Job Interview Today!

Let me do the food pics first, and then I'll tell you about the job interview.  :)

I don't have all of my pics today because after I got the call to interview today I kind of lost my mind.

Ham, egg beaters, and cheese sandwich on wheat bun w/ 1 Tbsp mayo.

Calories:  280

I made a chicken meatloaf w/ 1/2 c. panko bread crumbs, 1 lb. of ground chicken breast, red and orange bell peppers, a small jar of mushrooms and some onion.  I cut it into 6 thick slices, each slice being 143 calories each.

I baked it at 400 for 35 mins covered with foil.  Then took the foil off, added a little ketchup on top and baked uncovered for another 10 mins.

Meatloaf sandwich w/ 1 slice meatloaf on wheat bun with 1 Tbsp. lite mayo.

Calories:  268

2 c. strawberries

Calories:  86

I baked 3 chicken breasts (about 5 oz. each) w/ baby vidalia onions, fresh salsa and cubanelle peppers (which are supposed to be a cross between a bell pepper and a sweet banana pepper I think).

One chicken breast w/ veggies plus 1 c. Steamfresh chicken flavored rice.

Calories:  410

I also got out bright and early this morning and hit the trail at the park and got my exercise in.  My mind's still not in full swing again with the exercise, so I'm not going to tell you I loved it, but I'm making the effort to get it done.

On to the interview!

I got an email from Rick, the director of operations at the company I've been trying to get hired at.  He said he's in Vegas this week at a conference, but his office manager, Rhonda, would be calling me today.  I got a call at 10am and was asked to come in and interview at 2:30pm today.

The interview went well I think.  It was tough and there were a lot of deep, thoughtful questions.  Women interviewers are much different from male interviewers, from my female perspective.  They're way tougher.  You have to make sure you don't wear too much make-up, remember that she doesn't give a damn about whether or not you wear your strappy black heels, and don't try to charm her too much.  Am I being sexist?  You may call it that....but after being around the job block several times in my life, I just call it being real.   She was tough, but I was completely impressed with her interviewing skills. 

I feel about 90% positive I got the job, but I'm not confident enough to say 100%.  That was another thing she was good at....not conveying her decision even after an hour of talking.  Women....so much harder to read than men, lol.  Anyhoo, she said she would talk to Rick and that the staffing company would be calling me in a day or two.  More waiting!!!!!  This is making me nuts.

The pay is the same as I was making at the last job I got laid off from over a year ago, which is a HUGE blessing.  It's not a ton of money, but it's more than the $12/hr that I was going to make at White-Hart and Assoc. if that job had of worked out a couple of weeks ago.  Funny how things work out.

They say the dress code is business casual, but she was dressed in capris and flip-flops, lol.  So hooray for a casual dress code, especially after Dwayne bought me all those capris for my 2 day stint at White-Hart.  Now I don't have to feel guilty about that anymore.

They have 10 paid holidays, and after you've completed your 90-day probationary period, you're eligible for vacation depending on what month you start.  The later in the year you start, the less vacation.  As of January 1st, it will be 2 full weeks of vacation time, plus a couple of personal days and a couple of sick days.  They have decent health insurance....it's not super cheap because they're not a huge corporation...they're a medium-sized, privately held company....but it's not horrendous either.  I can deal.

Jack Sh*t gave me some good advice a few days ago about not putting all of my eggs in one basket, so to speak, and letting everything ride on one job.  I have definitely been applying for anything and eveything I can find, but this has been the only prospect I've had for an interview, so I've definitely zoned in on it.  I have the worst binge feelings I've had in a long, long time and it's directly related to the stress I have over wanting to land this job (ANY JOB).  It sucks....it totally sucks.  It's like my mind is in overdrive and for the life of me, I don't understand why that makes me want to shovel food in my mouth hand over fist.  I haven't done that....but those are the feelings I'm having.  The fact is....if I give in to the urges and just eat and eat, I won't be able to fit into any of my clothes for work.  It will set me way back with my mental progress on this weight loss thing.  Notice I didn't say "physical" progress, because I think we can all see how bad that is sucking.  I keep losing the same lbs. over and over and over again. 

