Check-In: Day 22

I’m getting a lot better about making good choices throughout the day. For instance, the last couple of days, I went out to lunch with some friends from work. I usually don’t eat out except for Friday but as I’ve said before, I refuse to let this thing here run my life, so I went out!  To compensate for the extra calories, I had less of a morning snack (no peanut butter like I planned!) and for the most part didn’t eat afternoon snacks either since the lunches were bigger than I normally have. And I think that right there is the crux of the whole thing: Eat what you want, plan what you eat, and when your plan goes awry, ADJUST! In the past I probably would have just eaten everything I still brought for snack.

Also, because I ate out and had yet to eat dinner, I pushed extra hard on my Orangetheory workout and it helped a little. I crushed that workout 🙂

Yesterday went a little something like this:

Breakfast (205 cals)

• DKB Thin-sliced 21 Whole Grain Toast, 1 slice (60 cals)
• Egg, 1 (80 cals)
• Coffee, 2 cups (5 cals)
• Half & Half, 1.5 tablespoons (30 cals)
• Natural Cane Turbinado Sugar, 1 teaspoon (30 cals)

Morning Snack (87 cals)

• Wasabi Almonds, 14 (87 cals)

Lunch (525 cals)

• Pastinis Chicken & Artichoke Salad, 1 (525 cals)

Dinner (331 cals)

• Skinny Broccoli Mac & Cheese, 1 cup (331 cals)

Dessert (80 cals)

• Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Chocolate, 1 square (80 cals)

Activity (630 cals)

• Orangetheory, 57 minutes (630 cals)

Caloric Counts for the day:

1,227 calories consumed

630 calories burned

As you can see, I refuse to give up dessert 🙂

Check-In: Week 3

This weekend I went shopping. My mom bought me a beautiful dress but unfortunately (or fortunately I guess?) it was too big. So I went to exchange it and picked up a few tops that I could wear for work or to a nice dinner or something. The reason I’m telling you this story is to highlight how ridiculous women’s clothing sizes are and how, as much as we can, we shouldn’t worry about the number on our tag, just how the clothes make us feel! I picked up three tops: one was a long, flowy t-shirt type shirt that is so comfortable it feels like pajamas. It was a 1X in the plus sized section. I got another shirt that is sort of bohemian looking that is a size XL in the regular section, and lastly got a black flowy cap sleeved top that was a large in the regular section. That is just ridiculous. And what is most ridiculous of all is the fact that I hesitated to buy the plus size top because I don’t like the connotation it brings along with it. Why, if they all feel comfortable and make me feel pretty, do I even care what size the tag says? No one who sees me in the shirt will know, “oh, that shirt is from the plus size section”. I promise. And if they do, they’re even more insecure than me.
Anyway, the weekend was great in the fact that we did some fun things but Saturday was a total loss calorie wise. We went wine tasting and boy, I didn’t hold back! But I guess the one bright spot is while there was a lot (a lot) of wine consumed, I was actually pretty good in the food choices I made. And Sunday I got right back on the horse, which in the past has really been the downfall for me I think—having an off day and getting right back into it.

This week I did well on the scale too! I’m down 1.6 pounds this week which is right in the range I want to be. I think it’s a good, steady pace to lose and so far seems extremely manageable.

So there it is. Another week down, and another week of planed workouts and healthful food options! We went grocery shopping this weekend (which we managed to skip all of last week) so I’m armed with delicious snacks and am excited to see how this new week goes!

Weekly selfie time (nice face Kellie)!

Check-In: Day 18

Woops! I totally forgot to check in yesterday! I guess on the one hand it’s good because I’ve gotten to the point where I’m not thinking about this most of the day, but on the other hand it’s a slippery slope. I forget to check in one day, then all of the sudden it’s been a week, and pretty soon I’m just not doing it at all any more. So hello! Here I am today!Wednesday was a so so day for me. I mean, I did well and stayed below my caloric goals, but basically had double breakfast because of a meeting I forgot about at work, and had a half of a hamburger with a colleague. But I ate it, tracked it and moved on.  

