This recipe is inspired by Italian Wedding Soup, but since I’m single (and Italian), I decided to change the name.  I’m sick and the weather has turned cold and overcast, and soup seemed like the perfect recipe.

Italian Single Girl Soup

Ingredients:
2 large cans fat free, reduced sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/4 cup eggbeaters
1 can cannelini beans
1 bag greens
1 onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
black pepper, salt, red pepper flakes, to taste

Nutrition: When I plugged these ingredients into the WW recipe builder, it came out to 6 6-point servings.

Directions

Preheat oven to 425

Combine turkey, garlic powder, pepper, salt, and egg beaters.  Mix with hands until all flavors are combined.  Roll turkey into small meatballs.  I made 34 meatballs, but you can make them any size you’d like.  Place meatballs in a baking pan sprayed with Pam.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping once in the middle of the cooking time.

While the meatballs bake, put chicken stock and cannelini beans in a large stock pot on medium heat.

Next, saute chopped onions and garlic, seasoning with pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes until translucent. Add greens and olive oil and cook for about 10 minutes.  The greens look like a lot when you first put them in the pan, but they will wilt down.

Don't worry, they go from this

to this.

You can use any type of greens you like.  I love all sorts of greens, and eat them often, but tonight I chose these:

Once the greens are cooked, add them to the stock pot with the chicken broth. At this point, the meatballs should be ready.

They don’t look great in this picture, but I assure you, they taste delicious.

Gently place the meatballs into the stock pot and bring to a boil.

Simmer on low for 25 minutes.

This soup was spicy and delicious.  A piping hot bowl really warmed me from the inside out.

Options: If you’d like, you can add pasta to this soup (I’d uset little pastinia), but since I’m trying to eat low carb at night, I didn’t.  The next time I make the soup, I will add another can of cannelini beans, because I felt like there weren’t enough.

This week I was expecting a gain on the scale for two reasons.  My weekend dinner parties that had huge point totals each day and the fact that I was so sick that I couldn’t workout.  My cold has now escalated to bronchitis, but I went to the doctor yesterday and got a prescription for heavy-duty codeine-laden cough syrup and an inhaler.  Last night I was finally able to sleep through the night and didn’t wake up until 5:30 this morning (the night before I had a coughing fit that finally forced me to wake up for the day at 2:30am – not fun).

So, what happened with the scale this week?

Which means that I’m up 0.8. Not the direction I was hoping for, but considering the factors I’ve already mentioned, I expected a scarier number on the scale.

Last night I watched The Biggest Loser and was very inspired by what Daniel said toward the end of the show.  I wish I would have written it down last night because I can’t recall his exact words, but what he really struck me.  He said something along the lines of “I just finally stopped making excuses, stopped being scared, and just started to take this journey seriously.”  The full episode isn’t available online yet, so I can’t find the quote.  Once it is, I’ll come back and edit this.

(On a side note: Did you guys happen to catch the commercial last night for the Biggest Loser Resort?  It’s in Utah, and basically offers the “Biggest Loser Lifestyle” for for $1595 a week, double occupancy.  That’s an incredible amount of money, but look at this:

Sample of our daily schedule:

6:00 am – Open Gym or Class
7:00 am – Breakfast
8:00 am – Hike / Walk
11:30 am – Water Aerobics
12:45 pm – Lunch
1:15 pm – Education Series: Cooking Demo
2:30 pm – Kickboxing
3:30 pm – Circuit Training
4:30 pm – Stretch
5:30 pm – Dinner
6:15 pm – Education Series: Intuitive Eating

If I was wealthy, I would spend the money and go for two weeks this summer.  In a heartbeat.  But maybe I can just try to replicate it myself.  After all, they don’t have Jimmy at this resort.  )

The point is, I’m on the right path.  It’s been very bumpy for me, but I think I’m putting the tools in place to show significant results in the coming weeks and into next year when the pounds will really start to come off. I’m not giving up on 2009, but sheer numbers and math tells me that 2010 is going to be the year that the majority of my weight comes off.  I’m not hoping for it, it’s a fact.  It WILL happen.