Last week's gain was not from bingeing.  It was from sodium from eating in restaurants all week because I didn't want to think about cooking.  That's why I made my weight loss goal 7 lbs. this week, because I knew I'd have a big sodium drop.  And I will.  I've already looked at the scale and it's moving in the right direction.   I haven't done that kind of frantic eating in many months.  I've really been working on it and I'm proud of that.  But it's definitely a fight right now.  I feel like I'm hanging on by my fingernails and I'm on really, REALLY shaky ground. 

So pray for me friends.  Pray that I got the job and pray that I can stop abusing food.  So much of this weight loss thing is mental.  It really is.  So much mental work to get it right, and KEEP it right....not fall back into old habits.  It's just so easy.  When you've been dealing with your issues (emotional, stress, etc.) by stuffing yourself into oblivion with food for the last 20 years...it's really, really tough to learn new ways and habits and to completely reverse the old ones.  The actual math of the weight loss process is simple....calories in/calories out....eat less/move more....I know exactly how to drop 5-7 lbs in a week.  But it takes a whole lot of focus, planning, preparation...did I say focus?  to do it right, and to do it week in and week out, consistently. 

Those are my 2 biggest problems.  Focus and consistency.  I'm so easily distracted by what I consider more important things....like losing the unemployment and needing a job NOW...one that pays enough to cover all of my bills, etc, etc.  And the consistency thing is a real killer.  I did fantastic with my beach challenge, dropping 15 lbs in 4 weeks.  I was focused.  But I let the focus go once I got to the beach, and put back on all 15 lbs in 9 days flat.  I got right back up to 241 lbs. and I hung out there for a couple of weeks, doing nothing to drop the weight.  Then I really freaked out and stopped cooking and gained some more, taking me up to 247.4 last week.  All of this causing me to realize just HOW MANY TIMES I've lost the same 15 lbs or so...from 230-245 or so.  Over and over and over.  So stoopid.  Just so stoopid.

I want to see the 220's again.  My time there has been fleeting.  I want to go back.  I'm just about to the point to where I'd cut off my right arm to never see the 230's and 240's on the scale again.  I wish I didn't have such a one-track mind.  Like I can only worry about one thing  or the other, but not both things at once...finding a job AND losing weight.  As I mentioned earlier, my desire to exericse is still not back.  I used to love it...look forward to it...my body shape was changing....I was losing inches and I knew it.  But it has absolutely vanished.  The will is not there.  I am currently doing that "fake it til you make it" thing that I've read about on other blogs.  I'm going through the motions because I know how harmful it would be to me to give up exercise altogether.  I'm just doing what I can until the desire returns, and I pray that it happens soon.  I want to love it again.  I want it become part of the thread of my life, of who I am.  It's that important. 

'Nite friends.  :)

Sunday's Seafood Stuffed Mushrooms

I'm hanging in there.  Had my 3rd good day in a row.  Today was really tough.  I wanted all kinds of stuff I shouldn't have...candy bars, Chinese, etc.  But I held strong and stuck to my calorie budget.

2 oz. Boar's Head low sodium ham, 1/2 c. egg beaters, onions, mushrooms, bell pepper and 2 Tbsp. salsa.

Calories:  140

6" on wheat philly steak sub from Publix deli.  Boar's Head roast beef, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers and provolone.  Ballparking the calories.

Calories:  600

Chobani blueberry yogurt.

Calories:  140

I decided to make one of my favorite simple recipes today...seafood stuffed mushrooms.  I used some large white button mushrooms, 3 oz. of shrimp that I sauteed with some diced onion & just a sprinkle of garlic and Adobo seasoning, 1/4 c. of imitation crab meat and 1/4 c. of Panko italian bread crumbs.  Instead of the butter I used to use to moisten these in my pre-weight loss days, I simply used a tbsp. of water to moisten the bread crumbs and get everything to stick together.

