IN THE NIC OF TIME

Sorry for the lack of posting the last couple days, folks! In trying to migrate my PC to a new case the motherboard crapped out so now all my blogging is going to be mobile for a while. This means it will probably be a little more sporadic and I’ll miss some days, but I will try to post at LEAST every Wednesday.

Today was my fifth week and I am now officially down 25.4lbs! I hit my first 25lbs and am so happy I could die. But of course today was also Aunt Flo’s arrival so there’s cramps and bleeding and I forgot my lunch/dinner at home so I am relieved that today was my “buy more ideal protein” day or I would spend the next 8 hours completely starved. No bueno.

Right now, I’m sipping on a rather scrumptious pineapple banana drink and will likely have a strawberry wafer for my substitute dinner until I’m off the clock. Might even try the iced tea packet I picked up for snacktime, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime I shall rejoice in my loss of my first 25lbs and do a happy dance.

Alright, so I’ve hit the month mark! I am down about 20lbs and 15in total now, and I am feeling amazing. I’m planning a trip in June (hopefully), a Mariner’s Game in July, I’ve subscribed to Loot Crate, my Turtle Beach X11s are on the way… life is good. The weather has even been absolutely amazing this week and I am sad to see it overcast this afternoon. Honestly, who decided to give us a handful of shorts-wearing, sunshine-bearing, keep-your-doors-and-windows-open-to-air-out-the-house days and then decides “Eh, that’s good enough, let’s throw some serious grey skies and the potential for lots of rain at them”? Stupid Washington Weather: Go home, you’re drunk.

Yesterday I had a night where, for some reason, I was still hungry after hitting all my marks. I ended up with like an extra 1/2-1oz of meat so I listed it as 1, but it was really weird. I was just starving for no reason. It was unusual, but I think maybe it could have been all the walking I’d done this week. Tuesday and Thursday combined I walked for 4 hours more than just my usual up and down around the house work walk and vacuuming. That could potentially be a thing, I guess.

Either way, I would love to incorporate more walking into my daily life, if not at least my days off. Even if that means driving across town to the High School, putting on my sneakers, and walking the track all by myself with some music in my ears. Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Maybe I’ll start doing that — at least on the Fridays I go in to pick up my check.

Today, I’m not feeling that gnawing hunger again, thank god. I’m not even sure what I’m going to eat for breakfast, but I’ve had the Chocolate Chip Cookie as breakfast for the last couple days. I find it easiest to have the cookie before I go to work. That may also have something to do with the fact that, at work, some of the clients look at me like I’m a monster if I eat my cookie in front of them, so I prefer to just avoid that situation.

Speaking of awkward situations, have you guys ever been put in an awkward position just because people know you’re dieting?

Yesterday I ended up weighing in about 3lbs lighter and lost another inch and a half. I am quite thrilled with the progress that I’m making, and as such I chose to reward myself in a completely different way than I originally intended.

Have you ever heard of a company called Loot Crate? If you’re a gamer, a nerd or a geek like I am, chances are you’ve either already heard of Loot Crate or you’ve been dying for something like this to come along and have been unaware of its existence. For about $20 a month (after you factor in s&h) you get a box of wonderful little goodies every month! For example, this month’s crate came with some more vintage stuff along the lines of Super Mario Bros and Street Fighter. They’ve had a Megaman crate, a Domo crate, a Minecraft Crate, a Zombie Crate — a lot, lot LOT of crates!

Anyway, I think that this is going to be the most amazing thing I’ve done in a long time. And it’s a reward that I will get every month for sticking with Ideal Protein and I think it will make me far happier than the other things I was contemplating. If you decide you want to check it out, click here so they know that I sent you their way. I don’t get much for sending you, but I like the recognition of showing people new and exciting things.

So yesterday I tried the Ideal Protein Chocolate Chip Cookie for the first time. I thought it would probably be kind of gross because, well… fake chocolate and diet-flavored cookie-ness… but I decided to be adventurous. Let me tell you, it paid off. I am going to gobble one of these things down for breakfast today because I’m lazy. (I’m sitting here in a towel fresh out of the shower as I write this just because I don’t want to get dressed.)

