Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Survey Says...

Okay, so it's not really a survey. I'm pretty sure that no one is doing this blog challenge anymore, but I'm gonna roll with it because I kinda like blogging. I know I have zero readers haha but it's just been someone/something to "talk to." And no, I'm not crazy. It's just been a nice outlet.
Peanut Butter and Jenny

Day 11 - About six years back, I was doing toe stops in tap dance class and I came up/down too fast or something and got a really small stress fracture in the ball of my foot. It's pretty much unfixable but doesn't hurt when I'm managing my weight. I'm at the heaviest I've ever been right now (save 10 lbs) so it pretty much hurts all the time.

Day 12 - Since fourth grade, I've been involved with this program called Odyssey of the Mind. It's a creativity/problem solving competition and I absolutely love it. I've actually won World Finals three times and also gotten one silver and one bronze metal. I consider it a huge accomplishment and one I worked really hard for (along with the rest of my team, of course!).

Day 13 - That's a tough one. I've always been healthy, just now I'm overweight. My blood pressure is great and I'm physically healthy, just overweight. I've always been poor. Well, my parents help me out but still. I struggle with money and live paycheck to paycheck. I'd say rich, because then I could afford the best treatments and just get back to spending my riches ;-)

Day 14 - I have a mole on my right ribcage. I have a scar on my right hand from burning a rope to seal the ends and a scar on my left hand from stabbing my finger with a screw driver while trying to puncture a hole into a penny. Both of those are courtesy of Odyssey of the Mind.

Day 15 - I've been taking a bunch of people's shifts at work. But I guess that helps me out too so whatever. I'm just selfish

Day 16 - I've never been fishing. I even live in the country but I just never have! 

Day 17 
     1. I hate cold fruit. I like it room temperature. Or, if it's been in the fridge I'll microwave it for a bit.
     2. I am a volume eater. I pick my restaurant choices whichever has the most food.
     3. I love the color pink. My laptop is pink and so is my camera.
     4. I've attended four colleges. I'm on my fourth and hopefully final. I'm getting my MA and have no PhD dreams.
     5. I have a Hanson tattoo. MMMBop, anyone?
     6. I love to read and am a super fast reader. If I'm into a book, I can read it in a few hours.
     7. I think I don't like seafood, although I really haven't tried much. Although, I LOVE canned tuna and can enjoy shrimp cocktail.













Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Recovering After A Binge

Last Thursday was awful for me. I was at an absolute low and I have no idea what brought it on. I woke up and all I could think about was the food. I binged and then felt miserable. My stomach was in a massive state of discontent and I didn't eat anything for the rest of the day. My eating the rest of the weekend was awful. I ate a very large dinner at Olive Garden on Friday night and although it was delicious, I was miserably full the whole night.

Saturday I worked in the morning and then drove the hour and a half to my parents house for a cookout. Before I left work, I made myself a vanilla bean frappucino which is basically like a vanilla milkshake. At the cookout, we had salad, corn on the cob, NY strip steaks, grilled onions, and homemade eclairs. Delicious and had the potential to be healthy, but of course I ate too much.

I left home at 4:30 the next AM to go to work. I stopped at Sheetz to get something to eat and got a pretzel melt with roast beef. Not the worst choice but not the best choice. My boss wanted me to go around to local businesses to do sampling of our new refreshers so I ended up eating at Olive Garden AGAIN. For dinner I ate pancakes. Lots of butter.

I woke up yesterday with full intentions on getting back on track. I had a healthy breakfast and then went to the grocery store to get healthy groceries. My sister called me to see if I wanted to go to lunch and use up a Groupon. We went to Slouvaki's in Blacksburg to get gyros. Afterwards, my sister told me that she was starting the healthy eating plan tomorrow (which is now today) and that she was gonna go get cookies at our favorite place - Crumb and Get It. So I went with her.

Now it's Tuesday and I'm for real starting again. This morning I had coffee with FF half and half, an omelette, and fruit. I'm making a pinterest dinner of chicken baked with sauteed garlic and brown sugar. I made some AAMAZING homemade ranch dressing with FF buttermilk and greek yogurt. It tastes like drippy restaurant ranch and it only 60 calories for 2 tbsp. The key to it is to use regular full fat mayonnaise. It's just enough to give it some fat/flavor.

I downloaded a Couch 2 5K app. I'm planning on trying that tonight after work and dinner. Here we go again!







Thursday, July 12, 2012

Self Sabotage

I really thought that I was doing well this time. I thought I was finding a balance between living my life and losing weight. Yet, this morning I find myself at Kroger. Buying my favorite binge food. Going to the self checkout line to avoid eye contact with cashiers who would certainly judge my purchases. As if that was enough, the drive through at McDonalds called my name. It took all the willpower I had not to break into my food on the drive home. I was so excited.

