Friday, June 17, 2011

Leavin' on a jet plane...


GeoTagged, [N45.58667, E122.59244]

I'm traveling. It's 6 am and I've already been up for 2 hours after only sleeping for 2 hours. Having to be at the airport at the ungodly hour of 4:30 am will do that.
Am I the only person that likes airports? I've always found them fascinating. Morf so when you could actually go to the gate with your loved ones. Where else could you see people so happy next to people so sad? I guess the hospital, but who likes to go there?
Anyway, I'm heading "home" to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for a week. Time to see my mom and aunties and maybe catch up with a few friends. The first few days we'll be staying on the lake and I am so very ready for some relaxation by the water.
Alright they're calling my flight. Have a great day peeps!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Easy Like Sunday Morning Pancakes





Who doesn't love Pancakes on Sunday morning? I mean really, what else is there to eat for breakfast than pancakes with syrup and butter. Yummm....syrup. 

Unfortunately syrup and butter slathered disks of carbohydrates are not on my diet. Luckily for me I am sometimes rather creative and when I want something bad enough I will find a way to eat it. So I set out on a quest for healthy pancakes and found a recipe for Oatmeal Pancakes and thought with a few tweaks it could be awesomely yummy and healthy at the same time. 
I was right.
Hellooo...Oatmeal Pancakes. 
Let's be friends.

These were soft and fluffy with a  bit of sweetness. I'm in love. I adapted this recipe found on Tastepotting


Easy Oatmeal Pancakes:

1 cup oats (quick style is fine)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
2 Tbls. Stevia (or sugar substitute or even real sugar gasp!)
2 teas. Baking Powder
1 teas. Salt
3 Tbls. Egg White (one eggs worth)
1 Whole Egg
1 1/2 Cups Milk (I used low fat because that's what I had. Almond milk would be good)
1/4 Cup. Canola Oil

Mix together oats, flours, stevia, baking powder and salt in mixing bowl. Combine eggs, milk and oil in separate bowl and mix well. Add milk and egg mixture to dry mixture and stir until just combined. Pour batter by 1/4 to 1/3 scoops onto greased hot griddle or skillet. Turn when bubbles appear on top of pancakes. Flip and continue. Rinse and repeat. 

I had mine with a scant amount of butter, fresh raspberries and honey. They were delicious. 

Friday, June 10, 2011

Week/End Update!

Hi all! It's the weekend! I am done with school for the summer. Well, almost. I have a few hours of my internship to finish up next week and then I am done! And with the completetion of those I will also be completely finished at Lane and ready to move on to the big-kids-school! The start of summer also means that I have more time on my hands so that means I'll actually have time to blog again. So get used to me folks! I'm back!

I wanted to give you an update on the weight loss project. It's been a pretty terrible week to be on a diet. It was finals week, so pretty much everything except school ceased to exist. That means I didn't go to the store, I didn't plan my meals, I didn't work out, but I did try my best. I ate every three to four hours and I kept to the plan for the most part. I did stray a little the day I was done and have more of a cheat afternoon than a single cheat meal. Apparently, cheese and beer, then a taco salad followed by a giant frozen yogurt with 5 different toppings for dessert is not a thing I should do every week. Or at least not the day after pizza. Or the day before I weigh myself. 

I also wanted to share some progress pictures. I don't really think there is a difference but I'm hoping that in a few weeks it will look like something is different!

Here's where I started:
 This photo was taken on my field trip three days after deciding to change my weight. I was 203 pounds.
 Here's week one:

 Sorry for the bitch-face...it's just the way my face is sometimes. 

Here I weighed: 196 lbs.
Body Fat: 34%
Lean Body Mass: 129 lbs.
Body Fat (lbs): 67 lbs.

My measurements were:
Neck: 14"
Waist: 40.5" 
Hip: 46"
Thigh: 28"


I don't have a picture for last week, but it's okay because there really wasn't a change between last week and this week. Except that I gained a pound. And it was probably in frozen yogurt. Damn you Yogurt Extreme!

Weight: 194 lbs 
Body Fat: 33.5%
Lean Body Mass: 129 lbs
Body Fat: 65 lbs

Measurements:
Neck: 14"
Waist: 37"
Hip: 46"
Thigh: 26"

In total I've lost: 
Weight: 9 lbs
Body Fat: .5%
Lean Body Mass:none
Body Fat: 2 lbs


Every day is a new day. And I'm ready to get back in the swing of things this week! 