I moved the oven rack down to the 3rd row so I could broil these and get the mushrooms done w/o burning the top of the stuffing.  I cooked them for about 15 mins on broil.  I ate every single one of these.

Calories:  310

I finished off the day's eating with a scramble using 3 oz. of the sauteed shrimp, 3/4 c. egg beaters, onions, mushrooms, bell pepper and 2 Tbsp. salsa.

Calories:  204

I'll be having 2 c. of decaf coffee w/ sugar-free creamer shortly.

Calories:  30

Total Calories:  1424

I'm also keeping up with Chris' challenge of an hour of exercise 6 days/week.

Hooray for 3 sane days in a row.  :)

Making The Effort

I took pics of all my food today and counted every calorie.  I also exercised and drank (4) 32 oz. glasses of water.  Here are my food pics.

                                                   4 egg whites scrambled w/ 2% chz and salsa.
                                                                          Calories: 123

8" Larry's sub on wheat w/ ham, turkey, veggies, lite mayo and spicy mustard.

Calories:  589

Campbell's Select Harvest chicken noodle soup.

Calories:  200

2 oz. Boar's Head low sodium ham.

Calories:  50

Banana

Calories:  110

6 oz. baked pork tenderloin w/ 1 c. Steamfresh garlic peas and mushrooms and reduced-fat crescent roll.

Calories:  385

2 c. watermelon.

Calories:  98

3 Tbsp. sugar-free creamer for 45 cals.

Total Calories:  1602

Hooray for a good day.  :)

Paying The Piper

I weighed in at 247.4 this morning for a gain of 7 lbs. Here's the pic to stay accountable to Kandice's Challenge:

For Chris' Challenge, I was supposed to start on Tuesday and screwed that up.  The rules are to exercise at least 1 hour/6 days/wk.  I did manage to do this Wed & Thur, but it wasn't a 4 mile walk at the park like I had hoped....it's been raining off and on here all week.  I ended up doing it in (2) 30 min. intervals here at home.  I did crunches (I'm unable to do a full sit-up yet), lower leg lifts, some arm work with my weights and some modified push-ups (girlie ones). 

A few people have emailed me this week to check on me and I appreciate it very much.  Leslie emailed last night and I'm going to copy and paste part of my reponse to her as to what's been going on with me so I don't have to re-type everything.  You all know already that the wknd was bad right through the holiday on Monday.  This email picks up with Tuesday morning.

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I've been doing Chris' challenge for the last 2 days, which is good, but the eating is still in the crapper. However, I'm feeling better. I've been stressed to the max ALL week, and it started on Tuesday morning. Shane (my roommate) told me that a guy from his church was looking for an admin asst for his company in Marietta. Gave me the # and I talked to the guy on the phone for a good 20 mins. He told me to email my resume and I did. That was Tuesday early afternoon. He didn't get back to me til Wed evening at 6pm...an email...so I was holding my breath the hole time. I didn't even leave the house...I couldn't. I was too stressed. The email said that he got my resume and to go ahead and call his contact girl at TRC Staffing (he had already explained on the phone that they do all their temp-to-perm hiring thru them)....and fill out the tax papers, etc. Now I'm starting to feel hopeful. I called TRC at 8am this morning...the girl I needed didn't get in til 9am...I was in the door at 10am filling out paperwork. Just about to leave, everything looking good, and he emails the TRC girl and asks her to test me on Word and Excel. Doh! I thought I was going to get out of the testing. The truth is, I've been unemployed for 1 yr and 3 mos. I knew I was going to flunk them because I'm out of practice....and I was friggin' nervous as I don't know what. The girl said she'd email them to me and I could do them at home. I called Dwayne as soon as I got in my car to head home and I was about in tears. He said just do my best and he was sure I'd at least pass them in the Intermediate range. Yeah right!