Goals for this week ahead:

1. Once the coughing subsides, get back to working out.  For now I’m going to stick with less intense workouts, but I’m hoping I can get back to my training with Jimmy within a week.  I miss those workouts!
2. This might be TMI, so you could skip to #3 if you want to.  I need to make sure to take a fiber supplement this week (Benefiber or Metamucil) so that I stay regular.  The cough syrup the doctor prescribed has a warning that it may cause constipation, and that’s the last thing I need.
3. Spend part of my day off today cooking two make-ahead meals for the rest of this week and into the future (love the freezer!).
4. Continue tracking every bite. I tracked every single day last week, and it was reassuring to know that while those two dinners were huge, I still managed to make it work within my points.
5. Continue my accountability emails with Scale Warfare.  I love our nightly emails for so many reasons, but most of all because I feel so in control when I have “closed the kitchen,” prepared the next day’s lunch, and sent the email.  I feel so supported and I’m hoping that SW feels just as supported by me.  I highly recommend emailing someone else your food journal if you’ve been struggling with eating in any way.  It helps so much!
6. Get a pedicure!  I know this one really doesn’t have anything to do with weight loss, but I’ve neglected my toes too long, and I want next week’s photo (which WILL show a loss) to feature nice looking feet. 

I’m feeling really positive going into the last 7 weeks of the year.  My mind is in the right place, my eating is in control, and once I’m healthy, my intense activity will resume.

Wow,  a weekend!

It just so happened that this weekend I had two dinners to attend.  I usually try to make sure that big dinners like this are more spread out, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way.  Good for the foodie in me; bad for the weight loss planner in me.

Saturday night we had our annual progressive dinner.  My cousin, parents, and I have been doing this for the last 7 years or so.  We begin at one house for appetizers, move to another house for the dinner, and then finish at the last house for the dessert.  Because I’m the youngest and the least experienced cook, they always let me do the appetizers, and then my mom and my cousin trade off between the dinner and the dessert.  Both my cousin and my mom are incredible cooks, and they take great pride in composing amazing meals.  It’s almost like they try to out do the other, and my dad and I get to reap the benefits. It’s nice that we all live within 5-10 minutes of each other.

This year I didn’t host the apps at my house because of the neighbors (not quite fit for a fancy party), so my cousin agreed to let me bring the appetizers to his house, and since he and I live literally 3 minutes (by car) apart, it worked out perfectly.  The meal was really phenomenal, and I just have to share it with you:

Appetizers (me): WW mini cheese balls. Even though these are a WW magazine recipe, they taste really decadent.  They’re a real crowd pleaser, and I’d recommend them for any upcoming holiday parties you may have.  My mom asked me to make them again for Christmas Eve, and I think next time I’m going to use the same recipe but make one cheese log, and use a combo of nuts and parsley on the outside.

Dinner (cousin): my cousin is a true gourmet cook.  He came up with this meal after having one similar to it on a recent cruise that he went on.  He has hopes of retiring from his corporate job as a finance guy and opening his own catering business.  I think he’d make a fortune!

1st course: soup – a chicken-based broth with ginger, garlic, bamboo shoots, chantarelle mushrooms, and savoy cabbage – amazing
2nd course: salad with mixed greens, shaved fennel, oranges, and hazelnuts with a light vinaigrette
main course: grouper (first time I’d ever had this) with a salsa of mangoes and pineapple, saffron-infused jasmine rice, and swiss chard

Dessert (Mom): Paula Deen’s pumpkin gingerbread trifle – decadent, delicious, and very fattening.

The dinner “cost” me 28.5 points, and it was one to remember.  I was so full afterward that I really didn’t feel good, but it was a delightful evening.