I ate my burger first. Tiny bites, savoring each taste. Melty gooey cheese with tangy ketchup and zesty mac sauce. Crunchy pickles and even those delicious re-hydrated onion bits were all that I could think about. Then it was time for chips and dip. My favorite flavor combinations. An entire bag of Wise's Honey BBQ chips and a family sized tub of Kroger brand french onion dip. Even as my stomach began to hurt, I kept eating. When I was done, I cried.

I don't understand why I do this to myself. I enjoy healthy eating and cooking new foods. I want to be in shape more than anything. Being fat sucks. I want to look good in clothes again. After the first few chips, they didn't even taste good. I could have worked a burger into my calories. I just don't understand why I sabotage myself.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Camera Action!

Exciting news! I found my old camera and charger! It's nothing fancy AT ALL. I got it as a graduation present when I graduated high school in 2007, so it's well loved. But, it will get the job done for now. I found it yesterday and charged it last night. I think I'll share some of the old pictures that are on it!
This picture cracks me up. It's me and my boyfriend shortly after we started dating so 3 1/2ish years ago. I promise he doesn't normally make that face when we're together ;)

I used to teach dance and it was the best job in the whole world

Two of my little lovebug ballerinas

I'm not sure how to rotate this...but this is me before the beach last year I think. Think I'm tan? It's totally a spray on.

So many alligators! I'm borderline obsessed and HAVE to go to Alligator Adventure when we go to Myrtle Beach.

At Alligator Adventure. Because I'm so mature haha.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Challenge Catch Up

Peanut Butter and Jenny

Day 8 - I'm really not sure where I'll be in 5 years. I'll graduate in one and finish my masters in two, so I guess in the working world? I've been with the bf for almost 4 years so I'd say marriage might be a possibility, but I'm not rushing. Trying to pay off my student loans, that's for sure!

Day 9 -  I believe that food should be enjoyed. I'm bad about this, but I also believe that foods shouldn't be labeled good or bad. I also believe in moderation. Believing in and being able to control myself are two different things ;-)

Day 10 - My grandma passed away last summer and she was one of the most inspirational people that I have ever met. She worked hard to make a life and a name for herself and didn't let anyone run her over. She had several successful businesses and always gave away everything she had to help others.

The fair!

These past few days, I've just been too lazy to blog. At least I admit it, right? I've been enjoying life and working. I still want to complete this challenge though, so I'm gonna play catch up today! First, I want to just tell you how proud I am of myself for my eating on the day of the fair. OMG...fair food smells so freaking good! I knew that if I planned to go out to eat after the fair, I would definitely cave in to a delicious polish sausage or funnel cake (or fried kool-aid?!) so I planned accordingly.

I went with my friend Amanda and we started out at The Great 611 Steak Company. The best thing about this restaurant is their massive salad bar. You can order entrees (their steaks are fab) but we decided to stick to the salad and potato bar. They ask you which type of potato you want - I chose baked - and then you have access to all 4 bars. The bars are as follows:
1. The salad bar - pretty standard fare but good quality ingredients
2. Pre-mixed salads (cole-slaw, potato salad, ect) and hot dishes such as mac and cheese and casseroles
3. Baked potato fixings, soup, and taco ingredients
4. Dessert

I started out with a massive salad from bar one with sunflower seeds as my good fats. I hate low fat dressings so I got ranch on the side and did the "dip the fork" trick. I ate it slowly and tried to register how my stomach felt. My second go around, I went to the second bar. I got a big portion of the green beans and cabbage. I also got itty bitty servings (like one bite) of the foods I couldn't live without like mac and cheese, broccoli casserole, potato salad, and cole slaw. When I got to the table, I tested each food. None of them were out of this world so I just had a tiny taste with the exception of the broccoli casserole. It tasted really good so I ate all of it. The green beans were standard canned fare, but I really like those so I chowed down.


Last, I had my baked potato. Now, I love my baked potatoes with butter, sour cream, and salt. Not very healthy, I know. So I decided to scoop out the carby insides and just eat the skins. My mom always told me that the healthy part of the baked potato was the skin, so I'm going with it haha. I dipped my skins in about 1 tbsp of honey mustard. I skipped the last two bars completely. They bring out baskets of gigantic warm yeast roles with delicious honey butter. I finished my meal with about 1/3 of a role + honey butter.