I got home, spent an hour dinking around in the 2 programs, trying to recall basic functions, and finally took the test. You had to score at least an 80 for it to be acceptable by TRC's standards. I'm not sure if that's good enough for the guy hiring or not. Well I got an 83 on the Word one and a 63 on the Excel. I called her and she said the Excel was going to hurt me....asked if I wanted to re-take it. It was 1:30p and she left the ofc at 5pm. I told her I'd study up a bit and re-take it.

I was texting, emailing and calling Dwayne on the phone and we were both frantic, googling Excel tutorials together....he actually left his desk and went in the conference room with his laptop for a solid 30-40 mins reading through tutorials with me while I worked through a spreadsheet I created on my computer. "We" studied for 2 solid hours and I re-took the test at 3:30p. I scored a 90 that time...got 27 out of 30 right. I called her at 4pm and told her, she was happy and said she'd email the test scores to the guy immediately. Well....I never heard back from him, and I know he works til 6pm, because he emailed me at like 5:57 the day before. So let's just say that I've been stressed to the max since Tuesday but especially since 10am this morning up until now....still stressed, and I'm going to stay this way I'm sure until I hear something back, good or bad. And I don't even want to think about how I'l react if it's bad news.
 
I got my last unemployment check today. I'm out of cash dude. So as of next week, Dwayne will be handing me ALL of my bill money and that just kills my soul. I can't tell you what it does to me. I know some girls are happy to have a guy pay their way but I'm just not like that....due to past experiences, it is of utmost priority to me to be able to pay my own way so I don't get stuck with no money, no job, no car, etc. (bad previous relationship)...and go spiraling into severe depression again. So I'm tied up in knots right now. Dwayne has been more than understanding, very supportive, covering me up in "I love you"'s...but even he isn't made of money, and very kindly told me that he'll only be able to carry my bills along with his for a month to a month and a half. He's trying to save to buy a house and anything he gives me comes out of his savings account.


So anyhoo....I was hoping the guy would call me this afternoon and ask me to do a face to face interview tomorrow...praying I could start on Monday. But that didn't happen. Now I'm not sure what's going on....and I know I'm only this frantic because I'm desperate. If it's meant to happen it will and it's not, it simply won't. It's just the up and down emotional rollercoaster that keeps me half effing crazy. I'd give anything for a normal, calm, relaxed year after the one I've just dealt with. It also hasn't escaped me that there are others that have it MUCH worse off... I know in the grand scheme of things my problems are menial and barely a blip on the screen....but they're MY problems, so they're very real to ME....you know what I'm saying?
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I have 2 goals for this week.  The first is to keep up with Chris' Challenge of 1 hr of exercise each day, and the other is to drop 7 lbs. this week. 

I've been consumed with this job prospect and haven't been cooking.  I'm quite certain the biggest part of this is sodium and here's why:

Tuesday - lunch out w/ mom and sister
                dinner out with Dwayne

Wednesday - lunch out by myself
                     dinner out with Shane

Thursday  - lunch out by myself
                  dinner out with Dwayne

So as you can see I've been overloading my system with sodium this week.  I feel pretty confident I'll see a big drop.  Here's my first attempt at getting back on track with the eating.....

This morning's breakfast was 4 egg whites scrambled with a pc. of 2% Amer. chz &  topped with 2 Tbsp of fresh salsa.

                                                                           Calories:  123

My next dilemna is with grocery shopping today.  I've got to go do that in a little bit and I am having a big problem with nothing I think about cooking sounding good, especially the veggies that I normally prepare ahead of time for the week.  Asparagus, broccoli, yellow squash, zucchini, cauliflower, etc.  All of it sounds hugely unappealing.  I'm considering buying all different kinds of veggies today than the ones I've been eating and see if that will spark some sense of creativitiy in my meal planning.  I'm also considering not concentrating on the veggies at all this week, and keeping my sole focus on simply staying under 1800 cals and getting my exercise in.  Maybe I should go with that....keeping it to the basics...one meal at a time. 