Yesterday (see below) was also tricky. Because we went on vacation last weekend, we didn’t have time to go to the grocery store so we’ve been eating out a lot. I’m struggling with eating out and guessing how much of something I ate for example, last night I had a beet and goat cheese salad, but how much really is 1 oz of goat cheese? I don’t know… I really hope I’m not guessing low, but I guess I’ll know if I start slowing down on weight loss in the future.

I’m ready to go shopping and get back on track with cooking every night because guessing everything is the worst part about all of this!

Breakfast (159 cals)

• DKB Thin-Sliced 21 Whole Grain Toast, 1 slice (60 cals)
• Avocado, ¼ (25 cals)
• Pistachios, 5 (19 cals)
• Coffee, 2 cups (5 cals)
• Half & Half, 1 tablespoon (20 cals)
• Natural Cane Turbinado Sugar, 1 teaspoon (30 cals) 

Morning Snack (167 cals)

• Wasabi Almonds, 14 (87 cals)
• Egg, 1 (80 cals) 

Lunch (100 cals)

• Medifast Chocolate Shake, 1 (100 cals)

Afternoon Snack (251 cals)

• Bing Cherries, ¾ cup (56 cals)
• Banana, 1 (90 cals)
• Turkey Slice, 1 (15 cals)
• Mayo, 1 tablespoon (90 cals)

Dinner (514 cals)

• Beat & Goat Cheese Salad, 1 (179 cals)
• Baked Chicken Wing, 1 (86 cals)
• Chips, 5 (70 cals)
• Quesadilla, ¼ slice (77 cals)
• Rosé, 5 oz (102 cals)

Activity (377 cals)

• Walking, 62 minutes (377 cals)

Caloric Counts for the day:

1,191 calories consumed

377 calories burned

I was also really proud yesterday because I thought at the end of the day I had an additional 300 calories left and was about to go to Dairy Queen for a tiny blizzard. However I remembered that I had forgotten to log my wine with dinner so didn’t have nearly as many left as I thought I did. So we didn’t go! And I obviously lived to tell about it.

I think that’s the thing, eat what you want, but plan for it. I told my boyfriend that we need to plan on going Sunday so I can be good during the day and save up for it. So that’s what we’ll do! A perfect end-of-the-week treat to cap things off just right 🙂

This weekend is going to be tricky because we’re going wine tasting tomorrow and out to dinner but (I sound like a broken record) I’m going to make the best choices I can and enjoy the day. It is just one day after all! 

SO! Next Monday: weigh-in and weekly check-in! Hope you’re all as pumped as I am.

Check-In: Day 16

I think the biggest thing that doesn’t work about “dieting” is it doesn’t account for your regular, everyday life. That’s why MediFast didn’t work for me. Well, actually, it worked for me. It worked wonderfully, but once I was off it I went back to my same old bad habits and “diet” mindset. That’s one of the biggest things I’m trying to overcome this time. For instance, I had lunch plans with a fellow Marketing Coordinator of a different company here in town. We made plans to do this a little while ago for Portland Burger Week and I was actually considering cancelling today because I think we all know burgers don’t fit in to “diets”. But then I told myself “Self, this isn’t supposed to be a diet. You’re supposed to be able to maintain this way of eating (and thinking) FOREVER.” So I didn’t cancel! I went, I ate half of my burger, a handful of fries and I was done! I logged it, accounted for it, and will push myself extra hard in my class tonight to make up for it. Cause that’s the thing, isn’t it? Eating out and meeting colleagues for lunch in the beautiful Portland weather is FUN. And that’s ok. Our life shouldn’t revolve around eating, and that means with eating well too!Anyway, just wanted to share that little nugget of wisdom 🙂 Here’s what I ate yesterday: 

