TGIF

Seriously. I'm so glad the weekend is here. However, I'm not so happy that the temperature was only nine degrees over here in Ohio on my way to work this morning. And it has been freezing here in the office the entire week. It needs to warm up... STAT!

I bought this book a while back...

And I really like it. I'm thinking of purchasing the others.

So, has anyone tried the South Beach Diet? I attempted this several years ago, but didn't stick with it. Sugar and carbs, especially, seem to be a problem for me and I'm wondering if the South Beach Diet is something I should try. I know cravings will be ridiculous at first, but it's been my experience that it's only bad during the first week. Thoughts?

Have a fabulous weekend, everyone!

Time Out

Let's talk about Haiti for a minute. I know this is probably going to be unpopular with some of you, but I have a few things to say...

I recently read this comment in an article:

“We need so much. Food, clothes. We need everything. I don’t know whose responsibility it is, but they need to give us something soon.”

What the EFF? Really? How about holding your OWN goverment responsible.

This headline says it all - “US takes charge in Haiti - with troops, rescue aid”

What happened in Haiti is awful... devastating. Sad. I get it. I think it's great so many are coming to their aid. I'm not even opposed to our country helping out a little bit.

HOWEVER.

Enough is enough already.

What about our own country, America? Last I checked, our economy still sucks. There are no jobs and more and more people can't afford to just live. Yet, commercials on TV are asking me to text to donate $10 to the Haiti relief fund and it will be added to my phone bill?? Riiiight.

Mr. Obama, instead of using so much of your time getting America to help with the problems in Haiti, maybe you should work on that "change" you promised to the people who elected you as President of their country. So far, you haven't done much in that area (no, I'm NOT an Obama fan at all... but that's another post). The President even stated that "it will take years for America to rebuild Haiti." Excuse me, but why is this America's job? We certainly have enough problems of our own, that's for sure.

And all the celebrities who have stepped forward to help? That's great and all... but why didn't we receive the same response to Hurricane Katrina that happened right here in the U.S.? Sure, celebrities donated to this relief as well, but it is nowhere near comparing to what is being done for Haiti. It's all very frustrating.

Yes, Haiti is a poor country. And it is no secret that it's mostly due to their corrupt government. A government who has continuously stolen from the Haitians. So why should America support it with our money? And what guarantee do we have that the money given by the U.S. won't end up in the wrong hands?

All I'm saying is that in a situation like this, yes, we need to use our hearts... but for God's sake, we need to use our heads, too.

Weekend Update And Weigh In...

I'm finally back to work after a four day weekend and oh so busy. But since it's Tuesday, it's time to give you guys an update.

The weekend was fun. We celebrated my sister in law's birthday both Friday night and Sunday evening. This involved quite a few cocktails and amazing Italian food. Not so good for losing weight, but her birthday is only once a year, right?

We also went to the Cavs game on Saturday. It was M's first Cavs game and I haven't been to one in a very long time. I'm not a Lebron fan, at all... but that's for a different post, but I do love Shaq.

So... on to the weight loss topic. Tuesdays are weigh in days. I'm down 2 lbs. Am I disappointed? A little... but I realized I wasn't going to have a huge loss with the festivities over the weekend. Just looking at pasta makes me gain about 5 lbs! I'm kind of surprised there was any loss at all, honestly. But, I'm back on track and will be better this weekend!

Well, I hope all of you had fabulous weekends. I'm off to catch up on your blogs.

A Recipe For You

I'm somewhat of a picky eater... somewhat. So sometimes it's hard to find foods that are healthy, fill me up, and taste good. Here is a recipe I love, so I thought I would share.

six can chicken tortilla soup

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth

1 (10 ounce) can chunk chicken

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers

Fresh Cilantro - to taste

Tortilla chips

1. Pour everything (except chips) into a large pot. Heat on stove until simmering and the chicken is heated through.

Count out a serving size of tortilla chips and toss into your bowl. Save the rest of the soup for the rest of the week.

This makes 6 servings

Without the chips, this is 215 calories, 4.9 grams of fat, and 17.2 grams of protein.

Enjoy.

As Promised...

Ok, so here is what I weighed in at this morning...

196 lbs.

This is 2 lbs up from 2 weeks ago. I've been paying close attention to my sodium levels lately and it's obvious that I consume too much of it. And although my carbs aren't completely out of control, some cutting back in that area can help, too.

Here are my goals for every 10 lbs I lose:

10 lbs - Massage (M has been wanting to do this. He has a gift certificate and wants me to go along, too)
20 lbs - The somewhat expensive hair dryer I have been wanting
30 lbs - A piece of jewelry
41 lbs - M is buying me new clothes!

That should bring my weight to 155 which I think is completely acceptable. I need to be realistic about this and this is where I should note that I have a larger body frame. I already mentioned in my last post that people always think I weigh less than I actually do. Even our personal trainer we were working with told me he didn't think I weighed more than 178 lbs. As you can see, he was pretty far off. I think 155 lbs is realistic and when I get there, if I decide I still want to lose more, I will re-evaluate then.

