Keeping my butt in check

[anniebean]

Friday was a bust. I was too tired to do much, and actually caught myself dozing at work (during lunch). That's when I knew it was time to call it a day and head home to get a little rest before the concert Friday night in Atlanta....although I ended up getting caffeine instead of nap.

So we saw The Cure Friday night. It was awesome, and I'm glad I went after almost backing out.


Before the concert, we went to a fabulous vegan restaurant in Atlanta. I don't recall the name, but EVERYTHING was vegan!! It was so nice not to be limited to certain things on the menu!

Saturday I slept in, and then made spicy black bean tortilla veggie burgers and homemade onion rings..

(that's my son's plate--I don't drink frappaccinos, or anything coffee-like)

These were yummy!

Sunday I made vegan red beans and rice..


This was much better without the rice. I scooped it out and ate it with relish. So good! I brought some for lunch today.

I drank all 102 ounces of water except on Saturday. I only drank 1/2 of it.

I didn't track anything, or wear my fitbit, but I didn't go too crazy. I was just too tired!

I did weigh yesterday morning and I was 151 on the dot. Hopefully I can drop 1.1 pounds to make it to 149.9 by Friday, but I'm not holding my breath.

I had fun last week with the traveling and the concerts, but unless I can take vacation from work, I don't think I can do it again! I'm still not exactly caught up.

So today I plan to get 20k steps in. Get back to my kettleball and my floor exercises. I won't be cooking tonight since my husband won't be home so I'll probably just eat a baked potato for supper.

 

[anniebean]

Movement:
3x10 kettleball


Food:
We ain't gonna go there. I spent most of last night puking everything up, and then the rest came out this morning.

So not really an update--I've barely moved today. Like I doubt I'll have 1000 steps. I've basically just made pilgrimages to the bathroom. Plus been pretty dizzy. Just now feeling a bit more like myself, although tummy still feels bloated and yucky and still have that icky feeling in my throat.

 

[anniebean]

So yesterday I was a slug. I stayed dizzy most of the day so it was the best thing for me to do. I didn't really log anything I ate because when I finally could eat, I was just happy to have something stay in. However, I seriously doubt I made it past 1000 calories....well, maybe...I'm not sure how many calories are in Sprite.

I also didn't drink all of my water--I only drank 1/2. The rest of the fluids came from Sprite. So now today I'm still bloated and blah from the stomach thing and the carbonation.

However, I do feel much better today--still somewhat off balance, but nothing like yesterday. I hope to get in at least 18k steps and do the kettleball. I'm taking my husband out to eat tonight for his birthday so I'm hoping my stomach stays settled. I do know that I won't be drinking alcohol or anything until I know that I'm 100%. I would much rather wait until later in the week to take him, but today is his actual birthday, and the only day we could work it in with the kids' work schedules.

 

[anniebean]

Movement:
3x10 kettleball
20,866 steps
**I've not been doing the crunches as of late because of my tummy being all bloated and upset....

Food:
I didn't really track because I ate small throughout the day because I knew I'd be going to Margaritaville for my husband's bday dinner. And then I was just excited that everything stayed in my stomach afterwards! I did take pics. I ate 1 pretzel bread, and barely made a dent in my veganized volcano nachos. I had 2 whole boxes full of leftovers of them! They're massive. I figured the kids could eat on them today. I did get half cut tea instead of water, which I shouldn't have done, especially that late at night because I'm already having problems getting solid sleep.

Anyways....pics or it didn't happen...


My husband got the Booze in the Blender cup filled with margarita....so it was a good thing I stuck with caffeine instead of alcohol.
**********************
So today I hope to get at least 18k steps, but not off to a very good start so far. I'll do the kettleball, but won't have time to do the crunches during lunch since I've gotta go out and run errands. Stomach still feels somewhat off so I'm hoping that passes before lunch. I've read that coolsculpting can do this to you because it's your body eliminating the fat that was frozen, but I don't think it'd make me puking sick like I was on Monday night. I think that had more to do with a bad food/alcohol drink combo on top of sinus flare up throwing my equilibrium off. I only had one drink Monday night, but I don't think it mixed well with what was in my stomach. Or it could totally be a bug, I dunno. All I know is that it will be a looooong time before I actually drink alcohol (outside wine) again. I'm not a puker--I can count on 1 hand how many times I've done it in my life--so Monday freaked me out.