Breakfast (195 cals)

• Egg, 1 (80 cals)
• DKB Thin-sliced 21 Whole Grain Toast, 1 slice (60 cals)
• Coffee, 2 cups (5 cals)
• Half & Half, 1 tablespoon (20 cals)
• Natural Cane Turbinado Sugar, 1 teaspoon (30 cals) 

Morning Snack (226 cals)

• Whole Wheat Pancake, 1 (86 cals)
• Chicken Sausage, 1 link (140 cals)

Lunch (100 cals)

• Medifast Chocolate Shake, 1 (100 cals) 

Afternoon Snack (265 cals)

• Bing Cherries, 1 cup (74 cals)
• Sharp Cheddar Cheese, 21 grams (80 cals)
• DKB Thin-sliced 21 Whole Grain Toast, 1 slice (60 cals)
• Butter, ½ tablespoon (51 cals)

Dinner (525 cals)

• Chipotle Carnitas Bowl, ½ bowl (345 cals)
• IPA, 16 oz (180 cals) 

Activity (424 cals)

• Running For Weightloss App, 41 minutes (424 cals) 

Caloric Counts for the day:

1,310 consumed

424 burned

Honestly, I forgot to add my lunch in yesterday which is why I went over the 1250 calorie goal I set for myself. If I would have known going into dinner that I was sitting at 785 calories for the day, I would have opted out of having a beer. But I didn’t log it, so I didn’t know! So lesson learned: LOG YOUR FOOD!

That’s my PSA for the day. I think I’ll just leave it at that.

Check-In: Day 15

Wow! 15 days already! It sure doesn’t feel that long.

I don’t have a lot to say today so I’ll just get to the journal. I was bummed because my heart rate monitor stopped working 12 minutes before my class ended, but I estimated how many calories I would have burned based on how the beginning part of class went, so I’m sure that’s close enough! That’s why my activity screen shot doesn’t reflect what I’m recording in my daily journal, just FYI 🙂

Breakfast (195 cals)

• Coffee, 2 cups (5 cals)
• Half & Half, 1 tablespoon (20 cals)
• Natural Cane Turbinado Sugar, 1 teaspoon (30 cals)
• DKB Thin-Sliced 21 Whole Grains Toast, 1 slice (60 cals)
• Egg, 1 (80 cals)

Morning Snack (262 cals)

• Justin’s Peanut Butter, 1 pack (190 cals)
• Apple, 1 (72 cals)

Lunch (100 cals)

• Chocolate Medifast Shake, 1 (100 cals)

Afternoon Snack (160 cals)

• Dark Chocolate Almonds, 12 (80 cals)
• Sharp Cheddar Cheese, 21 grams (80 cals) 

Dinner (310 cals)

• Jimmy John’s Club Lulu Unwich, 1 (310 cals)

Dessert (210 cals)

• Tillamook Stumptown Coffee Ice Cream, ½ cup (210 cals)

Activity (550 cals)

• Orangetheory Fitness, 55 minutes (550 cals)

Caloric Counts for the day:

1,237 calories consumed

550 calories burned

That’s it! I’ve decided to try to up my calories just a tiny bit. I feel like that could be a reason I didn’t lose a lot last week also. MyFitnessPal recommends I get 1,350 calories per day and I’ve been eating closer to 1,100 max. I think my goal is to get closer to 1,250 with a little wiggle room if I go over.

Anyway, still plugging along over here. Maybe I’ll have more to say tomorrow!

Check-In: Week 2

Welp, here we go! Another week in the books. As predicted, my loss this week wasn’t nearly as big as last week. At first I was bummed about it but then I realized 1. I didn’t watch my caloric intake all weekend (starting on Friday) and was also not nearly as active as I would have liked (being in the car for 7+ hours a day will do that to you), but 2. I said it last week: my body is balancing things out. So I decided a loss is a loss and I’ll be excited about it no matter what!