Ok.  Well.  That's it.  I'm off to start my day.  I've hesitated to mention this job prospect all week, in case it fell through like the fiasco at the last job that lasted 2 1/2 days.  That was embarassing and incredibly disappointing.  But I've thrown it out there now, so if you would, please pray for me.  Thanks friends.  :)

Temp Agency

Happy Friday!  I have 2 weigh-in's this morning.

Last Friday I weighed 241.2 lbs. and this morning I weigh 240.4 lbs., for a loss of .8 of a lb.

Then on Monday, I had to weigh again (after a weekend of too much sodium) and take a pic of the scale reading for the start of Kandice's Summer Challenge.  Monday I weighed 243.6...this morning I'm 240.4, for a loss of 3.2 lbs (this only applies to her challenge).  We had to weigh Monday to get started but now we're back to normal Friday weigh-in's.

Anyhoo...I didn't gain on a cycle week.  I'm satisfied.  :)

I've got an appointment with a temp agency this morning at 10:45am.  This is the first one I've signed up with in several years.  I'm hoping they can put me to work quickly, so say your prayers! :)

I'm having a Memorial Day cookout here on Monday.  Shane, Billie & Kandice are coming to eat with Dwayne and I.  I need some healthy options for us girls so does anyone have any ideas of some low calorie side dishes I can make?  Dwayne will be grilling burgers (and chicken burgers for us girls)...and I'll have a fresh veggie tray and fresh fruit tray, some coleslaw with lite mayo & lite sour cream (a recipe I found in my new cookbook)......and I have to make baked mac 'n' chz for Dwayne....since he doesn't eat any veggies.  But I'd like an idea for 1 or 2 more side dishes that are low calorie, so if you know of something simple and tasty, please let me know! 

Hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend with your loved ones!  :)

Miss Grumpy Pants

I am so over the picture-taking, lol.

Here's the deal...I haven't mentioned this yet this week but I'm on my cycle and feeling pretty miserable.  True to form...my moods are crazy (Jekyll & Hyde kinda' stuff), my clothes don't fit right, my cramps are over the top, and I generally just don't give a crap.....about anything or anyone.  Blah!

I don't know why I picked THIS particular week to "get back on track", but it was a dumb move.  I guess there's always the rationale that I need to do whatever I can to keep from getting any FATTER...that point would be hard to argue....but man, I'm just not feeling it.  I expected the first couple of days to be a struggle (as in last Fri & Sat), but every friggin' day has been a struggle...and I feel like I'm going downhill as each day passes.  I have to keep reminding myself that it's like this EVERY month....not just this one.  I'm in the middle of the first week of a very bad two week timeframe.  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate my body? 

I don't know if I've ever told this story on here before but I'm now reminded of it every month...it haunts me, lol....so I'll share it with you.

When I was younger I didn't have a cycle....it was like once a YEAR...which means life was pretty much perfect.  I had heard about PMS...the mood swings, the fluctuating hormones, breaking down in tears for no good reason, etc.....but I never really believed it or thought it was real.  In fact, I was standing in a store one day reading a greeting card....and this is what now haunts me.  There was a woman on the front talking to her doctor and the doctor was doubled over in laughter.  The bubble over the woman's head with the writing in it said, "My doctor told me my PMS was all in my head...   (open the card).....so I shot him."  And she's sitting there on the table thingie with a smoking gun in her hand.  I remember laughing a little, but my eyes flew open wide and I thought to myself, good LORD, it can't be THAT bad!!

Oh I was so wrong.  So very, very wrong.  lol

Several years later I started on birth control to regulate my cycles because apparently it's not healthy to never have one.  Enter PMS.  It was like I all of a sudden turned into a raving lunatic and had no explanation as to why....until I finally realized what comes along with having a NORMAL cycle.  I know not everyone has it....and some don't have it to the degree of others....but I've been cursed.  And I am now a believer.  lol

So anyhoo....about this picture-taking stuff.  I really don't give a rat's glutes right now.  It probably has a LOT to do with my mood swings at the moment....I might change my mind later and post every calorie again...but for right now, I'm just not...and I really don't give a flip. 