By the way, I notice on some blogs I read that there is no mention of the person's height which is definitely a factor in considering if your goal weight is reasonable. If you were wondering, I'm 5'7''.

Thanks to all of you for helping to get me motivated!

Here's a picture of M and I, because it makes me smile.

Check Out This Giveaway

Rachel is hosting a giveaway... check it out here. If you have problems getting all of you water in for the day, this should help.

I will be back later to talk about my weigh in results.

I Need To Be Held Accountable

I keep losing 5 lbs, gaining 5 lbs, losing and gaining it again. Why? Well... I guess what it comes down to is that I'm really not trying hard enough. While my eating habits have gotten a lot better, and I workout regularly, I'm basically just maintaining. The problem is that I'm not being strict enough with myself. If I want a piece of chocolate, I will eat it. If I want pasta, I'll make some for myself. I give in to my cravings way too often and I need to start saying no to myself.

Also, when I think about how much weight I want to lose, it seems overwhelming. My plan is to come up with mini goals. For every 10 lbs I lose, I will reward myself with something.

At my heaviest weight ever, I weighed in at 227 lbs. That is when I started a boot camp class with my sister in law. It was awful and I hated it, but I lost 25 lbs fairly quickly. Due to the fact that it was really expensive and a pretty far drive, I stopped going after 4 months.

While I certainly have weight to lose, I guess I'm lucky that my weight is proportionate all over. Several people have told me that they would never guess that I weigh as much as I actually do. Even M couldn't believe it. Have I mentioned that M is in amazing shape? He's never ever made me feel bad about the weight I need to lose, but the fact that he is in such good shape makes me want to be as well. Our biggest difference is that M actually likes working out, while I am the complete opposite and can't think of much I dislike more than working out. Luckily, I found a pretty awesome workout buddy and she keeps me motivated.

I have been busting my @ss in the gym lately... and I'm not going to continue to do it just so I can maintain my weight. I need to LOSE the weight. I remember how much of a difference it was after losing 25 lbs... how much better I felt... and I keep trying to focus on that. I will feel even better once I've lost another 25 lbs.

I've started tracking my food online at www.sparkpeople.com and that seems to help with the accountability part of it. Looking at what I have been eating, none of it is really that bad... but some areas I could improve on are: eating fewer carbs, lower sodium intake, and drink A LOT more water. That's what I'm going to be working on.

So... stay tuned... tomorrow I will post my weigh in as well as what my 10 lb rewards will be. I have a pretty good idea and probably could post my weight right now, but to make it official, I will weigh myself tomorrow morning and post it on my blog then.

Selfish?

My sister had her baby today. I'm not sure how I feel about that. If you recall, I first blogged about it here. Clearly, she has no business having a baby. While I know I should be somewhat happy... really, I'm just not. I feel bad for the child. Financially, my parents will support both my sister and her son, but that doesn't change the fact that my sister will still have to be a parent. Unless she matures overnight, her child will pay the price.

On Christmas, my dad and stepmom yelled at the rest of us kids for not being supportive enough. For one, I'm quite sick of being told how to act. Two, I'm not really sure why they seem to think everyone should be happy about this like they are.

Another reason I am feeling a little bitter has to do with my recent engagement to M. I realize this is probably going to come off as selfish. My dad and stepmom were in Las Vegas when M proposed. I texted a picture of the ring to my stepmom. She came back and said Congrats. The next day she texted a few times asking if we had a date in mind. Since they got back from Las Vegas? I haven't heard a word. I haven't even received as little as a phone call. I've heard absolutely nothing from my own dad. M thought maybe they were upset. It bothers me a lot that their actions... or lack of... make M feel this way. I don't think they are upset about it at all. They like M a lot. This is just how they are.

So why do I feel insanely jealous of my sister? Because she screwed up BIG time and my parents have done nothing but bend over backwards to make this easier for her (and she doesn't even appreciate it), yet they can't even make a phone call to talk to me about my engagement. Selfish? Probably. But it pisses me off.

Check It Out...

Missy over at missymaintains is hosting a Progresso soups "souper" giveaway. Check it out.

"Souper" Giveaway

Happy Monday

This is a full five day work week. I haven't had one of those in a while!! It's going to be rough.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was very low key, which was very nice! That 2 lbs I talked about gaining? After drinking a ridiculous amount of water... yeah, they're gone. But I'm still frustrated I haven't lost anymore. I've been tracking my meals on www.sparkpeople.com. Check it out, it's a pretty cool website. But according to the site, I am not eating enough calories. Really? Not sure about that.

