Motivation?

I'm tired today.  I'm physically tired, because I slept very poorly last night.  But I'm also tired of watching everything I eat, of having to push myself at the gym day after day, and of feeling like I have very little support in my immediate area.

Where is that girl who is so motivated?  So excited to sweat her ass off?  I am not her today.  Today I am tired, and grumpy.  I had to work way harder to accomplish hardly anything at the gym.  I'm amazed I even got myself there, to be honest.

I don't like having low-days, when I feel like it's all hopeless.  Somewhere, in the back of my brain, I know it's not.  Today, though, you'd be hard pressed to convince me otherwise.

Weigh-In Wednesday #8!

 
Starting Weight: 225
Last Week's Weight: 211
Current Weight: 209 (-2 pounds!!)
Total Weight Loss: 16

Goal Weight: 145
Weight Remaining: 64

Oh snap, I'm under 210.  While I'm really excited about this... is it a little dumb that I kinda wanted to lose just one pound this week?  Somehow, saying I've lost 15 pounds sounds so much better than 16.  Maybe because 15 pounds is a nice goal-sounding number.  How many people start a diet and say, "I want to lose exactly 16 pounds."  That's just silly.  I feel like saying, "I've lost 15 pounds," sounds like I'm saying, I've met some sort of goal.  16 pounds seems like I'm working my way up to 20 but I haven't gotten there yet.  Which is true, but still.  This is all ridiculous.  I'm happy and I'll take whatever weight-loss comes to me.  Please ignore these silly ramblings.

Recipe #1

Since I started dieting and exercising, I've gotten a lot of the same question: What do you eat?  When I reply that it's mainly fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and small portions of lean meat, most people come away looking really disappointed with my answer.  I know what they want me to say--that I'm taking this magical little pill and the weight is simply melting off my bones.  But it doesn't work that way.  Weight-loss comes with hard work, and yes, that does mean sacrificing some things.  You can't eat everything you want, never exercise and still lose weight--no matter what the weight-loss commercials promise.

However, that does not mean that I eat bad or boring food.  On the contrary, a lot of the foods I eat now are more flavorful than those I ate previously.  The reason being, of course, is that when you take out a lot of the fattier parts of a meal, you have to replace them with big flavors to keep your mouth interested.  I actually have spices in my cabinet beyond salt and pepper now!  It's amazing what a spritz of lime will do to a dish.  So, to prove that eating well can actually be tasty and enjoyable, I'm going to share a favorite recipe or two from time to time. 

Today's recipe is: Zucchini Soup

Ingredients

Cooking Spray
1 Onion
4 Yellow Squash (small)*
4 Zucchini (small)*
1 teaspoon cumin
1/3 teaspoon chili powder
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 entire garlic head, minced
1 can green chilies
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
1 box reduced sodium chicken stock

Preparation:
Chop the onion, squash, and zucchini into 1/2 inch pieces.  Heat a pot over medium heat, and spray the surface with cooking spray.  Add the minced garlic, and saute for a few seconds before adding in the onion, squash, and zucchini.  Saute until the vegetables begin to get soft.  Pour in the can of stewed tomatoes, can of fire-roasted tomatoes, can of green chilies and box of chicken stock.  Add in cumin and chili powder.  Bring to a boil and cook until vegetables are almost tender.  Add in frozen corn.  Once the corn is cooked through, you're ready to eat!

~Optional Garnishes~ Shredded Low-Fat Cheese, Fat Free Sour Cream, Chopped Spring Onions, Diced Avocado

*I always choose the smallest size zucchini and squash that I can, because it means the seeds haven't had time to develop within the vegetable, and the seeds can often be bitter.  Not everyone minds this, however, so if you only have larger veg to work with, use only two of each.

Sugar Content Horrors

I was at the grocery store today, and saw a bottle of cranberry juice sitting temptingly chilled on a shelf near me.  I love cranberry juice, so I picked it up and looked at the nutritional facts (which is something I do almost obsessively now).  The calories... not bad... good vitamin contents... whoa.  The sugar.  In just one small cup, there was almost 50 grams of sugar.  FIFTY.  I was so shocked, I actually gasped.  And then I quickly put the bottle back on the shelf.  I'll stick with my water.

New Food Friday #1

I'm starting a new weekly event that I'm calling New Food Fridays.  Now that I've entered my eighth week, I'll admit to being a little bored with food, so I've been branching out and either tasting some foods for the first time, or attempting to cook some foods for the first time.

Today's food is: Beets!

I've had beets before, and I've always liked them.  I only ever had canned beets growing up, and the first time I tasted fresh beets truly blew my mind.  They're like eating really tasty dirt.  Or something like that.  Anyway, I'd never actually made them before, but they had them for two bucks at the Farmer's Market, so I thought, let's give it a whirl!

First, here's my beets.

Cool, huh?  Next, I cut off the tops and put them in a pot of water.

I boiled them until I could stab them with a fork easily.  Then I took them out and let them cool in the fridge.  To get the skins off, I placed a beet in the middle of a paper towel and rubbed until it came off. 

Once the skin was gone, I simply sliced them up and put them in my fridge to be eaten whenever I desired.  Which was a lot.  Because I love beets.

I warn those who haven't had fresh beets before, the purplish-red color is very strong.  It will dye other things.  You will see the dye again, so don't be alarmed.  (pause for awkward moment). 

Moving on.  As a random side note, this vegetable always reminds me of the cartoon Doug.  Were
they not the coolest band back then?

Weigh-In Wednesday #7

Starting Weight: 225
Last Week's Weight: 213
Current Weight: 211 (-2 pounds!!)
Total Weight Loss: 14

Goal Weight: 145
Weight Remaining: 66

I LOST TWO POUNDS YAAAAAY!!  This totally gave me the motivation to run two miles before I went in to work today.  And the coolest thing happened when I was running.  Along the way, I saw a woman gesturing to me so I slowed down a bit and popped my ear buds out of my ears.  And this is what she said: "I've been watching you run for a few weeks now and you've come a long way.  I'm really proud.  Keep it up!"  Then she gave me two thumbs up.  I do not know this woman.  I have never met her in my life.  IT WAS AWESOME.  Best compliment ever, I think.

Fund Raisers

Why is it that fund raisers always seem to sell really unhealthy food?  Bake sales full of cookies and pies, hot dogs and hamburgers, chips, pizza, those awfully tempting Girl Scout Cookies... it seems we're constantly being assaulted with readily available and cheap fatty foods--all for a good cause, of course.  It's almost ironic. All the cookies, pies, refined grains, sugars and meats being sold at these fund raisers are probably taking no small role in creating the various cancers/diseases that they're trying to support.

I was leaving the grocery store last week, and was immediately stopped and asked if I wanted to buy a hot dog and bag of chips for $1.00 to support a children's hospital.  This was sort of a no-brainer, of course.  A hot dog on a refined white flour bun, served with a greasy bag of salt laden potato chips?  Oh, and how about an ice cold regular soda to wash it down?  It was really telling how far I've come along since starting to eat healthy that I was almost disgusted to even be offered that food.  But instead of screaming at them to stop advertising their temptations, I politely declined and simply donated a dollar.  The girl did give me a very strange look, but oh well.  That decision was way better for my waist-line.