 

[anniebean]

Movement:
9,953 steps
that's it....seriously.

Food:
I didn't really track, but nothing crazy. I had a hashbrown from McDonald's for breakfast and a pack of peanuts for lunch
A few oreos for snack
Spicy orange tofu rice bowl for supper.


I drank most of my water, but not quite the 102 oz.
************
So I've noticed my stomach still ain't quite right. TMI, but it's still all abnormally bloated and weird (weirder than normal), and sometimes the food stays in, but then sometimes it doesn't (but no puking). I'm thinking I may have had/still have a touch of a stomach bug instead of it being something I ate or drank. I however STILL have no taste for alcohol even wine at this point--which is odd for me, because I love my wine. This is not a bad thing, just odd. It's just weird because my stomach is just so swollen and blah. Like seriously, I feel friggin huge right now.

My energy level is not that great either. I know I'm only averaging about 4 hours of sleep at night, but this is something a little different than lack of sleep. I'm almost positive I'm recovering from a bug. I think I'm gonna take it easy over the long weekend, get sleep, and let my body heal, and get back on track on Tuesday.

Yesterday wasn't bad, though. I got groceries during lunch break, then Annie Bean and I had to haul the kids around to different places and sit and wait on them to get their errands done....


Then while Andy was at work, my husband took Winnie to go purchase a car. Andy and Winnie are splitting it for the time being since Andy will only be here until his ship out date in November. It didn't make sense for him to buy a car just for a few months. Winnie will buy out his 1/2 when he leaves for boot camp.



So YAY!! The kids have a car so I don't have to chauffeur them around as much, but the thing needs some work, and we've gotta get tags for it next week before they can actually start driving it on the road.

 

[anniebean]

So I've not tracked movement, or food--and I'm up a couple of pounds over the holiday. Not sweating it, because I ate things that I normally wouldn't eat, and I only drank 1/2 my water on each day. I drank 2 (!!!!) cream sodas yesterday too.... I did make some good food, though. Here are the two new recipes..

Saturday I made this....

It's vegan alfredo. The sauce is cauliflower, onion and garlic. It was quite yummy.

Sunday I made this....

"Fish" tacos...but it's cauliflower instead of fish

My husband made this on Sunday for the get together on the 4th...

Vegan Italian Wedding Cake. It was very good. He's an awesome baker--something I totally suck at.
*******************************
So the goal is to try to get to 18k steps today, and to do the kettleball. Depending on how swollen my stomach is at lunch will determine if I do the floor exercises (I'm still having the swelling/bloating that I had most of last week....I've read that it's related to the coolsculpting??)

I guess I've made it my goal to get down into the 140s by the end of July now since it didn't happen in June. I don't know if I need to keep obsessing over a number though, because I'm not too unhappy overall with my shape, I just need to firm up the jiggly parts. I was reminded that when I lose down into the low 130's, the girls look like 2 deflated balloons....and who wants that?? I know my husband definitely doesn't want that.

 

[anniebean]

Movement:
22,705 steps

Food:
pack of peanuts for breakfast
tofu and couscous for lunch
two tofu tacos with tortilla chips and a glass of wine for dinner
Oh, and a stupid cream soda after I got home from work. I really gotta stop those things!!

around 80 ounces of water
*******************
So yesterday I got in more steps than I thought I would. It was crazy day. I didn't get a chance to do kettleball because every time I would stop to do it, something else came up. I didn't go too crazy on calories. I estimate it to be right under 1300.

The goal for today is to get in at least 18k steps, do the kettleball, and maybe the floor exercises. I might do the devil's machine tonight. If so, it'll be the first time in a month or so. I really hate that thing.

I did weigh myself and I'm within a pound of being back to where I was before the holiday. I figure I'll be back to normal weight by Friday. Plus, I've done a lot of thinking about what my goal weight should be. I'd like to say 130, but in all honesty, I'd miss the girls if they were deflated balloons. While going thru my divorce years ago, I got down to very low 120s and I really looked sick. My body wasn't meant to be a stick. I'm thinking a good "happy" weight might be between 138-140? I changed my goal on the fitbit to reflect 140. I guess once I get down to that, I'll reevaluate goals and whatnot.