Today is our last session with the personal trainer. It was supposed to be Friday, but my work out buddy had to cancel, so it's rescheduled for today. I'm not too happy with the lack of results. It seems like we have been working out like crazy and nothing is really happening for either one of us. Our trainer, Stuart, was going to create a meal plan for us and then all of a sudden he apparently changed his mind and told us he'd have to charge the price of another session in order to do it. Whatever Stuart, kiss my @ss. It's common sense, really, but I thought he was just being nice when offering to make a meal plan for us. I'm not going to pay him to tell me what I pretty much already know. I'm kind of glad the sessions are over with. At this point we know what we need to do, but now we can do it without Stuart's arrogant attitude.

Here's something that is going to make working out even harder... my iPod is no more. M was doing me a favor and washing my coat that had salt all over it. This also happened to be the coat that I last wore the gym. He cleaned out 2 of the pockets, but missed the other one and ended up washing my iPod. So until I get a new one, this is going to really suck.

In other news, M and I have been talking about what we want to do as far as getting married goes. I am definitely not the typical girl when it comes to this because I definitely do not want to have the traditional wedding. I cannot see spending an outrageous amount of money on one day. I can think of tons of other things I would rather spend the money on. M, of course, totally agrees. Not to mention, my parents are divorced and my families do not get a long... at all. I could see my wedding being a potential disaster. This isn't something I want to stress over.

M and I are thinking we will go on vacation and get married then. We have also asked my oldest brother and sister in law if they would like to go with us. Now we just need to decide where. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any suggestions?

Operation Get My Cat To Calm The F Down

I love having my cats sleep in my bed at night, but it just hasn't been working out since we moved in with M. I went with my original plan to shut the cat in the spare bedroom last night so we could get some sleep. Unfortunately, the other cat had to be in there as well since that is where the litter box and food are. I don't think he was happy about that and I felt bad, but M and I really needed some sleep.

I fully expected this to be a disaster. I prepared myself to find destruction in the morning. BUT... nothing. Nope, absolutely nothing was out of place. I guess my crazy cat finally decided he needed some sleep, too. I think they will be going into the spare bedroom again tonight.

I also bought a Feliway plug in diffuser. I hear this is supposed to calm cats down. For $36.99 it better do something!

In other news, I lost 6 lbs in the last 2 weeks that we have been working with the personal trainer. But I happened to step on the scale this morning and gained 3 of those lbs back... wha...? I think I've been doing well so this doesn't make much sense.

How are the weight loss goals going for you guys?

****Also, did anyone watch the Biggest Loser last night? I think it was awful that they made them weigh in in front of everyone. I totally get that you need to be held accountable, but seriously, being overweight is quite humiliating enough... no need to make it even worse. I just thought that was terrible!

2010 and My Cat Is a B*tch

My cat is driving me crazy!! I swear, he has not slept since we moved in with M. He gets along ok with M's dog, which was very surprising, but he is annoying M and I to no end. He jumps on everything and knocks things over and has even broken a few glasses. He irritates the other animals in the house and no one gets any sleep. I don't know what to do with him at this point. I'm thinking he will have to stay in a separate room tonight with the door closed. This is not going be a 100% solution because I am sure this will piss him off and he will whine all night while he is coming up with ways to occupy his time, such as playing/breaking anything he can get his paws on. While he has always been a hyper cat, he has never been this bad. I just want to sleep!! Does anyone else have this problem with their pets??

Ok, now that that is out of the way...

I have never been one to make resolutions because well, I think it's kind of dumb. If you want make goals, then make them. No need to wait for the new year to do it. But lately I've been thinking of some things I want to accomplish this year. This is what I'm doing in 2010...

1. Losing 25 lbs - I lost 30 lbs last year and felt so much better. I have an additional 25 lbs to lose and I should be good. I'm off to a great start with the working out... this is the last week for our personal training sessions at the gym, but we've learned a lot and I we just need to push each other. Now all I have to do it getting my eating back in line and the the 25 lbs will be going in no time.

2. Reading at least 50 books this year. I love reading, but recently haven't been making time to do it. I want to get back to it ASAP.

3. Marrying my best friend and the love of my life. M and I have decided we aren't going to have the traditional wedding. I think the amount of money some couples spend on one day is crazy!! I can think of SO MANY other ways to spend thousands of dollars. Our plan is to go on vacation in September or October and get married then.

4. Being better about keeping in touch with friends.

5. Putting more money into my savings account. I didn't do so well with this in 2009.

6. Just generally hanging out more with my siblings.

7. Cooking more. I always just thought I was bad at cooking. Not really... I just need to do a little more learning.

There my list for 2010. What's on your list?

Where To Start...

I feel like it's been forever since I last blogged. There are some exciting things to report.

First, I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays.

The move into M's house is complete. It was an awful time to move... very cold and snowy. But I suppose that is to be expected when you are moving in December!! The cats and the dog haven't killed each other yet. They are still trying to get used to each other, but it has been going MUCH better than we thought would.

Christmas was wonderful. Santa was very good to me. New Years Eve was a relaxing night at home. We decided not to venture out, and it was perfect.

Then the most exciting thing I have to tell you....

New Year's Day. M proposed. That's right, he put a ring on it!!

So exciting!!!

Well, I'm going to try to get caught up on your blogs...