Sunday brought another dinner – this one to celebrate my niece T’s birthday.  My mom asked T what she wanted for dinner and T immediately replied, “ravioli!!!” Even though this was “just a family dinner,” my mom went all out (as she always does) with setting the table.  I really wish I would’ve taken a photo of the table, because it was absolutely gorgeous!  We started with ham and cheese pinwheels that my sister made and for dinner we had ravioli, bread, Italian sausage, and salad with fennel and blue cheese.  I was so stuffed and uncomfortable after this 23-point dinner than I ended up leaving before we had dessert.

The main thing I realized this weekend was that I can’t eat like I used to.  It was unpleasant to be as full as I felt at both dinners, especially the one on Sunday night.  And I didn’t even eat the same portions as I usually would have!  I think it’s just a matter of my stomach being much smaller than it used to be.  Plus the fact that I try to eat lighter at dinner and have more of my points throughout the day.

It’s weird that I felt so full both nights.  I’ve had many special meals in the last year, yet I really cannot remember feeling so full.  Not sure exactly what it means, but I know I don’t want to feel that way again. I guess I can look at it as an NSV of sorts; I really can’t eat like I used to, and that’s a good thing!

These two dinners were a good prelude to the holiday season that is quickly approaching!  I did a good job of saving my points on both days, and while I did use many of my WPAs, I didn’t go over my weekly allotment of 35.  My main goal for the holiday meals is to stop eating before I get to the point of feeling so overstuffed that I feel sick.

This Wednesday’s weigh in should be interesting.  I’ve all of my points, sent Scale Warfare my food journal each evening, “closed the kitchen” and avoided nighttime noshing — all good things.  What I wasn’t able to do because of my cold is workout.  I did do the Wii Fit Plus on Sunday for 1 hour (the longest I’ve ever “played” it – I earned 4 Activity Points!) and 30 minutes again on Monday night.  I’m planning on doing it again for at least 30 minutes on Tuesday, as well.  I don’t feel up to doing more than a low-intensity workout, and I’m just hoping it’s enough to keep the scale from shocking me again this week.  Wish me luck!

What are your biggest challenges when you have special/holiday dinners?

As you can see from the ticker on the sidebar, my gain on the scale this week has really set my progress back.  I now have 18 pounds to lose, which is fairly daunting, but I think I can still do it.  I’m determined to give it my best and to get as close to my goal as I can.

Even though I had a major gain on the scale this week, I really am having a great week.  Despite the fact that TOM is here and I have a really miserable cold (still!), I am feeling really positive about my weight loss.

This week Scale Warfare and I started being accountability partners. The way we’ve worked it is to email each other our daily food journal, with all of our points tallies.  We do it at the end of the evening, after each of our “kitchens are closed.”  It’s been a great way for me to stay on track!  Not only am I logging my points into the tracker on WW Online, but I also send it to Scale Warfare.  The thing I like about sending her my food journal is that she can look at it and let me know of any problem areas that she may notice that I’m unaware of.  Also, seeing hers each day gives me some great ideas for meals and snacks, and hopefully vice versa.

The other thing that has been so useful this week is the idea of closing the kitchen. I’ve been eating my dinner in my breakfast nook, away from the living room and the t.v.  This has not only made mindless eating a thing of the past, but it’s also really helped me catch up on my reading.  Sometimes my mornings are so hectic that I don’t have time to read the newspaper before I leave for work, so I’ve been able to catch up with the news at night.  Or, I’ll read one of the many magazines that I have waiting for me.  (I think I’m almost done with all of Septembers, LOL).  After I eat, I clear away the dishes, wash any pots and pans I may have, and clean up the counters.  Then, I start making my lunch for the next day.  I pack everything that’s non-perishable into my lunchbag and put the things that need to be refrigerated in the front of one of the shelves so all I have to do in the morning is grab it and go.  This has been a huge time saver in the morning.  And the fact that I’m doing it at 7:30 at night makes me feel so organized.  As I’m making my lunch, I set the teapot on so that the tea can steep while I’m finishing up, and then when I’m doing cleaning everything up, I can turn off the lights in the kitchen to signal that it’s “closed” and take my tea into the living room to enjoy while I catch up on my shows.  I really suggest trying this if you’ve had any problems with nighttime eating.  It works!!