 

[anniebean]

Movement:
16,038 steps
3x10 kettleball

Food:
pack of peanuts for breakfast
leftover tofu and couscous for lunch
2 oreos for snack
vegan po'boy sandwich and oven potatoes for supper
and
TWO cream sodas....I finished off the last of the lot so I have no more at the house....now the trick is not to buy them anymore.

102+ ounces of water
*************
So I didn't get to 18k steps, but it's only because I ended up with a headache midday yesterday. If I get one, it's over--I don't do much else.
Today I hope to get to 18k, do the kettleball, and possibly the floor exercises at lunch.
I *think* tonight is date night, but I have no clue where or what we are doing.
I also feel freakishly huge today from all the stupid cream sodas. When will I ever learn my lesson??

 

[anniebean]

Movement:
12,819 steps

Food:
cliff bar for breakfast, peanuts for snack, leftover po'boy sandwich for lunch
a wee bit (doubt it was 1/4 cup) of vegan ice cream when I got home
then all hell broke loose
3/4 Red Robin boca burger w/ fries and chips and salsa (appetizer) for date night

102 oz of water
and
half cut tea during date night to help with headache
*****************************
So I didn't get as many steps as normal because once again I got a stupid headache. It feels like a sinus pressure thing, but since I'm vegan and don't produce much mucus (dairy causes mucus production), it's hard to tell. All I know is it was day 2 of the stupid thing, and it got much worse than the day before, but the caffeine last night seemed to finally knocked it out (fingers crossed). I hate to even speculate how many calories I had, but it was date night, and no alcohol was involved.

On a side note, we saw Finding Dory, and it was wonderful!!

It's 6 am and I already have over 6k steps. I'm hoping for 18k, but doubt I do much else. Some because of fear of headache coming back, and the other is I'm leaving work early so I can be home in time for the repairmen to come and replace my daughter's rear windshield in her car. Plus, I'm going on less than 3 hours sleep. I stopped for a half cut tea this morning to get me going, and it's done it's job perfectly, but by noon I'm sure I'll have hit a wall.

Oh, and another thing--this coolsculpting has totally thrown my body into complete chaos. I was frustrated this morning, but did some digging online and realized that I'm probably still swollen. TMI, but with all the water I drink, I usually pee a lot, like once every hour, but for the past week or so, I've not. I maybe pee twice at work, and a couple more times at home. And, after the little stomach bug or whatever the heck I had a while back, I've barely pooped at all!! I'm 3 weeks out, and supposedly things can get bad during the 3-4 week mark. Which totally sucks because I thought I'd see small results by now instead of looking and feeling like a linebacker. My husband asked me a couple of days ago if we need to go for the second treatment that was recommended during consultation. I'm really on the fence with this. I'd like to make sure it works, but I also don't want to run the risk of being swollen and bloated while in Hawaii (91 days away)

Ugh...just frustrated and venting.

And, my goal for today and this weekend is to track, track, track!! I've gotten really relaxed with this, and it needs to stop. I already have my meals planned out, and need to stop by grocery store on way home. I've also read stuff about a liver detox thing that I thought about trying. I dunno. I need to do more research.

I'm also thinking of trying yoga again. I tried it when my 3 kids were small and I was a stay at home mom, but between kids climbing on me, and a dog using me as a tunnel, I gave up pretty quickly. It stressed me out, and I know that's not the purpose of yoga.

 

[anniebean]

No movement tracked over weekend, and actually won't be tracked today because I accidentally left my uncharged fitbit at home. I'll charge once I get home this evening and wear tomorrow.

It would've been worthless today anyways because I'll be working in a different office filing old procedures and documents away, and it'll be an all day job so I wouldn't get a whole lot of steps in anyways.

On the food front, I didn't do that bad this weekend. Yesterday was the worst, but still managed to stay under 1500 calories AND drank all of my water both days.

Saturday, I fixed this...

San Angel Noodles (that is what my son calls it anyways). It's organic angel hair pasta, diced tomatoes, a bit of olive oil, a ton of garlic, and a ton of fresh basil. It was very good.

