Birthday Gift Goal Update - Week 2

My birthday is July 2nd, and what better gift could I give to myself that to reach this goal that’s nearing two years in the making? So from now until then, I’ll be giving Sunday updates/weekend wrap-ups on my progress called Birthday Gift Goal Updates.

What a week! I had the week off for spring break, and had plans to rock big workouts each day, the same way I did when I had the February break. Unfortunately, I never got myself in gear, and I felt very listless and blah the entire week. But I also make some huge strides towards better health in the latter part of the week. So all in all, it was a good week, even if things didn’t go according to plans. Still, I have to believe that everything that is meant to be is what happened.

So I faced the scale this morning, and was up from last week. As you can see from this button, I have 41 lbs to go to make my Birthday Gift Goal. That means I have 79 days, or 12 weeks, to go. I can make it. At my weight, I can easily lose the 3-4 lbs per week that I need to. Because those recommendations that say that safe weight loss is 2 lbs or less per week aren’t talking about people that are 300 lbs. So, relatively speaking, it’s very realistic.

Now this is probably going to be a bit controversial, but after trying this for a year and 8 months, I can use all of the help I can get. So, I contacted my doctor to see if she would give me a prescription for a diet pill that could help with my weight loss. There are several that would help with short-term weight loss, so we’ll see what she says. If she approves it, I’m going to try it and see if it helps.

A fun step I took this week was starting a Facebook page related to this blog. I’ve already had several of you visit me there and “Like” me, but if you haven’t yet, I’d really appreciate it. I’ve been on FB for years with my personal account, but making a page tied to this blog is a great way to connect with more of you.

You guys know how happy I am to be a #SweatPink Ambassador, and I’m excited to let you know that my bio is now on Fit Approach. Even if you’ve been reading this blog for years, I think you’ll find out some new info about me, so if you have a minute, please head over and read it. And while you’re at it, read about my fellow #SweatPink Ambassadors, as well. They are a group of really interesting, accomplished women. By the way, I have a few pairs of pink shoelaces left, so if you’d like a pair of your very own, read this post, email me, and I’ll mail them out to you.

Speaking of which, Friday I sent all of the pink shoelaces out to those who emailed me, so most of you should be receiving them. Don't forget to email me photos of you doing something active while wearing them.

A major thing that happened this week was that I had a therapy appointment. I really liked my new therapist, and I think she and I are going to click well together. The first appointment was emotional, to say the least, and I left the office feeling worn out, as if I’d done a major workout. And in a way, I had. It felt good to talk about everything, and the therapist asked me some really insightful, thought-provoking questions. I really look forward to getting to the key issues surrounding the reasons why I’m blocking myself from achieving my goals.

When I went to my parents’ house to let them know that I’d entered therapy, and a bit more about my disordered eating, my dad had some excellent suggestions. He pointed out that when I quit smoking, I had to change my routine in order to get my mind off of cigarettes, and he suggested that the same thing would work with eating. He’s absolutely right! I told him that I can be great during the day, but when I get home, I get ravenous, and most of the time it’s really just the habit of wanting to scarf rather than from actual hunger. So we brainstormed a plan for the rest of the school year that I think is going to work well:

1. Get home from work, have a quick snack (veggies and hummus/tzatziki), which I plan to eat standing up in the kitchen. Now before you quote that I should sit down and enjoy the snack, I can tell you from experience that once I sit down and rest, I’m done.
2. I’ll head to the dog park with Sofi so that we can both get out for 20-30 minutes. This will be good for both of us. I’ll get out of the house and be able to soak up some rays and maybe make some new dog-owner friends. Sofi will get more and more comfortable with playing with other dogs the more we go. She does great at the doggie daycare or when I have puppy play dates with my friends, but when I take her to the dog park, she is much more interested in the people than the puppies.
3. When we get home, I’ll start working on dinner and then eat. I’m planning on eating earlier than I normally do, like maybe 5:30 or 6pm, so that there’s plenty of time after dinner to do a few other things.
4. After dinner I’ll take Sofi for a 20-30 minute walk in the neighborhood.
5. Depending on how much grading I need to do, I’ll spend about an hour doing that.
6. Otherwise, I’m going to head to the gym and go to a class, hit the elliptical, ride a bike, or maybe even swim. As luck would have it, my gym started holding classes at 8:30, which would be perfect. Enough time to digest dinner and get moving.
7. I’ll spend the rest of the night relaxing with TV and blogging.
8. If I get a snack attack while watching TV as I have been lately, I’m either going to have some popcorn or some flavored coffee, or something that won’t hurt my calorie budget.

I’m really excited to start this new routine tomorrow. I’ll absolutely have an update next week.

And lastly, since food is a huge part of my success with this Birthday Gift Goal, I planned my menu for the week and spent about an hour getting everything ready.

Dinners:
Sunday: pork butt roast, broccolini
Monday: lowfat curry chicken, couscous, zucchini
Tuesday: pork soft tacos with shredded cabbage, salsa, and Greek yogurt instead of sour cream
Wednesday: Hungry Girl chili, salad
Thursday: salmon, brown rice, asparagus
Friday: lowfat curry chicken, couscous, broccolini

And now for some photos to show my food prep…

Bananas, to add to a few I have in the freezer, for my Green Smoothies that I make for breakfast every morning.

I put a pork butt roast in the crock pot, added some Trader Joe's BBQ sauce, and voila! lots of delicious meat. Only 53 calories/oz.

I de-boned a rotisserie chicken and separated it into 2 oz (or so) packets for this week's lunch: salads.

Two kinds of salads this week. Asian: chicken, beets, sugar snap peas, broccoli slaw, and shredded iceberg. Mexican: chicken, sliced olives, corn, lowfat shredded cheese, and shredded iceberg.

For the Mexican salad, I make a dressing by mixing Greek yogurt (instead of sour cream) and salsa.

This week's veggies for dinner: asparagus, broccolini, and zucchini. I'll also have some salads later in the week.

"Dippers" for my afternoon snack.

Zucchini two ways - sliced for the PM snack and rounds for dinner.

I sliced bell peppers for the PM snacks.

I couldn't resist this shot because Sofi was waiting at the ready while I chopped and prepped everything. (Oh, and those are the peppers and zucchini for my PM snacks).

As you can see, I had a very productive day.  Now if only I had spent a bit more time this week (or even today) grading all those essays.  (Sigh!)

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