All in all, I’m feeling much more in control and aware of my eating, which is wonderful.  I haven’t worked out since Saturday morning because of my cold, but I think that I should see fairly good results on the scale on Tuesday.

Week 3 Stats: +4.9 pounds, 18.6 to go. 7 weeks left, which means 2.6 pounds a week – I’m going to do my best to make it!

Wanna join the Countdown to Christmas Challenge? Click HERE for the details.

Thank you to Tina @ Downsized for awarding me the Honest Scrap Award! I’m truly flattered.

Rules:
1. “The Honest Scrap” award must be shared!
2. The recipient has to tell 10 true things about themselves.
3. The recipient has to pass along this prestigious award to 10 more bloggers.
4. Those 10 bloggers all have to be notified they have been given this award.
5. Those 10 bloggers should link back to the blog that awarded them.

Thinking of 10 things to tell you about myself that you don’t already know is a bit challenging, but here goes:

1. There are tons of things that I want to do once I get to my goal weight, but two of the top 5 involve being a bit of a daredevil.  I cannot wait to be able to go on a zipline and skydive.  Both activities just seem so fun to me, and such a rush.  They’re both things that I think of active, healthy people doing, and that’s exactly who I am striving to become.
2. I sometimes worry that I will never meet “the one.”  When I was 18 I met the love of my life, and no one has compared to him since.  We dated for over 5 years, were engaged, and basically had our lives planned…but then he told me he “needed space.” It was truly one of the most devastating things to ever happen to me, and it put me in a tailspin that I think I’m still recovering from.  I’ve heard recently that he and his wife divorced (yes, he got married – shortly after he and I broke up he started dating a girl whom he got pregnant (how’s that for space?) and the new girl gave him the ultimatum that he either marry her or never see his child.  So he married  her, had two children, and was miserable.  He told his sister (who works as a checker at the grocery store my mom frequents) that he wished he’d never broken up with me).  Apparently he’s now dating someone else.  I have to admit that when I heard he had divorced this girl my first thought was, “hmmm, I wonder if he and I could reconnect?”  But, I think our time has probably passed and we’re now such different people that it would be too difficult.  Still…I do have this fantasy that he and I do reconnect at some point in the future.
3. I would absolutely love to work as a writer for a magazine.  I love to write (obviously, I hope), and I love researching different topics.  I think it’s probably too late in my career to break into the publishing world, but if I could, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
4. I’ve decided that I’m going to seriously begin the homebuying process in May of 2010.  With all that goes into buying a home, I know that I can’t do it while I’m in the midst of the school year, so the timing of starting in May might work out perfectly to buy and move over the summer.  We’ll see.
5. In my early 20s I had the hugest crush on Antonio Sabato Jr.  The obsession went so far as to ask my then-boyfriend (see #2) to buy me the Playgirl that he was a centerfold in (I was too embarrassed to buy it myself).  At one point a few years later, I heard that he was going to appear at a bridal faire, so I dragged my then-fiance (again, #2) to it so I could get his autograph.  He was even more gorgeous in person as he was on General Hospital.  It’s the closest I’ve ever come to a celebrity crush.  I avoided watching My Antonio, because I didn’t want my image of him ruined by bad reality t.v.
6. The radio station I listen to most often in the car each day is the same one I listened to in high school over 20 years ago.  They played New Wave and 80s alternative then, and they still play alternative now.  It’s funny how my musical tastes haven’t changed much in all that time.
7. I feel closer to some of the bloggers I’ve met on here than  do to some of my real life friends.  I guess it’s only natural, since we’re sharing such a common experience.  I hope to someday visit some of them (or have them come to California to see me).
8. Scale Warfare & I have a surprise for you guys that we’re going to unveil in January, but that’s all I’ll say for now.
9. Reading is another huge passion in my life.  I’m a voracious reader, and I usually have 2-3 of them going at once.  If you’re interested in what I’m reading, you can look me up by email address on Goodreads.com.
10. I promise that I will always be as open and honest about my weight loss journey as I can be.  This is the one place that I feel completely free to admit my defeats.  I usually try to keep up a positive front with my family and friends, because I don’t want them to worry about me, but here I feel like I can let you in on my true struggles, which is such a relief