I left feeling totally satisfied and proud of myself. I didn't deprive myself of anything that I wanted, but I ate in moderation. That way, it was easier when we got to the fair to pass by the delicious smelling cart foods. We paid the 24!! dollars for wrist bands and started riding the rides. It was HOT on Sunday. Like 100 degree hottest day of the year hot. We were pouring sweat so we got lemonade shakeups. They are literally three ingredients - lemon, sugar, water. They had sweet and low but I think that those pink packets taste like death so I decided to go with the real sugar. Perfect thirst quencher.


We were about halfway through all of the rides when we got on the UFO ride. It's one of those centrifugal force rides that spins you around super fast and sucks you to the back wall. It was hot in there and it smelled awful. When it began to slow down, I looked over at Amanda and she did not look too hot. So yeah, she lost her cookies. I felt really bad for her. She was such a trooper about it though! She wanted to keep riding but I knew that she would regret it so we decided to drive on home. I did make a stop for a refill of lemonade in slushy form and my COTTON CANDY! I got the small bag which was one ounce. All the info I found online said that one ounce of cotton candy was about 110-140 calories, which was perfect.


I got home, showered off the funky sweat, and watched Army Wives while I ate half of my cotton candy. I ate the other half for breakfast yesterday cause you only live once :)
.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

The past is the past

Today's question on the blog challenge: if you could live in any time period of the past, when would it be and why?

This is a toughie...I'm not really sure! For no reason other than the dresses, I pick the 1950's.

I met half of one of my goals tonight! I tried taco cupcakes from a recipe that's been floating around Pinterest. I lightened it up even more and each cupcake came to 123 calories. I had three for dinner (they were kind of on the small side) with some low fat sour cream. They were really good except for the fact that I got preoccupied watching Drop Dead Diva and let them get a little too well done.

I also mowed the lawn tonight which definitely counts as exercise in my opinion. I live on top of a hill and it's a serious workout pushing the push mower up and down the hill! I did half of the lawn tonight and I'll do the other half tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Salem Fair with my friend Amanda. I'm excited yet apprehensive. The number one thing that I'm scared about - am I too fat for the rides? I LOVE roller coasters - LOVE them. If I went to get onto a ride and they told me I was too large/heavy, I would be mortified. I'd probably cry and then want to eat all the fair food. I guess we'll see. I'm excited for my favorite treat in the whole world - cotton candy! If I had access to it, I'd take cotton candy over any sweet all the time. Ice cream, cupcakes, candy, froyo - they all pale in comparison to the deliciousness of cotton candy. And the plus side - it's relatively low caloric wise. I know, I know. Absolutely no nutritional value. But it's not something that I eat often so I'm totally fine budgeting it in. My plan is to eat before the fair and then only have cotton candy and a lemonade (only if they have the splenda version).


Friday, July 6, 2012

Drink a little drink

Last night got a bit crazy. I had budgeted for 4 ounces of rum (yum) in my calorie count which I figured was about two rum and diet cokes. I ate dinner beforehand as to not be hungry. When I got there, I saw that they had redone their drink menu and had added some things. They have 32 beers on tap which they constantly rotate so I always like to try new beers. I decided to get a flight which was 4 5 oz pours of any beers on tap. I loved all of the beers I tried last night, especially the Peachicot. It was a light beer with a slightly peachy taste - so refreshing! Anywho, my sister was going to see a movie downtown (which is where the bar is) so I asked her if she minded driving me home. She said sure and I proceeded to get a little schnockered. I didn't order a meal but we did order a plate of vegetarian nachos to share and I munched on that. All in all, wayyyy too many calories. But oh well, I had a blast.

The question for today on the 30 Day Challenge was If you could spend 15 minutes with any celebrity, who would it be and why?

This is gonna show my redneck roots, but it would definitely be Troy from Swamp People. For as long as I can remember, I've been slightly obsessed with alligators. They're really neat animals. Troy has been a swamper for his whole life and I'm sure has some crazy cool stories. Plus I just like his accent :)



Choot em! I wonder if he would be proud of these alligator handling skills ;) This girl has my dream job.


I also got a new blog design! I really like it. I know I don't have any readers but I really like blogging. It's keeping me accountable and gives me something to look forward to!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Challenge Day Cinco!

I finally have a day off of both jobs! I've been working a lot lately (although I'm not complaining) and am really excited to finally have a day off to do nothing. I finished Season 4 of Gossip Girl and found out that Season 3 of Drop Dead Diva is on Netflix! I was pretty pumped because I love a show with a good female lead, even more so when she is a plus size woman.