I do have some pics for today...I tried another new recipe out of the same cookbook as last night.  But I haven't even eaten dinner yet so I don't have any pics for that.  I'm waiting on Shane to get home to see what he wants to do.  I have some leftovers from lunch....the Spicy Shrimp Creole I made...but he can't handle spicy stuff, and I was ill-prepared in having a plan for dinner....so who knows what we'll eat.

I ran a TON of errands today....I was out of the house by 9am and didn't get back home til 3pm.  My sister Amy was with me.  I had breakfast out at Chic-fil-A because I overslept and couldn't get breakfast cooked in time.  However, we came home for lunch. I actually made the Creole last night in preparation for a busy day ahead, and all I had to do was peel the shrimp and add that to the pot today.  It's ironic that I actually had the forethought to cook last night so we wouldn't eat OUT for lunch today knowing we were going to be gone for so many hours....but then woke up late and ended up eating breakfast out instead.  That's the way my whole week has been....stupid.

                                                 Chicken Breakfast Burrito from Chick-fil-A.

                                                                         Calories:  450

Sauteed 2 c. onions and 1/2 c. celery in 1 1/2 tbsp of EVOO.  (The recipe called for 2 c. of celery but I didn't have that much left in the frig...it also called for 3 Tbsp of oil, but I couldn't spend that many calories on just oil, so I only used half, which worked just fine.)

2 Tbsp of all purp flour, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp. ea. of s&p...was supposed to be 1 tsp of cayenne pepper, but I didn't have any, so I threw in a few shakes of Creole seasoning.

Simmer all the stuff together (you saw the small can of tomato sauce and large can of crushed tomatoes in the photo above) for about 30-45 mins.  Today I re-heated it, then added the 2 lbs. of shrimp the recipe called for....oh!  It also called for 1 bay leaf and 1 Tbsp hot pepper sauce (I used Tabasco).  Anyhoo, add shrimp and cook on medium heat for another 15-20 mins.  I served it over 1 c. of Steamfresh brown rice.

My sister ABSOLUTELY loved this dish and I thought it was pretty darn tasty, too!  It says it's 8 servings, but I doubled the servings and made it 4....1 for each of us and I have 2 svgs left in the frig.

It's 242 cals/svg...so my plate was 484 cals.  The 1 c. of brown rice was 150 cals, so the whole plate was 634 cals.

I had a Kashi bar this afternoon for a snack.

Calories:  110

My calories for the day so far are 1194....still trying to figure out dinner. 

Talk to you tomorrow! 

The "Lost" Finale

Ok....you all know how much I love my puppy Scarlette, right?  She's momma's sunshine...the sun rises and sets on her as far as I'm concerned.  She and I are the epitome of unconditional love for each other.  So I'm sitting on the sofa, a pathetic, sobbing heap as the finale is drawing to a close.  I had my baby snuggled up to my face, soaking her soft, fuzzy fur with my monsoon of tears....and then Vincent runs up and lays down beside Jack.

Oh.
Dear.
God.

At this point, I need to be scraped up off the floor. 

As weird and aggravating as this show was been (and I've watched every single episode), this was the BEST finale I've ever seen.  Ever.  Ever.  Ever.

On to the food!  No pics today.  I did take a pic of my breakfast scramble this morning, but then forgot to take a pic at the family dinner this afternoon, and I didn't eat anything after that.  All I had was 2 c. of decaf tonight with my creamer and (4) 32 oz. glasses of water.  So there's no point in posting a pic of the egg whites.....you see enough of those on here. 

