Hello I'm Still Here!!

Hi Again!
I decided to give myself a little break from the diet and from having to report everything I eat. It was nice but I'm ready to get back. With the great results of my first challenge I've decided to keep it going. Not to downplay my success or anything but anyone who is a regular dieter like I am knows that the first few pounds you lose are always the easiest. As long as you do a diet right you'll always drop something right away. It's the next part that is the hardest. So to keep up with a realistic weight loss plan I have decided to make my next goal 3 lbs in 2 weeks - starting tomorrow. Well actually the goal is to lose 3 lbs from where I was at on Friday. So if I start tomorrow 1 lb up then I have to lose 4 lbs. Make sense? Aside from an unfortunate incident with some cheese fries a few days ago I've managed to avoid any major disasters during my break so hopefully I'll be in good shape tomorrow.

Back to business....

9:30am: Scrambled Eggs w/ Fat Free Cheese
** Blah blah boring. Had to use real eggs cause I haven't been able to go grocery shopping lately and it's all I had. Turns out I'm much better at cooking with Egg Beaters than I am with real eggs. Kinda sad huh?

11:00am: V8
** I have a slight obsession with V8. It's like if I see it in front of me I have to drink it. Like it's out of my control. I kind of feel the same way about tomato juice but I think I like V8 better. Unless I'm on a plane - then it's tomato juice all the way.

3:30pm: Lean Cuisine Pizza
** I came home absolutely starving. My lame 2 scrambled eggs breakfast didn't do too much for me. So I picked the biggest Lean Cuisine I could find in my freezer. I love these pizzas. They're also pretty great for late night drunk eating.

4:00pm: Bush's Veggie Baked Beans
** Soooo I was still hungry after the pizza. Geez. These beans are pretty good. High in fiber, etc. Probably should've waited a little while for that pizza to kick in but oh well.

7:30pm: Half of a Chicken Salad from Baja Fresh
** Pretty light. Lettuce, chicken, salsa, and tortilla strips.

So that's it for today. Hopefully my little midday binge doesn't hurt me too much on the scale tomorrow. We'll see.

The Results

6 pounds lost in 2 weeks.
Done and done.
My next challenge will officially begin next Wed....

Day 14!!

This is it. Today is the final day of my 5 lb challenge. My official weight today is X-6lbs!! Yahoo! If I can keep this up for one more day it will be a great start for my soon to come next challenge.

11:30am: Homemade Cottage Cheese with an Apple
** YUM. One of my most favorite snacks/meals ever. I have this with regular low fat cottage cheese too. 1 apple, cottage cheese, and splenda.

2:30pm: Fiber Gourmet Pasta & Chicken Salad
** Canned chicken, Fettuccine, Miracle Whip, Relish, S&P....

8:30pm: TJ's Chicken Wontons & Brown Rice
** Another success from TJ's frozen food aisle

I'm a little bit worried about my final weigh in tomorrow. I know that even if it goes up a bit it's still ok. I didn't eat badly today but I feel like just to ensure a good result tomorrow I should've stayed away from the carbs and sodium a little bit more. BUT like I said, I will be totally ok no matter what it says tomorrow. I feel good about my progress and I'm excited to keep it going.

There will certainly be quite a few obstacles coming up for me over the next few weeks. First and foremost is money. Having none is an obstacle on it's own but having none while you're trying to eat healthy is a whole different story. I easily drop over $200 every time I go grocery shopping. Well at least every time I go grocery shopping my way. There are ways around spending a fortune on food and even though I hate doing it I'll figure it out.
My next obstacle is called March Madness. Don't ask me how I ever got involved with anything sports related but turns out it's so much fun! I think it has to do with being able to print out my bracket and carry it around with me at all times. And even though for the 2nd year in a row I had nothing to do with filling out my own bracket I still take full pride in "my" picks. And I'm pretty sure I'm gonna win. Ok so anyway... the obstacle here is that watching basketball pretty much always equals sitting at a bar and drinking like a thousand beers. Not so diet friendly. But on the bright (kinda) side, with my TWO new jobs I wont be able to watch all the games. So even though it wont be as much fun as last year, at least I wont totally screw up the diet.
Well there are a few more changes coming up for me that could make this tough but nothing I can't handle.

