work out at the end of the day. But I did it. On top of it, I set my alarm for a Saturday (albeit 10:00 lol) and worked out before a baby shower. I got up today, on a Sunday and worked out again.

Today was the easiest of the workout days. I borrowed Mac's ipod and put on music, and seeing as the other times this week I worked out with no music, today felt like a breeze. I've never experienced a half an hour go by so quickly. I love getting suggestions from people concerning food, snacks, work out routines, tricks, drinks, etc. so here comes mine. Foo Fighters.

Of all of the things Mac has done for me in our relationship, introducing me to Foo Fighters has been life changing. No, just kidding. But really, they are an outstanding rock band, and we saw them this past fall. It's the only concert I've ever cried at (almost at U2). Dave Grohl, the lead singer also preached (lightly) about how he wishes kids would put down computers and pick up guitars. Music to my ears, literally. They played for 3 solid hours with no breaks and the stamina was amazing. So, today, I repeatedly listened to two of my favorite Foo songs. (I have a very poor habit of listening to songs on repeat. This drives friends, roommates and family crazy, as most people do not enjoy the repeat button.) Walk and Times Like These. Youtube, Itunes or Spotify them now. They, along with Lady Gaga (I am so all over the place sometimes) got me through my workout today and made it enjoyable. These songs are also somewhat fast, so they keep my feet moving. "Walk" is probably set at a quarter note = 140 and "Times Like These" is close behind. To any non music-dork out there, that means that your speed on an elliptical will read as such if you're moving to the beat. Check out the strides per minute. If you're going to the beat of the song, you're probably going along with a quarter note on a metronome. While I am not comfortable going that fast consistently yet, I don't let myself go below 100 strides per minute. That means I try to keep myself at about two strides per second, or 120. (60 seconds in a minute, just double it.)

Ok, enough with the music geek lesson. I'm just explaining what works for me. :)

Monday 1/30

* baby bell cheese
* 1 serving cinnamon toast crunch
* diet coke
* 1/2 bowl of light chx noodle progresso soup
* 1 package cheezeits
* diet coke
* 33 minutes on elliptical, 28 work out, 5 cool down, 360 calories burned
* baby bell cheese
* carrots, celery and dip
* triskets
* about 20 m&ms
* 1/2 bowl steamed, then fried rice with egg, light soy sauce and shrimp sauce

Tuesday 1/31
* 1 serving fruit loops
* 3 graham crackers
* light progresso vegetable soup
* 3 diet cokes
* 2 small boxes of raisins
* 6 pieces of colby cheese
* 6 wheat crackers
* mac & cheese, uch the whole box
* 1 cup chicken salad
* 7 m&ms

Wednesday 2/1

* strawberry breakfast bread
* 1 package cheeze its
* 1 cup chicken salad
* 2 diet cokes
* 4 nutter butter cookies
* 33 mins on eliptical (28 hard, 5 cool down, 361 calories)
* raw veggies with thousand island dressing
* grilled tuna with lemon juice, salt and pepper
* bowl of wheat pasta with 1 Tbs. butter, salt, pepper and parm cheese
* 1 1/2 oatmeal cookies

Thursday 2/2

* 1 serving cheerios
* 2 diet cokes
* 1 package special K cracker chips (110 calories, not too bad)
* banana
* 1 cup chicken noodle soup
* 3 pieces cheese
* 3 wheat crackers
* chicken parm (1/2 breast, 1 cup pasta)
* 3 rolls with oil/bruschetta
* 2 diet cokes
* 1 glass white wine
* cheesecake
* m&ms
Okay, Mac and I went with his boss to dinner at Timpano's in Rockville... it's AMAZING.

Friday 2/3
* 1 serving silver dollar pancakes (packaged from school)
* diet coke
* leftover chx parm
* diet coke
* cheese and crackers
* raw veggies and dip
* m&ms

Saturday 2/4
* 33 mins on elliptical (361 calories)
* bowl of cheerios with cut up banana and skim milk
* diet pepsi
* 3 mini cucumber/cream cheese sandwiches (hello I was at a baby shower)
* cut up fruit
* salad with balsamic vin.
* 2 hershey kisses
* 1 small choc cake lollipop
* 1 cupcake
* iced tea
* cheese and crackers (about 4 of each)
* i finished the m&ms
*1 cup chx salad
* 2 diet cokes
* 5 wheat crackers
* 1 cup ice cream with choc sauce

Sunday 2/5
* 33 mins on eliptical
* salad with light italian dressing (honestly as good as regular, and I don't usually advocate light anything)
* still in the middle of sunday... will update later

My goal this coming week is to keep up the workouts... 4 times per week and "cheat less." Good thing I ate all those damn m&ms.