I'm starting Kandice's challenge tomorrow.  Her blog is "No More Chunky Dunking, Time To Skinny Dip", and it's listed on my blogroll.  If you're floundering, struggling or just plain stalled out right now and you're looking for a challenge to jump start things, check it out.  This is a long one...it runs for several weeks, but that's ok....we're all here for the long haul anyway, aren't we?  :)

I need to go take some Excedrin migraine now for my pounding headache and blow some more snot out of my clogged up nose.  'Nite friends.  :)

Stupid Saturday Food Pics

I said on my post yesterday that Saturday posts will be hit and miss. I always have a "plan" going into the weekend, but more times than not, it doesn't work out. Today's eating was just stupid...a lot of high sodium crap choices, but I did manage to remember to take a pic of almost everything, so I'm posting it. We had to put my car in the shop this morning to fix the broken window (finally!), and Dwayne had his yearly eye appt where they had to dilate his eyes....twice....which pissed him off. We also worked on my resume AGAIN this afternoon, which put ME in a bad mood. It was your basic crappy day. But hey, they can't all be fabulous. Tomorrow will be better...I hope, lol.

I grabbed this Kashi bar on my way out the door to take the car to the garage...this was breakfast.  I cooked Dwayne some bacon, eggs & biscuits and just didn't have time to cook my usual egg white scramble for me. 

Calories:  110

After dropping off the car and Dwayne's eye appt, we stopped by Publix to get lunch out of the deli...it was my suggestion.  I didn't have anything at home to make sandwiches out of, and I figured this would be a better choice than having lunch at a restaurant like we usually do when we're out on Saturdays.

Since I only had 110 cals for breakfast, I was extra hungry at lunchtime, so I got double meat on my turkey sub on wheat.  I also had about 1 Tbsp of mayo, spicy mustard, pickles, onions, banana peppers & lettuce.

Calories:  560

This lunch would have been just fine, if I hadn't eaten 2 of Dwayne's chicken tenders, which I forgot to take a pic of.

2 chicken tenders

Calories:  200

Later I had a banana.

Calories:  110

Then a piece of dark chocolate.

Calories:  45

Here's where things REALLY get stupid.  I ate 200 cals worth of Lay's Salt and Vinegar potato chips.

Me.

With the sodium problem.

Eating chips to begin with.

And SALT and vinegar ones to boot.

Brilliant.

Calories:  200

Guess what's next?  2 pieces of the leftover bacon from Dwayne's breakfast.  The fact that it says "low sodium" on the BACON package after those chips is laughable.  And I forgot to take a pic of the actual pieces I ate, so I grabbed a pkg of bacon out of the freezer for my pic.

Calories:  70

I made Dwayne some baked chicken with lemon pepper marinade and some Pasta Roni garlic & olive oil angel hair pasta that he LOVES.  I had an egg white scramble with 4 egg whites, 3 oz. of plain baked chicken, mushrooms, onions, red bell peppers & 1/4 c. of 2% shredded cheese.

Calories:  258

I had 2 c. of decaf coffee w/ 2 Tbsp. of sugar-free Coffeemate hazelnut creamer tonight.

Calories for creamer:  30

Total Calories:  1583

So there you have it. 

Here's the cool part.  Apart from the fact that the choices could have been WAY better....I'm still pretty darn proud of the fact that I came in under 1800 cals on a SATURDAY.  That hardly ever happens, so all in all, today was a victory.  :)

Tomorrow's going to be tricky.  I found out a couple of days ago that we're having a going away dinner for an extended family member of mine that's headed off to the Army next month.  This is going to be one of those fat-laden, family reunion-type dinners.  I'm taking my camera and will photograph whatever I eat, but I'm doubting I'll be able to figure out the calories since I'm not making all the food myself.  The "dinner" is at 2pm.  My plan is to eat lighter in the morning, and lighter tomorrow night, and hopefully I'll be able to keep this train on it's tracks.  'Nite friends.  :)

Back In The Groove

When I got back from the beach nearly 2 weeks ago, I weighed 241.0. Last Friday, I weighed 241.0. This morning I weighed 241.2. So I've basically maintained the last 2 weeks, which was a bit of a shock. I figured since I wasn't concentrating on the food and counting every calorie that I was just getting fatter and fatter. This kind of makes me think that when I finally get to maintenance, that it might be easier than I thought. That's good news!

