Skip the Indulgences

I weighed 222.5 today, a half pound loss. Still goin'! I expect that I won't see dramatic weight loss all the time, or even that I'll lose weight. But it's fun to step on the scales, and see weight come off. It helps me avoid those little indulgences that pop up everyday.

Oh, I also wanted to write down my measurements, so I've got a starting point.
Waist - 42"
Hips - 52"
Chest - 39.5"
Bust - 46"
Thigh (widest point right at top) - 30"
Bicep (widest point) - 15"

What I ate today:
Breakfast - 32 oz. water during/after workout, 1 piece banana bread, 1/3 cup dry Malt-o-Meal (add 1 cup water) cooked with frozen strawberries and blueberries plus 2 Tbsp. sliced almonds, 8 oz. 1% milk
Lunch - about 1/8 of Emma's peanut butter jelly sandwich on wheat plus the crusts, 1 plum, 1 cup turkey chili with fresh tomato & fat-free sour cream, 12 tortilla chips (looking on the back in the back, this came to about 350 calories, yikes! maybe next time I could try crisping some corn tortillas in a non-stick skillet), about 8 baby carrots, water
Afternoon - 32 oz. water flavored with apple crystal light
Dinner - Very Veggie Burrito (1 whole wheat tortilla, stir-fried chicken breast, stir-fried onions, stir-fried bell peppers, stir-fried tomatillos, fresh tomatoes, green onions, shredded cabbage, fat-free sour cream). The only downside to my dinner, was that I didn't get to eat until very late, almost 8pm. It would have been better if it was more like 5 or 6pm. I bet that shows in the scales tomorrow. I also had most of one liter of sodium-free seltzer flavored with strawberry/orange/banana crystal light. I've figured out that what I love the most about soda pop is the cool and refreshing bubbles, so why not just buy carbonated water, and mix in my own flavors? This would go really well with juice concentrate. I should hunt down where I can get this sodium-free seltzer in bulk, and maybe some online source for drink flavors without the sugar or artificial sugar. Because $1 per liter of the seltzer is too expensive, even though I like it a lot.

I love this breakfast, it's so warm and filling, very much a comfort food, but one that's good for me!. I added the almonds today, I wanted to get more protein in, for all those muscles I'm building, right?

This tasted sooo good! I've been thinking about starting a food blog for a while, just a place to show recipes I've come up with, kind of like an online cookbook. It's not something I'd post on everyday, but when I find something that tastes good, I want to put it on there, especially now that I'm trying to eat healthier, and will be experimenting with food more. I've reserved the blog name, Becky's Kitchen Creations, but it might be a few days before there's actually anything on there.

There were lots of times today, when I was tempted to eat something I shouldn't, such as when Dani busted out a huge chocolate bar when we were cleaning her room. But I just kept thinking of stepping on the scales tomorrow, and whatever shows up, I don't want to have a lot of regrets about indulging in things I wish I'd skipped. And I soooooo wanted some ice cream today, especially when Connor had some orange cream ice cream. Yummmm!! But again, I didn't want any regrets, so none for me.

I sat there thinking, "Man, am I never going to let myself eat ice cream again?!" I doubt that will hold, but these daily indulgences I've been doing for a long time have to stop. And it makes me kind of sad to lose the comfort of running to the freezer for a bowl of ice cream at the end of a long day. But, hopefully, I'm giving that up, at least on a regular basis, for something better, a healthier body. I guess I can do fruit smoothies more often, just throw some frozen fruit and lowfat milk in the blender.

Exercise - 20 min on Elliptical - PRECOR EFX576i, crossramp 5 (of 10), resistance 6 (of 10), 1.49 miles, 2335 strides, 233.5 calories. I did the alternating forwards and backwards strides again, lots more intense. Then, I swam for 16 mintues, 8 laps, 400 meters, 1/4 mile.

Big thing - when I did all the cleaning and moving in prep for rearranging Dani's room, I took a good look at the Gazelle striding machine that I've had for years, and it occurred to me it might be a good idea to get rid of it. Our community rec center is really awesome, and I've been enjoying the variety of exercising I can do there, which is probably better for my body. I think my body just completely plateaued on the Gazelle, way too used to the same motion over and over, and even though it's been a great machine to have, after all, I lost nearly 50 pounds with that thing last go-around, I think it's time to move on. Besides, Zen will be so excited to have that thing out of our bedroom, and so will I.

It's been a good ride.