I think everything is going well, and even though I didn’t have a major loss this week, it’s right about on track as to where it should be. I’m averaging five pounds a week so far, but I have a feeling that number will widdle down to a little more than three a week here pretty soon. Just means I’ve got to start more walking to help boost the process. The 2.5 hour mall walk was a good start, but now I’ve just got to get more of a routine to it.

I picked up Lemon Pudding and the Peach & Mango drink this time around. I’ve got a nice little stockpile of variety now so I don’t have to eat the same foods day in and day out — though they’re mostly drinks because they’re easy to make and take along. I’m thinking of trying some of the pre-made drinks next week, what do you guys think?

It’s been a hectic week so far, folks — and it’s only Wednesday! The last couple of days have been chalk-full of work and getting around. Monday I ended up not only getting up early and running several errands, I got called in to work as well, which resulted in me getting Tuesday off, which I spent doing the mall crawl and allowing myself to buy ONE new shirt (since it was on sale for $8 and even if I don’t wear it long, that’s a loss I can take), a necklace (I am obsessed with necklaces, let me tell you) and some hair accessories. It was kind of a mini-celebration. Why?

Oh, no reason. I just got a new permanent 40-hour position and it was the exact one I’d wanted a couple months ago. No big deal. *dusts off shoulders like a boss.* So I start my new schedule next week. I will work Sunday through Thursday and have Fridays and Saturdays off. I couldn’t possibly get a better schedule at a better house. I mean, come on! Awesome sauce!

As for my food, it’s been pretty usual for this week. Aside from the fact that I made Curry Chicken on Monday (and DAYUM it was good!) and thought I’d share the recipe with you guys!

Curry Chicken

-4/5 chicken breasts
-2 packets of Ideal Protein Chicken Soup w/ 1/2 water (or 1 Family Can of Campbells Cream of Chicken)
-1.5 cups mayo (Walden Farms Sweet & Tangy)
-3-4 Tbsp curry (I recommend 3, simply because 4 seemed too much in this mix)
-2 heads of broccoli (or enough frozen broccoli to line the bottom of your pan)
-2 large rutabagas (baked into chips - recipe below)

Bake, broil or sear chicken, then cube.
Mix soup, mayo and curry.
Fold chicken into mixture.
Line baking pan with broccoli.
Layer chicken curry over broccoli.
Top with rutabaga chips.

Bake @ 350°F

Cover with tinfoil and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove tinfoil and name additional 10 minutes.

Baked Rutabaga Chips

Ingredients

1 large rutabaga, peeled and sliced thinly
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped finely

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.

In a bowl, toss the rutabaga with the olive oil. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and the black pepper. Spread the rutabaga across the baking sheet so it fits in one layer.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, flipping the pieces every 10 minutes. They will curl and turn crispy. If they need more time, put them in for another 5 minutes and check again until they are your desired consistency. Take them out of the oven.

Transfer the chips in a bowl and toss with the remaining salt, maybe a touch of pepper, and the fresh rosemary. Serve as is or with a bowl of hummus.

So today is my weigh-in and I’m admittedly a little nervous. I’m not entirely sure why, but I can’t deny it. I think I am just a little paranoid that maybe there was too much processed meat in my diet again this week or something. If there was, it’s because I wanted to get rid of it before it spoiled, but I am still kind of running around like a chicken with my head cut off. But hey, I am perfectly content without a weight loss, as long as I’m losing inches. I’ll try and post my numbers up tomorrow, but for now I’ve got a weigh-in and work to dress for and hair and makeup to do!

To my new followers, hello! I am happy to have you guys along for the ride here. We may not have met, but you are all very special to me! :)

The weather has made a complete 180 from yesterday it seems. The extra heat kept me in bed a couple hours later than I initially intended to be, seeing as I have things to do today that need to be done by 4! So it’s get up, get dressed, slap on a face and hit the ground running. Not sure what I’m taking along for breakfast and lunch, but one of them is probably going to be a Cookies and Cream bar.