While I could write on and on about this weekend, I won’t. I’ll just say I spent a fantastic long weekend with the man I love exploring the Redwood National Park for our 4 year anniversary. We took, like, 4,000 pictures of trees and were a part of one of the most amazing places on this planet for a brief moment in time. Really, that’s enough! 🙂

While I won’t go into every detail, I will talk about what I ate, because that’s what this blog is here for! I started off really good on Friday and had very healthy snacks in the car. By the time dinner rolled around, were both hungry and he was craving pizza, so we stopped at this amazing little local place in Brookings, Oregon and it was worth every bite. Breakfasts were hard as I didn’t really plan ahead as I should have so one morning it was a McDonalds Egg White Delight and the other was a Starbucks Spinach, Feta & Egg White Wrap. I made the best choices I could but hey, I was on vacation! Then for dinner on Saturday we celebrated our anniversary at a nice restaurant in Eureka, California so I didn’t really watch what I ate at all. Over the weekend I had beer, wine, crackers, In-N-Out… but all in moderation (except for the In-N-Out. I ate the crap out of that).

Anyway, I’m totally fine with the way this weekend went. I enjoyed myself, did the best I could, and am back at it again today in full force!

I’ll leave you here with this progress photo. Check back tomorrow for my daily check-ins and all that good stuff.

Check-In: Day 10

You guys, banana cakes has SO.MANY.CALORIES! I ate really well yesterday and planned on splurging a little on birthday cake with my boyfriend but OMG I wasn’t expecting to only get 1/6th of a slice of cake! Granted, those slices are huge but in the past I generally would have easily eaten half of a piece without even thinking about it. Last night, I freaking weighed the piece of cake so I knew how much I could have. My boyfriend is being such a good sport and super supportive about all of this. I can’t imagine how annoying it must be to constantly be hearing “how many calories do you think is in banana cake?” or logging every bite of food I put into my mouth. All I can say is this will get easier. I won’t have to think so much about how many calories everything is and eventually I can probably stop tracking it all, but I don’t think I want to do that until I’m at my goal weight, which BTW I’m not even sure what that is yet. I might not have an actual number I’m aiming to hit, probably just stop when I feel good. I’m done with worrying about the numbers on the scale. It’s a guide (a good one when combined with other factors) but the fact of the matter is 150 pounds on one person will look a hellava lot different on another. I want to shop at the stores I want, fit comfortably in my clothes, and feel strong and healthy! So that’s the “goal weight”.

Like I said, yesterday I took it easy during the day but ate that freaking (1/6th) piece of cake! Here’s what Wednesday looked like:

Breakfast (159 cals)

• Coffee, 2 cups (5 cals)
• Half & Half, 1 tablespoon (20 cals)
• Natural Cane Turbinado Sugar, 1 teaspoon (30 cals)
• DKB Thin-sliced 21 Whole Grains Bread, 1 slice (60 cals)
• Avocado, 1/4th (25 cals)
• Pistachios, 5 (19 cals)

Morning Snack (167 cals)

• Wasabi Almonds, 14 (87 cals)
• Egg, 1 (80 cals)

Lunch (100 cals)

• Medifast Chocolate Shake, 1 (100 cals)

Dinner (274 cals)

• Skinnytaste Thai Chicken & Pineapple Stir Fry, ¾ cup (154 cals)
• Rice, ¼ cup (50 cals)
• Yumm! Sauce, 14 grams (70 cals)

 Dessert (320 cals)

• Banana Cake, 1/6 slice (320 cals)

Activity (573 cals)

• Orangetheory, 54 minutes (573 cals)

Caloric Counts for the day:
1,020 calories consumed

573 calories burned

Actually looking at this now, I could have used a few more calories for yesterday (MORE BANANA CAKE), but I did pretty good considering!