Today's challenge is to post a picture of something or someone that made my day special. First off, my sister and I made lightened up beef stroganoff for dinner. I enjoy evenings when I can cook leisurely and also have time to calculate nutritional stats. Meals like this don't feel like diet food. They make lifelong healthy eating habits seem attainable. So first off, I'm thankful for beef stroganoff! (I realize that makes me sound odd, but let's just go with it)

I'm headed out with two of my friends in a bit for a Happy Hour adventure. These two girls are in my cohort at school (we have all the same classes and will up until we graduate) and I seriously don't know what I would have done this past school year without them. They always make my days special :)
L to R Me, Kristina, and Amanda


Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Blog Challenge Day 4

If I could rid the world of one thing, it would be child neglect. I know that I should probably say world hunger or war or something of that sort, and I do think that those are all serious issues. But in my line of work, I see kids just in my local community who go without basic necessities. Children should never have to wonder where their next meal is coming from.

It's the 4th of July!! I work until 1:30 (time and a half pay woop woop!) and then my parents are coming into town. They live about an hour and a half away and they're driving up here for the holiday. There is this cookie place here called Crumb and Get It and it's pretty much the most amazing thing ever. It's like Coldstone Creamery but with cookies. You pick your flavor of dough and then your mix ins and then the owner bakes them up fresh for you. Served piping hot with a glass of milk. I've made room in my calories for them and I'm pretty excited! The hardest part is figuring out what flavor combinations :)

I had been off of my weight loss plan for a while when I started blogging again most recently (Julyish) and I was unsure of my weight. I decided to get on the scale this morning and I'm down 8 lbs from my heaviest which means I'm almost back on track! That was a nice sight for my eyes.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Movie Magic

Peanut Butter and Jenny


Yesterday, I got off of work and had nothing to do. It was way too hot to go for a walk outside and I was bored of my house so I decided to go to the local little theater and see Ted by myself. I'm not gonna lie, I laughed a whole lot. It's a seriously dumb movie though, but sometimes I like mindless dumb things. I am glad,  however, that I only paid $3.50 for it. Any more and I probably would have thought that it was a waste.

I'm adding a goal to my list! I want a camera. Not a fancy schmancy blogger camera, just one that I can take pictures with and put them onto my little blog. I have an iphone that takes pretty good pics but I'd like a inexpensive point and shoot. It probably won't be a July goal fulfilled considering I AM a college student (therefore I don't have the money to just go out and buy a camera) but I'm gonna start saving.

Today I work both jobs. I have a small babysitting job that I started working with a precious two year old. Then I work at Sbux!

Monday, July 2, 2012

30 Day Challenge - Day 2

If you could offer a newborn child one one piece of advice, what would it be?


Learn to go with the flow. Life is unexpected and confusing at times, but the more open you are to the changes the easier it will be to live happily!

I live in Virginia and the past few days have been insane. We had a pretty massive storm on Friday night that caused widespread damage and severe power outages. It's estimated that over half the state is/was without power. I was at work when the storm hit and it was one of the scariest experiences of my life. It was kind of like a tornado, but the winds were flat lined and not circulating. I ended up riding home with a stranger (scary, I know) because I was out of gas and had planned on filling up after leaving work. The storm knocked out all of the power in the area way into the next morning.

At work we had just received a milk shipment and had about 150 gallons that were going to go bad if they weren't moved. I spent the next morning at work loading the ice bins with milk and taking items to various other stores for preservation. We had no idea when the power was going to come on but we were preparing for the worst. Luckily, power came back on in that part of town at around 10 AM and we were able to open at 2. At my house, we were VERY lucky to only lose power for about two hours during the actual story.

It is Monday and there are still SO MANY people without power. To top it off, there was another huge storm last night and even more people lost power. Work has been so crazy the past few days with all of the people just needing a cool place and a meal since they don't have electricity. We've sold out of sandwiches by 11 AM for the past few days - a rarity. I guess we all need to thank our lucky stars though - only seven people lost their lives in the whole state. I think that's a pretty low number for such severe weather.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

30 Day Blog Challenge

Things are going well over here! I really enjoy my job at Starbucks, the summer is beautiful, and I'm just enjoying life. I'm getting into the flow of healthy eating while working, although my weight has stayed about the same. Two days ago, I decided to tighten up the efforts and really fine tune my eating. I'm counting calories on a free app called Lose It. I am eating about 1500 a day.

One of my favorite bloggers has a challenge that I am going to try and do for the month of July. I'm hoping that this will keep my accountable to my blog and sub sequentially my weight loss efforts. So here we go!

Peanut Butter and Jenny                       

My goals for this month are as follows:
1. Lose ten pounds
2. Try two totally new recipes
3. Exercise once a week