Yesterday I made this...

Panko and rosemary fried broccoli with dill sauce.....and by fried, it really means sauteed in very little olive oil.

And this...

Vegan sirachi and bbq tofu pizza on whole wheat thin crust. My husband claims this was one of the better pizzas I've made. It was really good, and spicy. The calorie count on these say 117/slice, however I think my slice was bigger than intended. I brought one of the slices for lunch today.
*****************
No real goals today since I don't have the tracker on, and I have a full day in a different office. I hope to not exceed 1200 calories. I have already eaten a cliff bar for breakfast, and will have the pizza for lunch. I'm making Pad Thai tonight for supper so it shouldn't be too bad.

Some of my swelling has finally went down! I've peed all weekend, like a lot. I'm back down to normal weight (151) so I will weigh again on Friday and hope for a loss.

 

[anniebean]

Yesterday was not tracked since I didn't have my fitbit. I charged it last night and am wearing it today....

Last night I fixed vegan pad thai.



Other than the leftover pizza for lunch, and wine last night, that's all I remember. I had some other stuff thrown in there, but didn't really pay attention (bad me!!)

I did drink all of my water
*******************************
Since I have my fitbit, and won't spend the majority of the day in my other office, I should be able to get at least 18K steps today. I also need to do the kettleball, and resume the floor exercises since my tummy is FINALLY back to normal.

I do have to take Andy to his Navy meeting so I may be stuck in the car for a few hours, but it's supposed to storm pretty bad today and I really would rather him not drive himself.

I think I'm calling my doctor's office to schedule the second (and last) coolsculpting treatment for my bra line. I'm not really mentally prepared to put my body thru that again, but I need to get it done before we get too close to our Hawaii date.....87 days. If they can't book me by the end of July, or first week of August, I doubt I go thru with it.

 

[anniebean]

Movement:
13,490 steps....that's it, and nothing else
I ended up being busier than I anticipated at work, and had a lot of people come in and out of my office.

Food:
Once again, I really sucked at tracking things once I got busy. I know I stayed under 1500 calories, but that's about it. I fixed vegan philly cheese steaks for supper (the protein is seitan, and mushrooms)

(this is my husband's second plate....I really wasn't in the mood for chips--miracle in itself, but was too hungry to stop and take a pic of mine before I demolished it)

I only drank around 80 oz of water
*******************************
So today will be worse as far as movement from yesterday. I have training I need to get caught up on, plus, I've got some clean-up work to do on work emails. Both will probably take the bulk of the day, and I need to go out during lunch to run some errands.

PLUS, I'm a bit of a wreck this morning. Today is Andy's birthday (the one that will be shipping out in November). On top of that, his Navy meeting got rescheduled from yesterday to today, and there is no rain in the forecast....which means, I had promised him he could drive by himself to the meeting....for the first time. He's not been driving too long so I'm nervous about this, and I couldn't sleep last night because of worry. I know this is silly of me, but I really can't help it.

So today I will be pretty useless. I'll track what I stuff in my face, but it won't be pretty.

 

[anniebean]

Yesterday was a disaster, as I predicted. It involved Pringles, vegan ice cream, nuts, clif bars, oreos and wine. However, I'm happy to report that my son who left at 3pm made it safely back at 9:30 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). His girlfriend wanted to take him out to eat for his bday after his meeting, then they hung out at her house. I was under the impression that he'd be home around 7-ish so I was freaking out quite a bit and driving my husband batty.

Today will be better on the food front (can't get worse), but unfortunately won't be better in exercise department. I still have quite a few things to wrap up that require me to be on the computer....and when I have things like that I tend to lollygag...

Tonight is date night, and I have no clue where we are going or what we are doing.

 

[anniebean]

I forgot to wear my fitbit today....so no tracking will occur so I guess back at it on Monday?

It was date night last night. We went to see Secret Life of Pets. It was wonderful, but made me feel guilty leaving my Annie Bean anytime I go anywhere.