Have a great weekend!


Friday, June 3, 2011

The Worst Four Letter Word: the D Word.

Let's talk about that dreaded thing that no woman likes to talk about.Let's just get it all out on the table.and talk about what is constantly on any woman's mind:
Diet AND Weight.
Yeah I said it.

About a month ago I went to the doctor where I got weighed, and when I did I looked at the nice nurse lady and said, "uh..is that right? Can we do this again?" She was very sweet and told me that yes the scale was correct and then sweetly asked if that number was higher than I expected. Well yes, nice-nurse-lady it was higher than I expected.Way higher.Like 20-freaking-pounds higher!

So I did what any normal woman would do when faced with the fact that she is currently 50 pounds over her goal weight. I went and had drinks with my best girlfriend. And then I went home and cried to my mister. 
Note to self: When coming home from a doctor's visit, try to tell your mister what is wrong before helplessly falling into his arms and then crying like a baby. He may assume that there is something seriously wrong with you. He may even assume that you were just given a death sentence by your doctor and if he really likes you this may make him very worried. Mine was very worried. I think he likes me. 

And after I wallowed for a respectable amount of time I decided to go on a diet. And I cut my calories down while not really changing my eating habits. I quickly lost 4 pounds but I felt like, well, I felt like crap. All the time. I was constantly hungry. I was cranky and moody. I was so tired all I wanted to do was sleep. I couldn't concentrate on anything which made school very annoying which only added to my crankiness. One day, about a week in, I was at school and stood up only to get so dizzy that I almost had to sit back down in my seat. That day I knew this wasn't going to work so I started searching for a diet plan. 

Let's get one thing straight. I don't like diets. I don't think they work, I think they're unhealthy and unnatural. I grew up watching the women of my family try almost every diet on the planet. They would go on the diet and lose weight, then they would go off it and gain it all back. I didn't want that. I wanted something that was going to teach me healthy eating habits give me the tools to not only lose the extra weight I had on me now, but be able to easily maintain the loss once I got there. I also want to say that I don't think I am fat, I am one of the lucky women that gains weight in all the right places.You know, my curves just get more pronounced. This is one of the reasons I didn't think I had gained the amount of weight that I had. And I don't have any dreams of being stick thin, I just want to be healthy. Is that so much to ask?!?! 

So after some research, which may or may not have included watching an episode of Chelsea Lately.I decided to go with this diet:


 
 I actually bought the book on Kindle because it was cheaper, and then had it sent overnight to my house after reading about half of it in one night. What he says makes sense. All my meals are balanced between protein, fats and carbs and I eat every 3-4 hours.The entire diet is focused on changing my metabolism and focuses more on losing body fat then what my weight is. I've been doing this for two weeks now, and I just finished the ten-day jump start, where I didn't eat bread or dairy and had only high-quality meat and food. My energy has increased, my sugar cravings have almost completely gone away and I generally just feel better. I've also lost some weight. Oh, you want to know how much?

For the case of full disclousure when I went to the doctor I weighed 203 pounds. This was on May 4th. 

When I officially started the Body Confidence diet I weighed 199 pounds, that was on May 23rd. 
When I finally got my fat calipers (something every woman wants to buy) and could take my body fat measurement I weighed 196 pounds, and that was on May 26th. 

Here's my progress:
Week One (5/26):

Weight: 196
Body Fat %: 34%
Lean Body Mass: 129 lbs
Body Fat: 67 lbs
Body Part Measurements:
Neck: 14"
Waist: 40.5"
Hip: 46"
Thigh: 28" 

Week Two (6/2):  

Weight: 193 (- 3 lbs)
Body Fat %: 33% (- 1%)
Lean Body Mass: 130 lbs (+ 1 lb)
Body Fat: 63 lbs (- 4 lbs)
Body Part Measurements:
Neck: 14"
Waist: 38" (- 2.5")
Hip: 45" (- 1")
Thigh:  26" (- 2")
I'd say that's pretty good progress! So far I've lost 10 pounds total and that makes me very happy!

Tomorrow I'll post my progress pictures. 
Have a good night everyone!