Also, public service announcement: I will be going out of town to Redwood National Park this weekend to celebrate my 4 year anniversary with the BF! This means that this post will be my last of the week. You can rest assured I will be tracking, hiking, eating, and pretty much just enjoying life, but I won’t be doing any of that here. So I hope you all have a great weekend and next time you see me I’ll have a sweet progress photo for you as well as a weigh-in!

Check-In: Day 9

Sometimes, plans need to change last minute. If you know me at all, you know I’m not good with sudden departures from what I think is going to happen. I’m working on it, but it’s a process. So yesterday when a meeting was scheduled RIGHT during my normal work out time, I had to make changes on the fly. Instead of doing my NTC, I decided to go on a walk around the waterfront seeing as the weather was nice and cool. Yesterday, I did not feel like working out, so I think this was a good compromise to still get that activity in, but to take it a little easier by briskly walking. Plus, I enjoy the alone time and spend it listening to my favorite podcasts! Win Win Win!

For dinner I had salmon which is a little higher in calories and fat, but I know they’re good for me so I went for it. We use the Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Sriracha-Glazed Salmon recipe from Skinnytaste and it’s sooooooo good. I recommend the Skinnytaste website and cookbook if you’re looking for low fat/low calorie recipes. I honestly haven’t tried one I didn’t like! 

Here we go, yesterday’s breakdown:

Breakfast (159 cals)

• Coffee, 2 cups (5 cals)
• Half & Half, 1 tablespoon (20 cals)
• Natural Cane Turbinado Sugar, 1 teaspoon (30 cals)
• DKB Thin-sliced 21 Whole Grain Bread, 1 slice (60 cals)
• Avocado, ¼ (25 cals)
• Pistachios, 5 (19 cals)

Morning Snack (167 cals)

•  Egg, 1 (80 cals)
• Wasabi Almonds, 14 (87 cals)

Lunch (230 cals)

• Koi Fusion Short Rib Rice Bowl, ½ (230 cals)

Afternoon Snack (295 cals)

• Banana, 1 (105 cals)
• Justin’s Peanut Butter, 1 pouch (190 cals)

Dinner (309 cals)

• Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Sriracha-Glazed Salmon, 4 oz (229 cals)
• Broccoli Roasted in EVOO, 1 cup (80 cals) 

Dessert (80 cals)

• Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Chocolate, 1 square (80 cals)

Activity (464 cals)

• Brisk Walk, 55 minutes (464 cals)

Caloric Counts for the day:

1,240 consumed

464 burned

Tonight is going to be a little tough because it’s my boyfriend’s birthday and I plan on getting him a slice of his favorite cake (banana!) on my way home from work. My thought is I’ll only get one slice and hopefully he’ll be kind enough to give me a bite! We usually split and he’s trying to eat healthier with me, so I’m sure he will do the right thing and be a gentleman about it. 🙂

So guys, that’s it! Another day in the books. Hope everyone is having a happy huuump daaaay (Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike)!

Check-In: Day 8

It feels like it’s been a long time since I did a full blown daily check-in! I realize it’s not convenient for me to do it on the weekends but it feels good to get back into the swing of things. I’ve found one of the hardest things about counting calories is going out to eat! I do my very best to guess at what the caloric counts are, but in the end, that’s all it is—a guess. Hey, it’s more than I was thinking about in the past! I am becoming one of those people who wish that restaurants would put their calories on the menu. Or at least on their website (thank you Chipotle Burrito Builder!). That would make life so much easier. Funny how things can change so much in just a little over a week. 10 days ago I would have NO desire to see how many calories were in the food I was eating. Now, every one counts!

I went to Orangetheory last night (Monday and Wednesdays!) and it kicked.my.ass. I’m not sure why it seemed so hard yesterday, but it did and it was a great workout. I’ve never burned as many calories in a class before as I did last night either so that’s always good!