Bleh.

I've gained and lost a couple pounds. We went to Minneapolis last weekend to visit some really good friends, and well, it was zero degrees. That's what we wanted though. We went ice fishing, and went to the national pond hockey championship and ate and drank. The equivalent of a Philly Cheesesteak in Minneapolis is called the Jucy Lucy. It's a burger stuffed with cheese. OMG.

That's right, we ate that. It was pretty good too. Sadly, that burger was our third meal in one day and it wasn't even 6:00. OMG. I was not shocked to learn I'd gained a couple pounds upon our return to MD. I'm really glad we don't do that every weekend for health reasons alone.

Let me explain one thing I learned at Jenny Craig, which was a very valuable lesson. You can splurge once a week. A splurge is a piece of cake, a glass of wine or two, etc. A treat. When you're trying to lose weight, that splurge is only supposed to happen ONCE a week.

Since I've started blogging again, I've not been very good about working out. I've been really good about eating healthily during the school day and packing a decent breakfast and lunch. Sometimes at home, I'm not so good. Sometimes I care and sometimes I don't.

I feel like I'm undoing the good work I do during my school days when I either get home or over the past couple weekends. Instead of one splurge, I have splurged all weekend. I had a pampered chef party Friday night and probably had at least 5 or 6 Blue Moons. I ate veggies, homemade salsa, brittle and crackers. And turkey cockdoggies out of the crockpot. Last night Tim and Karen came over and Tim and Mac made sushi. I don't like sushi, but I tried it, and they did a really good job. We were hosting and socializing, so I drank some red wine. I ate veggies, cockdoggies and brittle again. So all those lean cuisines and clementines and yogurt and raisins and veggies I had during the week. Undone. I'm not being too hard on myself, but every weekend shouldn't be like this.

My job is tough. It just is. I'm super grateful for a full time job, but it's tough and rough and sometimes I laugh and sometimes I cry. After one instance this week at work, I wanted to work out immediately I was so jacked up. But I couldn't, because I was at work. By the time I got home, I was tired and took a nap. How do I keep that motivation until a point where I can actually get to the gym? I think I took a nap instead of eating. A defense mechanism if you will. That seems a little odd though.

During the week, I mean to go to the gym. I am supposed to come home and INSTANTLY change into workout clothes. Do not go near the couch. It will hug you and not let you up until it's dinner time. Alright fine, so let's say I don't workout during the week, which, this past week, I didn't work out. I didn't do videos either.

Ok, I'll work out on the weekend. Right. The days I am LIVING FOR all week. The days of sleeping in and no makeup and not leaving the house if I don't want to. If I do leave the house, it's for something social and fun and I do my makeup and hair and feel pretty. It's Sunday, and I actually think Mac and I will go to the gym in a little bit, making my workout 1 for 7 this week. Uber fail. My favorite weekend activity is taking a nap on the couch with Mac, while he plays video games. According to him, I'm very peaceful during my naps. That's a lovely way of saying I'm quiet.

I guess ultimately, I'm being inconsistent. Allow me to demonstrate.

* Over the summer, I lost weight.
* Right now, I am not losing weight.
* Over the summer, I journaled everything I ate.
* Right now, I am not journaling.
* Over the summer, I worked out at least four times per week.
* Right now, I am not working out four times per week.
* Over the summer, I had one small splurge per day, i.e. a small piece of chocolate.
* Right now my splurges are too big and too often.
* Over the summer, I only drank two diet sodas per day.
* Right now, I sometimes drink more than that, although they are diet.
* During Jenny Craig, I ate fruit at night for a sweet treat.
* Right now, I ate too many clementines and now I have ulcers. Hmph.
* During Jenny Craig, and the summer, my excuses were bs.
* Right now, my excuses are still bs.

Well, I guess I will try to do this for real. I vow to try to do the following: journal, work out at least 4 times per week, eat healthily all day long, splurge sparingly, only have two sodas per day and when I do blog, write consistently, for this jumbled mess will do no one any good.