Thanks for reading. See you soon! =)

I am Jessie Spano

I'm super behind on posting. Turns out you have a lot less time to do stuff you like once you get a job. Especially one where you don't get to play on the internet all day. Sigh.....

Well just to keep all of you up to date... I am officially down 5 lbs! Yay yay yay!! My 5 lb challenge ends on Friday so the goal for the next 4 days is to keep it off.

I should be able to post for real by Thursday, maybe tonight, I don't know. There's just NO TIME! There's never any time!! I tried looking for that video btw but I didn't really have time. See... there's no time! Ok you get it. See you soon!!!!

Day 8

Day 8 Weight: X-4.5 lbs

I made it through the first week of my 5 lb challenge. Yay! Seeing that I was down 4.5 lbs this morning was a great feeling. I know some people think it's crazy to weigh yourself everyday. Most trainers/nutritionists/etc don't think it's a good idea either. For me, especially when I'm trying to lose weight, I think it helps. When I start my day off with a good number on the scale (like today) it motivates me to keep going! Like why would I screw it all up today with a bad day when I'm doing so well? On the other hand when I start my day off with not such a good number on the scale it motivates me to keep going too! It's a good kick in the ass reminder that maybe I wasn't so good the day before and now is the time to get back on track before I ruin it all.

So another Friday is upon me. I think today will be a good day. No plans for happy hours or any other major obstacles that could get in my way. I am scheduled to work all weekend so that will help out as well. It also happens to be St. Patty's Day weekend and I think I owe to myself to celebrate a little as well. We'll see what happens.

10:00am: 1 piece of toast (Sara Lee) with Trader Joe's Egg White Salad
** This is a really good option for a quick and light breakfast. The Egg White Salad from TJ's is another one of my faves. It comes in 2 flavors - Egg White & Chive and Ranchero. Both are delicious. The Ranchero has a little bit more flavor so I usually eat that one first. You can always add some more seasoning to them if you find them bland. The entire container has only 100 calories in it and is super high in protein. I would highly recommend buying one or both of these if you are looking for a good low cal snack. There's nothing better than being able to eat an entire container of something and still know you only had 100 calories max.

12:00pm: Cobb Salad w/balsamic vinaigrette dressing
** Chicken, eggs, avocado, tomatoes, carrots, mozzarella cheese.
I made sure not to eat the entire salad so I could leave room for some fro yo. I didn't get any yesterday so I'm craving it more than ever right now.

3:30pm: FRO YO!!
** It was even better than I thought it was going to be. I am quite happy right now. And for the record I made sure to pick the lowest calorie flavors. I did break down and add some chocolate and rainbow sprinkles to it BUT I looked it up and it turns out sprinkles are not really that bad! Only around 35 calories for a tablespoon. They do have a lot of sugar which isn't too good but who cares - it was delicious.

7:30pm: Broccoli & Chicken Pasta in a Mozzarella Cheese Sauce
** This was a meal put together by only using ingredients I already had in the kitchen. I borrowed some ideas from other recipes I had and just gave it a shot. Turned out to be quite good I think! Here's what I used:
Fiber Gourmet Fettuccine
Broccoli
Chicken Breast
Cherry Tomatoes
Fat Free Mozzarella Cheese/Parmesan/Feta
Half & Half
Garlic, Garlic Powder, Vegeta, EVOO, S&P, Cayenne Pepper
For a meal that sounds like it should be super high in calories but isn't, I think it was quite a success. I will definitely make it again. Possibly using Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze instead of half and half. That will save a lot on the calories and will still taste great. I think any cheese would work for this recipe. I just happened to have a bunch of fat free mozzarella. Goat cheese (my fave), blue cheese, gorgonzola, etc... would all probably be just as good.

I had a pretty good Friday I think. I ate good food without ruining my diet. I do sometimes worry when I have a heavy-ish meal for dinner that it will lead to a gain on the scale the next day. I tried to make sure I didn't eat too too much for that reason. Either way I'll be ok. No diet panic attacks for this girl.