My Choices:

1. Scale Warfare
2. A Merry Life
3. Amoslionhorse
4. Diva Incognita
5. Doing It For Me
6. Half Dozen Daily
7. Jack Sh*t
8. WWChick
9. Scale Junkie
10. The Tippy Toe Diet

Please be sure to check out their blogs, if you don’t already.

This week I wasn’t sure what to expect on the scale.  I’d had quite a few high points days because of my nighttime noshing, I hadn’t been working out because of my cold, and to top it all off, TOM came again (I feel like I just had it 2 weeks ago). 

So, without further ado, it is time to face the scale:

(Please forgive the feet – I’m in desperate need of a pedi).

Yes, that’s right: I’m up 4.9 pounds since last week.  But, I’m not going to let it get to me.  I’m fine with the gain, because I know I deserved it, and it’s about time for me to get back to proving  to myself that I am worth it. 

I’ve also decided to start taking photos of the scale each week, just to make myself that much more accountable.  Now that I’m not going to weekly WW meetings, I want to make sure that someone besides me is also looking at the scale with me. 

These last few days I’ve put a few things in motion that should really help me get back on track and stay there:

• No more eating in the living room.  Dinners (and any other meals on the weekends) are eaten in the breakfast nook. 
• I “close the kitchen” after dinner.  When I’m done eating, I clean up the dishes, put away leftovers, set up the coffeemaker, and make my breakfast/lunch for the next day.  I make myself a cup of decaf tea, and then I turn off the lights. 
• Right after the kitchen is closed I send an email to Scale Warfare with my food journal.  She’s my accountability partner, and knowing that she’s going to read the journal has been helping me stay on track. 
• Bringing my personal training sessions back down to twice a week.  Three times a week was really taking its toll on my schedule and sense of organization.  I’ve also changed days so now I’m going Wednesday and Friday/Saturday.  It helps not going on Monday, which is generally a crazy day anyway. 
• I’m committed to working out with at least 30 minutes of cardio each day, but some days it will be simply Wii games (the BL Wii game really makes me sweat), while other days it will be a gym trip or a bike ride/walk on the weekends. 
• I also joined WW Online last night, so I’ll be continuing to track my food, exercise, and weight with those tools.

So, the results aren’t good, but I faced the scale today, which is something that I normally wouldn’t have done.  I would’ve avoided the scale altogether and “hoped for the best” next week.  I’m proud of myself for not burying my head in the sand. 

As Mary said yesterday in her comment: I CAN AND WILL DO THIS!

As I write this, I really do feel so proud and also so grateful that I am part of this wonderful weight loss blogging community.  A million thanks to everyone who took the time and made the effort to comment on my call for help yesterday.  I got some really great meal ideas and a few tips on how to combat my nighttime munchies.

So these last few days have been tough – I’ve got a nasty cold, I had a terrible reaction (welts and red bumps) to Nair on my upper lip, and I’ve been feeling a bit out of control about the nighttime eating.  I have spent Monday afternoon/evening and will spend most of the day today (Tuesday) taking back control of myself and my eating.

For the past two nights I haven’t eaten in the living room in front of the t.v.  This is something I want to sustain from here on out.  I’m going to use several of your ideas, including the idea of drinking decaf tea (I have several varieties waiting in my cupboard) and closing the kitchen after I clean up the dinner dishes.