We went to our go to Mexican joint. Last time we went, I had my usual spinach and mushroom quesadilla with no cheese or sour cream, but it wasn't that great, so I switched it up.....I had bean nachos with lettuce, tomato, jalapenos, salsa, and a few of my husband's broccoli florets from his fajitas...
Before

After


So I guess I ate maybe 1/2? This was also after chips and salsa....
Needless to say I was WAY over yesterday, and still feeling the effects today, however no alcohol was involved on my part, and I've actually cut out a lot since getting sick a few weeks ago. I'll have occasional glass of wine at night, but that's about it.

Anyways so I need to get back on track because this week has just been a mess, and that seems to be a running theme since July 4th....
No goals today except to maybe research some different things in terms of motivation...like how to rev up a slowing metabolism, and track what I put in my mouth.

I'm making vegan skillet nachos tonight (can you tell I could live off of nachos?) so I need to see if I can find the nutritional value in them. The chips are made from two very thinly sliced russet potatoes (the whole recipe serves 4 people) baked on high heat in a cast iron skillet. The taco "meat" is from nuts and seasoning, and the nacho "cheese" is from a different nut, nutritional yeast, and some other things. Basically, in my warped way of seeing it, I'll be getting protein, veggies, and fruit in it so it'll be a complete meal

Oh, and I did do some research on restaurants in Maui and Kauai, and it looks like we should be able to maintain our veganism pretty easily while there....at least the no dairy part. The second leg of the trip to Disneyland is an entirely different story. I really want some beignets, and I know for a fact they have heavy cream in them....but they are oh so good!

 

[anniebean]

Not really a healthy living update or anything, BUT a trip update for my daughter's trip in November. I was able to downgrade our room at POR from Garden View to Standard, add an extra day at the end, and an extra park ticket and the price only went up $252....THE WEEK OF THANKSGIVING!! I was very tickled about it. Now I'm hoping there will be a room only discount I can get in on, but not holding my breath.

On the extra day, we are going to AK so Winnie's bf can experience all 4 parks (he's never been). I got Geoff and I reservations at Yak and Yeti and Narcoossee's that night. Both restaurants will be first times for us. I also got breakfast the following morning at Whispering Canyon Cafe. Winnie and I have been there, but Geoff and Patrick have not....however, if Ohana, or 1900 PF open up, this will be switched.

 

[anniebean]

Ok so this weekend I didn't track, but also didn't snack as much as normal. I am goint to try to cut down on the snacking between meals because that is what is adding the extra calories. I stayed busy pretty much all weekend with housework, and I took Andy out to eat for his birthday.

Friday night, here were the vegan nachos. I was amazed at how well these turned out. The "meat" part was walnuts, sundried tomatoes, and some spices. The nacho "cheese" was cashews, roasted red peppers, nutritional yeast, and spices. We used very thinly sliced potatoes that had been baked in oven for the chips. 2 potatoes was more than enough because of how thin they were. I also made tableside guacamole and vegan sour cream (tofu based) to add to top. Not sure what the caloric intake was on these, but it was worth every calorie!


Saturday I took Andy out to eat to Stir Fry. We had the veggie spring rolls as an appetizer (I had one, and let him have the other 2), then I had the avocado roll. That was it, and it was a very light lunch since I knew I had to come home and make hot and sour soup for supper.


Then Saturday night, I made the soup. It's vegan hot and sour soup, and with the leftover tofu, I marinaded it then grilled it on stove top for extra protein. The tofu was great, but the soup was just meh. It was totally filling though! I was stuffed and couldn't finish my bowl.


Then last night I made vegan mushroom stroganoff. This was good. Again, not sure of the caloric intake on this, but I only had one plate, and did bring a small bowl to eat for lunch today. My husband, who isn't a big mushroom fan, had 3 plates!!! My daughter even ate this so that's usually a sign of success on my part.

********************

So today I'm working 12 hours at work to make up time for my coolsculpting appointment on Friday. I did notice that my stomach issues are not back to normal, and I am 99% sure it's from the coolsculpting. The procedure causes you to "naturally eliminate fat cells"....well, you poop and pee them out over the course of several months. TMI, but at one point yesterday, it looked like I pooped out oil.

Anyways, enough poop talk, the goal today is just to get in some steps. I finally charged up my fitbit and remembered to wear it today....but I also have on a dress so I don't know about other things outside of walking.