I’ve got to go to the office so I can apply for the open position they have that I want — Mon-Fri, 8-4… it would be nice to work “normal people hours” for once, I think. Especially if it means I get to see the sunshine. Then it’s to the clinic to pick up some chicken soup and some mashed potatoes so I can make some bomb-ass curry tonight (pictures and ratings to follow later), then swing by the grocery store to pick up rutabaga to make rutabaga chips (I did yesterday and they were melt-in-your-mouth good) and then to swing by the post office to mail my jury summons crap. I swear I get one every year. Boo.

Anyhow, I’m running out of time for now. If I get the chance today, I’ll edit this later, otherwise I’ll see y’all tomorrow! :D

So, I definitely missed a few days here, but it has been a stressful week. I’ve lost half of my regular work hours and now have to figure out how I’m going to afford rent, food, cell phone, diet… hell, anything. And all because I was going into the red of my checkbook for the house they sent me to out of town (which my Supervisor told me was temporary and ended up she lied because it was permanent) so now I have that to deal with, which is not even close to fun. I could have afforded it when I started the job and my rent was $100 cheaper a month, but whatever. There’s really nothing I can do about it now.

The diet has been going steady. I think I have a new favorite snack in the Cookies & Cream bars. Talk about yummy! And then, of course, the Butterscotch pudding is three times as delicious as the chalky chocolate pudding was. The Chicken A La King soup was pretty good (not my favorite, but not bad either) but I look forward to trying some of the jelly and the other pudding I got, too. I think I may take a few packets of the Leek Soup back this next week and see what they have in the packet bin to trade for.

Today my Mariner’s Tickets came in — so that’s exciting! Now I am 100% going to the Mariner’s Game on July 12th against the Angels. And by that time I hope to be able to fit in a regular XL tee because that’s the size of the free one I’ll be getting. So, here’s to hoping everything works out so I don’t have to give up my diet! I just really got started and I don’t know what the heck I’m gonna do if I have to stop. :(

I’ve just got to remember that everything happens for a reason and that if I just take a moment to breathe and get my bearings, I will be able to survive this.

Today was a weigh in day and I expected my losses to be far inferior to my first two weeks. I was prepared for it. I lost 1.6lbs, which was to be expected. What was surprisingly enough though, was that I lost another 4 inches.

Last night I had an old friend messaging me. I can’t deny that it was a bit stressful to see him messaging me. We ha e a very complicated relationship right now. We were best friends in High School and he was dating another close friend. But then he turned into a cheater and spent all his ex’s money and stole some of his stuff and now he’s trying to awkwardly pretend things are exactly as they were. But they’re not. I can’t trust him or his word and as much as I still care about him and his well being, I just can’t pretend everything is okay between us. I can’t even pretend we’re even friends anymore because I don’t think we are. It breaks my heart.

As far as the diet goes today, it was a Pina Colada drink for breakfast. My oh my was it yummy! Lunch will be a chocolate drink, dinner is at my best friend’s place and its game night. More Gloom! Then my snack is going to be a Cookies and Cream bar which I am looking forward to. We’ll see what the day brings.

I slept in today, and I am blissfully aware of how fantastic I feel this afternoon. I love waking up to the sun high in the sky, birds singing and the neighbor kids not yelling at the top of their lungs. It is a great day and so far no hail or thunder, just party cloudy blue skies and sunshine. And I’ve only been up for 20 minutes!

Not sure what I’m going to eat today, but I think I’m going to start out with a Fine Herb and Cheese Omelette and add a little bit of leftover taco meat to it. Can you say yum?! Lunch will probably be one of my drinks or maybe a soup — haven’t decided yet. Snack will likely be the same and today I don’t really have to worry about dinner. One of the few perks of still living at home: mom cooks. I like to help her out when I can, but most of the time I’m not home for dinner, so… yeah. Maybe I’ll cook on Thursday, who knows?

I also started using the MyFitnessPal app again yesterday. There’s another blogger I’ve been following and she just started and wanted someone to have some friendly competition with. I figure, why the hell not? It’s Ideal Protein friendly, and I can keep track of exactly what I’m consuming, too. It will give me a better idea of what I’m eating what what kinds of things to look at for the future. Score!

So I’m going to go take a shower, have breakfast, and relax on my ass all day today. I deserve it and tomorrow will be rather fun, I think. Also, my Mariner’s tickets were printed today and should be shipped shortly. Yes, it is still three months til the game, but that does not make me any less excited. :)