Today was the day I picked to get back on track, instead of waiting until next Monday when I start Kandice's Challenge (she chose next Monday as our start date). After I got up this morning and weighed, I remembered that I had asked my mom, dad, sister Amy and 2 of my nieces and nephews to meet me out for lunch today. I had forgotten that this was the day to get back on track. So I called Mom and changed plans. I invited all of them over to my house for lunch instead so I could control my calories. The original plan was for them to be here at 11am. I was out running errands when Mom called and changed the time to 1pm. No big deal, but I was going to be hungry before then, and was out without my camera, so I had 3 chicken tenders from the Publix deli while grocery shopping that I didn't get to take a pic of. I also completely forgot to take a pic of the Subway sandwich that Dwayne brought me for dinner tonight. It might take a day or two to fully get back in the groove of picture-taking, but I'm working on it. I'm also a tad over calories for the day. My goal is to not exceed 1800 cals and I ended at 1824 today because I forgot to write a Kashi bar down that I ate this afternoon, and didn't realize it until I sat down to type this post. :)

Breakfast was my usual....an egg white scramble w/ 4 egg whites, 3 oz. baked chicken breast, 1/8 c. of 2% shredded cheese and a few onions, mushrooms and bell peppers.

Calories:  218

I had 2 c. of decaf coffee w/ 2 Tbsp of fat-free half & half with breakfast.

Calories:  30

(3) chicken tenders from the deli while out shopping.

Calories:  300

For lunch with my family, I made shrimp tacos/fajitas.  I sauteed some shrimp in Pam olive oil cooking spray and sprinkled them with some chili powder, cumin & creole seasoning.  I also sauteed some onions & green-red-orange bell peppers.  I chopped some tomato and had some shredded lettuce, along with some 2% shredded cheese & lite sour cream.  Dessert was watermelon.

My lunch was one 90 cal low carb wheat wrap w/ 4 oz. shrimp, onions, peppers, 1 Tbsp salsa verde, 2 Tbsp lite sour cream & 2 c. of watermelon.

Calories:  275

Calories:  98

This afternoon I had a blackberry graham Kashi bar....I remembered to take the pic, but forgot to write down the calories til later.

Calories:  110

Fridays and Saturdays are always tricky because Dwayne's here from Friday evening through Saturday night.  We eat very differently and sometimes it can be quite the challenge to find something that we can eat together.  We decided on Subway tonight.  I still had about 800 cals to use at this time, so I went to Subway's website and looked up their nutrition guide to see what kind of sub I wanted.  I chose a 6" on wheat Subway club w/ double meat (an extra 90 cals), cheese, lite mayo, spicy mustard, lettuce, banana peppers, pickles & onions.  I forgot to take a pic of this.

Calories:  500

6" Subway club

After dinner, I shared a navel orange with Dwayne.  My half was 30 cals...just realized I forgot to take a pic of that, too!!! 

Calories:  30

1/2 navel orange

About 9pm tonight I was just WAY too hungry. I normally never eat this late, but I still had plenty of calories left so I made another egg white scramble w/ (4) egg whites, 3 oz. chicken breast, 1/8 c. 2% shredded cheese, onions, red bell peppers & mushrooms.

Calories:  218

I had 2 c. of coffee tonight with 3 Tbsp. of fat-free half & half.

Calories:  45

Total Calories:  1824

I didn't drink enough water today, and I didn't get in any exercise.  I'm not quite back in the groove with these 2 things yet, but I'll be working on it. 

Also, posting pics on Saturdays is going to be iffy.  I don't want to promise pics on that day because I found during my beach challenge that although I always went into the weekend with a plan, Dwayne had an amazing ability of destroying it, lol.  My menu often changes, and we end up out somewhere and I forget the camera, etc.  So Saturday is the one day that I'm letting myself off the hook on stringent picture taking.  However, if my day goes the way I plan it, then I'll do a food pic post on Saturday night after Dwayne leaves.  :)

Hope all of you have a FABULOUS weekend!!  :)