 

[anniebean]

Movement:
19,426 steps

Food:
half cut tea and hashbrown for breakfast 253 calories
Peanuts for a snack 260 calories
Mushroom stroganoff for lunch 480 calories (this was for something w/ dairy, but mine doesn't have it, but went with this total anyways)
Clif bar for late afternoon snack 260 calories
2 slices of veggie hand tossed pizza with no cheese and glass of wine for supper when I finally got home 400 calories
1653 calories total

102+ ounces of water
********************
So yesterday was a marathon day here at work. I went way over on calories, but needed some fuel at one point just to stay awake. I got plenty of steps in

Today I won't be getting as many steps, but I'm hoping for at least 10k. However, a coworker and I are going to our offsite storage facility to move some heavy boxes around to make room for our new media cabinet coming today. This means I will get in some lifting so that's good.

Since I'm working a normal shift, thank goodness, I'll be home at a decent time, but I have to go with my daughter to pick up her laptop for the upcoming school year. Then supper (mock tuna salad sandwiches and homemade fried pickles).

I've really gotta get into the habit of getting on the devil's machine. I'm sorely lacking in that department, and haven't been on it since my coolsculpting treatment a month ago. I'm having the second treatment on Friday, and I know I'll be sore and bruised for a week or so after. I'm thinking that maybe I should start back at the beginning of August and make a chart to keep by it to motivate me. It'd really do me some good, and it's just RIGHT THERE, but yet I don't take advantage of it. My August work schedule should be normal, and I shouldn't have many, if at all, of these crazy 12 hour days so I'd have no excuse on that end....

I'm down to 80 days until Hawaii.

 

[anniebean]

Ok so yesterday started out ok. A coworker and I went to our offsite storage facility to move some boxes, etc., around to make room for the new heavy media cabinet safe. Well, some of the lovely folks at that facility decided to just dump stuff in our area so we had to move it and pile it up somewhere for it to be taken to salvage, or dumpster. Anyways, I have very sensitive skin to start with. Doesn't take much for me to break out in a contact rash or hives. Like I can't even walk into a Home Depot because something is floating around in the air there and I immediately get itchy and break out anywhere I have exposed skin.... This doesn't happen to me at Lowes, but happens every time at Home Depot. So this happened yesterday. We got everything moved, the safe came and was set up (another long story in itself), and we head back and I have little red bumps on my arm that start spreading. Well, I also had several procedures that had to go out as soon as I got back into my office, but by this time my scalp was even itching.

So to make a long story even longer, I went home immediately after finishing procedures to shower, cooked supper, took a bath because I was still itchy, gave up and took Benedryl and went to bed.

So my movement was only tracked up until that first shower. I took off the fitbit (I never wear it in shower or tub), and it was not put back on, and I forgot to wear it today.

I did make a mock tuna fish sandwiches with fried pickles and vegan ranch dressing. I used almond as the fake tuna.

**********************
Today, as I've mentioned earlier, won't be tracked because I forgot my fitbit. It would've been useless today anyways. I'm still rather groggy from the Benedryl, have a ton of procedures to prep, and have a lunch meeting with our scanning company. Plus, I've got to work over for going home a little early yesterday because of the mess mentioned above.

 

[anniebean]

Yesterday was a mess. I did get a lot of work accomplished which makes my today's work much smoother, thank goodness. Had a lunch meeting in town at a local deli sandwich shop. I didn't do well there--got black bean burger and curly fries, however, once I got home, I only had salad and grilled tofu so I guess it evens out. I have NO clue what my caloric intake was yesterday. This was supper.....


We were very late eating, and it was very thrown together. My husband's check engine light came on again in his Tundra so he had to take it back in to Toyota (3rd time in 2 weeks!!!) and so I had to run to pick him up after I got home from work. I don't even think I got to sit down to eat until 8!


I started sipping on a glass of wine, but I ended up putting the glass in fridge to save for tonight. I was just too pooped to drink it and really just wanted to go to bed.

I have fitbit on today, and doing better so it should be back to normal now..or at least I hope so.

 

[anniebean]

Movement:
11,494 steps

Food:
I was able to keep it around 1200.

Today only food will be tracked because I don't have on my fitbit--intentional this time. I only work 4 hours today, and have the coolsculpting treatment later so I knew movement wouldn't be that much.