Yesterday I watched this video, and I think it captures what I’ve been feeling perfectly.  I think you’ll get something out of it, too, so it should be worth your time to watch it:

My takeaways:

• Saying one thing and doing another thing – so true, especially at night
• I’ve got the gym thing down, which makes me so happy.  Check one thing off the list.
• I want to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
• I would love an accountability partner – Scale Warfare, are you up for it?  Anyone else?

(I WILL NOT be shaving my head to prove myself, however

What I will do is prove to myself that I can and will do this.  To “just do it.”  To follow through on all of my plans and make it happen.  To get ‘er done!

Before I install a lock on my fridge, I thought I’d come to you for some help.  I need some support and suggestions, guys.  Much of this post is going to be a bit stream-of-consciousness, so I hope you can follow me.

I know I can do better with my food.  It must be obvious to you guys, as well.  Anyone who is working out as much as I am (3-4 times a week, at least, an hour each time) should be losing more weight than I have been.  During the summer it was because of an adverse reaction to medication, but since then, I should have shown bigger numbers on the scale each week.  The reason why I haven’t is because I’ve been eating too much at night.  Call it stress eating, call it emotional eating, call it binge eating.  The point is, at night I seem to have something take over me and I feel like a serious food addict.

It’s strange because when I was doing the fasting, or when I was on Medifast, I didn’t “cheat” at all.  I never overate.  I stuck to the 500 or 800 calories a day and was fine with it.  (Well, it was f-ing up my metabolism, but I wasn’t eating more than they prescribed).  Now that I can eat whatever I want to (as long as I fall within my points), I’m doing terribly.  I do well all day and even at dinner, but once the nighttime hits, I’m like a caged animal that has finally been set free.  I’m not even hungry, but there is this insatiable need to eat and eat and eat.

So it’s time that I take real control of myself.  If I can do it on an extreme diet, why can’t I do it when I’m eating in a healthy way?  Why is it so difficult for me to stop myself from overeating at night?  I know that I’m not alone in this, and I’d love for you to give me any pointers that you might have.  I know that one big culprit is probably watching too much t.v. at night.  The thing is, I love certain shows on t.v. and do not want to give up watching them.  The evening after dinner is the only time I have to really unwind.  But maybe I can do something so that t.v. time doesn’t equal eating time.

One thing I know I can do is to stop eating dinner in front of the t.v.  I do it far too often, and even though that’s guideline #1 on most diet plans, I’ve fallen into that habit.  Mostly because I like the “company” the t.v. offers.  Since I’m single and live alone, it’s nice to have the t.v. on when I eat so that I have some sort of entertainment.  But I know that I don’t have to.  I can eat dinner in my cozy breakfast nook while reading a magazine (I have so many that I need to catch up on) or a book (lots of those, too).  Plus, if I eat in the other room, it’s right next to the kitchen, making clean up easier.

Ok, so solution #1 is to stop eating anything in the living room (where the t.v. is).  The only thing I’m going to allow myself to have in this room is some sort of drink – water, tea, coffee.  No more eating meals in front of the t.v.

The second thing I need is some new meal plans.  I have loads of cookbooks that I should go through to get inspired, but I never seem to have the time.  So starting this week, I’m going to use a half hour of my evening after dinner to find at least one new recipe.  I think breaking it up in smaller bits like this will actually help me accomplish more than if I try to devote 2-3 hours at a time.  Little steps.

This is also where you can come in.  I need ideas for all meals because I’m getting bored of my usual food.  Please post meal plans in the comments, and be as specific as you can.  Exactly what you ate for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks on a given day.  That will really help me.  If some of you have a new recipe that you’ve tried recently, could you post about it and send me the link in the comments?

I need to get serious here.  There are only 9 weeks left in this year, and I want to show some sort of positive momentum going into  the new year. That’s what my Countdown to Christmas Challenge is about.  That’s what this post is about.  I’m “coming clean” about overeating at night because I need your help and admitting the problem is the first step.

Please help me feel more like this.