So, here is Monday’s recap:

Breakfast (159 cals)

• Coffee, 2 cups (5 cals)
• Half & Half, 1 tablespoon (20 cals)
• Natural Cane Turbinado Sugar, 2 teaspoons (30 cals)
• DKB Thin Sliced Whole Grain Toast, 1 slice (60 cals)
• Avocado, ¼ (25 cals)
• Pistacios, 5 (19 cals)

Morning Snack (167 cals)

• Egg, 1 (80 cals)
• Wasabi Almonds, 1/3 package (87 cals)

Lunch (230 cals)

• Chipotle Carnitas Burriot Bowl, ½ bowl (230 cals) 

Afternoon Snack (140 cals)

• Bush’s Baked Beans, ½ cup (140 cals) 

Dinner (480 cals)

• Pork Chop, 4 oz (348 cals)
• Carrots Roasted in EVOO and Brown Sugar, 3 (132 cals) 

Dessert (80 cals)

• Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate, 1 square (80 cals) 

Activity (657 cals)

• Orangetheory Fitness, 58 minutes (657 cals)

That’s it! Another Monday in the books and another week full of delicious, healthful food planned out.

Until tomorrow!

Check-In: Week 1

My first ever weekly check-in! I haven’t yet decided what the format of these will look like yet, but I think I’ll give a recap of my weekend rather than list all the foods out from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for sake of brevity. I’ll also post my weekly weigh-in and progress photo! At least that’s what it’s going to look like this week. So let’s get to it, shall we?

Week 1 Weigh-In

Starting with the weigh-in, I’m thrilled with my progress! I’m a little bummed because I didn’t actually weigh Monday morning last week. It was more like Saturday I think, so this weight isn’t exactly a 7-day progress report, but it’s close and I’ll take it! I am down a whopping 4.9 pounds! Honestly, that’s a little more than I want to lose weekly; I’m shooting more for the 2 pound a week goal, but in my experience the first week on any new plan shows the most progress so I’m hoping things level out. I also won’t be surprised if I don’t see a huge change this week as the body has an amazing way of balancing things out. BUT! Talk about a motivation to keep going! I don’t feel hungry as much as I did those first few days which is great and means my stomach is shrinking, requiring less food to make me feel full. I also feel like I haven’t really gone without anything I wanted last week. I ate ice cream, chocolate, drank beer (see weekend recap later), champagne (see weekend recap later), and more! I didn’t find it hard to stay within my caloric daily count at all and find that portion control is going to be my best friend.

Weekend Recap

I feel like I made good choices this weekend but definitely could improve in other areas, namely alcoholic beverages! Fridays, my work friends and I always go to happy hour and I tried to make the best choice of drink based on calories. I even looked it up ahead of time! I had a couple of vodka sodas which come in at 96 calories each. On Saturday, we had dinner at my parents’ house which we weren’t planning on doing, and usually when we have dinner with them it includes lots of delicious wine. This time was no different except for the champagne my mom and her friend threw in! Sunday, we went to a concert out on a golf course which included a couple of Coors Lights (102 calories each thank you very much) and then a glass of wine after that.

I balanced out all those empty calories with picking healthful things for dinner and being diligent during the days. We went to the food cart pods for dinner with a friend on Friday and instead of ordering a burger and fries (which I wanted!) I had an avocado salad bowl with baked chicken breast. At the concert on Sunday, instead of the famous Cubano sandwich from Bunk, I opted for a rice bowl at Koi Fusion and only ate half. So all in all, I’m pleased with the weekend even though it’s pretty a-typical of how a weekend normally would go. 

I also had grand plans of working out once either Saturday or Sunday but, as these things go sometimes, that didn’t pan out. I hit my work-out goal last week of 4 days of activity though, so I’m not beating myself up about it.

All in all, I’m extremely pleased with my progress and am looking forward to seeing how this week goes! I already have all my workouts planned out so that’s helpful and we went grocery shopping yesterday to fill the fridge full of yummy things I can eat throughout the week.

We’ll close this post out with a 2nd progress photo. Here’s to keeping up the momentum!