No Day But Today

I am happy to say that my reason for not posting yesterday was not because I was too tired or lazy or bitter. I was out seeing one of my favorite Broadway musicals of all time, Rent. It's an unbelievable feeling to see this show again after so many years. The music and lyrics of Rent have been burned into my brain since the first time I saw it. This time around was honestly better than I remember it. From the minute the show started to the minute it ended my emotions were all over the place - crying, laughing, remembering. One of the show's main messages is "No Day But Today." And after seeing it last night, I can't help but be inspired to live my life a little more like this everyday. No regrets about the past and no fears about the future. Live in the moment and live each day to the fullest.
I have digressed a bit from my intended blog theme. Let me see if I can tie this all together....
Living each day to the fullest to me means spending time, most importantly, with the people I love. No diet is worth giving up time with friends and family. For someone like me who tends to go a little far with dieting - that is an important reminder. However, I want to live a long and healthy life that I can enjoy. I want to feel good about myself. I want to stop wasting precious minutes of my life trying on one thing after the other just to find an outfit that fits. I never want to skip out on going to the beach again just because I am too afraid to be in a bathing suit. Pool parties are supposed to be fun. They are not supposed to induce a panic attack.
So in the end it comes down to balance. I need to focus on my ultimate goal but not lose sight of what is important in life. Find a way to stay on track without pushing your friends away. And for those of you who do not struggle with this as much as others, please remember to support your friends who do. We all love happy hours and nachos - yes. But sometimes going for a walk or cooking dinner at home is fun too.
So that's my transition from Rent to food. For an incredible description of someones experience with Rent (having nothing to do with food) please click here to read my incredibly intelligent and articulate friend Kayla's writing about it.

Wednesday:
Low Sugar Oatmeal
Healthy Choice Frozen Meal
Motts Healthy Harvest Applesauce
Leftover corn & rice & beans
Trader Joes Veggie Gyoza's
A few bites of a Lean Cuisine Frozen Meal

Thursday (so far):
Thai Chicken Salad
Jello Pudding Snack - 60 cal

Since I didn't post yesterday at all I'll go ahead and put this one up now. I'll have a regular full day tomorrow. As far as the rest of the day today goes I'm thinking of getting some fro yo at some point. Mmmmm. Dinner will be healthy. I think. ;)

Thanks for stopping by! See you tomorrow.

PS... Day 7 Weight: X-4lbs (yay!)

And I'm Back... Challenge Day 5

Day 5 Weight: X-4lbs

So I took a little break from posting for a couple of days. For one I was just a little bit tired (this is hard work you know, ) and secondly I was a kind of disappointed with the underwhelming response I got from my last post. I was really looking forward to getting your feedback on the workout songs. So either not as many people are reading this as I thought, or those of you who are reading are just too lazy to respond. Or maybe you guys just don't go to the gym? Either way I have decided to stop pouting and move on.
Thank you very very much to those of you who did take the time to help me out... Ms. Wilde, Tim, Lauren, and Anonymous. Your suggestions are all fabulous and I'll be thinking of you guys when I'm miserable at the gym. I'll have the new play list ready to post soon.

I started my new job this week and in terms of dieting I think it will be a very good thing. It has me on my feet all day and gives me no time to do any kind of mindless eating - which I tend to do when I'm at a desk all day long. We'll see how it goes, hopefully I am right.

1 piece of Rocky Mountain Toast (1 egg & low cal Sara Lee bread)

Persian Cucumbers w/Artichoke Tapenade
** Seems like a weird combo, I know. But I like to mix weird things. It's just a really quick and fresh snack.

Jello 60 cal Pudding Snack
Motts Healthy Harvest Blueberry Delight Applesauce
** These are both really good healthy snack options especially if you are looking for something sweet.

Chicken & Shrimp Fajitas, Red Beans & Rice, Corn
**The chicken fajitas were from none other than Trader Joes. This is another delight from the frozen foods section. You get the veggies, chicken, and seasoning all in one bag and, of course, it's all very healthy. I added in some shrimp too pretty much just for quantity. For the tortillas I used one of my WW staple items - La Tortilla Factory tortillas. The smaller size has around 50 calories and 8 grams of fiber. If you are dieting you need these tortillas! You can use them for anything... wraps, burritos, fajitas, etc.
The red beans and rice were one of those Knorr/Lipton Cajun Sides. It's not particularly low cal or anything but not bad at all as a side dish, especially if you are splitting with someone.
And the corn was from a can.. nothing too special there. I used a dash of cayenne pepper pretty much over everything in the meal just to give it an extra little kick. It all turned out great.

Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow. :0)