Yesterday LC and I were supposed to participate in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5K.  I say “supposed to” because it was a 5K that wasn’t meant to be for either of us.

When LC and I talked on Thursday to finalize the arrangements for Saturday, she sounded awful.  Her voice was hoarse, she had low energy, and the poor thing was just miserable.  She had stayed home sick for the past 2 days, and said that she’d let me know on Friday night whether she thought she’d be able to make it on Saturday.  She called on Friday and told me she wanted to just stay home and rest up for the trick or treating on Saturday evening.

I decided to do the 5K on my own – a first for me.  I’d never done a walk like that by myself, but I thought it would be good for me to try it, since LC is usually my rock.  She’s the one who calms my overly-competitive panics at the beginning of the walks, and it’s about time that I try doing that on my own.  Plus, I thought it would make a great blog post.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling miserable.  I still thought that maybe I’d make the 5K, until I saw the clock and realized that I really didn’t have enough time to get up and get ready in time to be there.  Still, I wore my “Save the Tatas” shirt and thought I’d drive by to where the 5K was starting to see what was going on.  Masses of pink shirts, pink wigs, and people in a party mood were walking the streets.  I didn’t realize that the race was taking place on busy streets; I thought it would be on a  closed course.  I saw loads of people waiting at an intersection for the light to change before the made their way to the finish line.

I was thinking that maybe I’d join the walk anyway, but there was no where to park.  Plus, I didn’t want to just start at the end and pretend that I’d been walking with them the whole time.  That felt like cheating.  Still, they all looked like they were having such a good time and I really wished I woudn’t have woken up so sick, or so late, so that I could’ve joined them. I was dressed to walk, and I felt like I was in the mood, so I headed to the Rosegarden and decided to walk a bit on my own.  I had my iPhone, and I figured that I could walk for a little bit.

I started walking, but quickly realized that this cold was taking more out of me than I thought.  I walked for about 20 minutes, but felt so exhausted.  I did get some great photos of inside the Rosegarden, which I thought I’d share with you.

RoseGarden Walk

I was really disappointed that the 5K didn’t work out, but sometimes things don’t work out as we plan them.  Colds happen, and it was better for LC to stay home and take care of herself, rather than risk getting sicker by exerting herself too much.  I was proud of myself for going on a walk, even if it was a short one.

Sorry I don’t have a more exciting post to share. I’m still feeling sick, and I have a lot to do today around the house, so I better get to it.

Week two is going well, although I do feel like I’m losing steam. Not with the challenge – I’m still really gung-ho about that.   but with the workouts and the food.

I’ve only worked out with Jimmy once this week, although I have done a Wii workout at home twice.  This is a lot less than my weekly activity.  Tomorrow I am participating in the breast cancer 5K, so I’m hoping that puts me back into the workout groove.

As far as food, I’m eating pretty well, but I’m certainly not tracking diligently.  I’ve also indulged in a bit of snack-size Halloween candy today (I brought it in for my students at school).  Not a lot, maybe 3 pieces of M&Ms. But still, I really should be more fastidious.

I think I have just been getting a little burned out with all of  it.  My days have felt really chaotic and hectic – like there’s not enough time to get everything done.  Three personal training sessions a week is too much, I think. I’m feeling overloaded.  Not to mention the fact that I’m “spending” them too quickly.  Plus, if all it does is get me to feeling like I need to “call in sick” and avoid a couple of sessions in a row, than it’s defeating the purpose.  I’m going to talk to Jimmy next week about cutting back to our normal 2 sessions a week.  That was nice and felt like I could keep up with it.

As far as the food, I’m going to get right back on track.  I really haven’t been eating poorly, but as I said, I haven’t been very deliberate about making sure to count all my points.  Whenever I do that I know I eat more than I should, even without knowing it.  So, no more of that.

Week 2 Stats: -1.4 pounds, 13.6 to go. 8 weeks left, which means 1.7 pounds a week – I can do this!!!

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