Day 8

I did good today. I got some yummy Ezekiel bread (cinnamon raisin), almond butter and a 1/2 banana all of which I had for breakfast. It was so tasty plus it was really nutritious and filling (around 220 calories for it all). For lunch I stopped by D&G Nutrition (located on Solano, next to Break n Egg Restaurant) and had an herbalife shake with the other half of my banana (a banana with the pink panther is the best). My afternoon snack was fiber select wheat thins and dinner was homemade chicken and rice soup and a tofutti cutie (a tofu version of an ice cream sandwich). I was able to my calories under my 1200 allowance which is a good thing since I managed to game 2 pounds over the weekend (Friday I was 109 lbs. and this morning I'm was 111 lbs.). I'm totally back in the groove.

Day 6 & 7

Ok, weekends are my weakness. There are so many temptations. My first obstacle is that on the weekends my boyfriend and I like to eat out and enjoy our time together. My second obstacle is that Ed (the boyfriend) loves to grill on the weekends (especially now in the summer) but instead of grilling healthy chicken and veggies he's barbecuing fatty, beef ribs and juicy green chile cheese burgers (both of which are freaking amazing...he's simply awesome on the grill). But as you can imagine, it's not easy to be "good" when these types of temptations are all always available. My third weekend obstacle is the movies. I love to watch a movie in the theater over the weekend and you know movies often go with buttery popcorn and candy.

This weekend was no different from any other weekend...all the temptations presented themselves and although I wish I could say that I made good choices, I really didn't. Unfortunately, I made a number of choices that weren't conducive to my healthy living goals. I didn't totally jump off the deep end like I usually do but I still can improve. My plan for next weekend is portion control, portion control, portion control. I don't want to give up what I enjoy but I need to know that I can enjoy without over doing it.

Day 5

This morning was awesome...My friend Dani and I went on a killer run. We did intervals of jogging and sprinting. This type of exercise is awesome for calorie burning plus sprinting also helps build some awesome legs. This type of workout is a great option for when you're short on time (we only had 25 minutes).  This is definitely harder than just jogging at the same pace for 25 min.  They say Jessica Simpson did this type for workout in preparation for Dukes of Hazzard. Check out this pic for some inspiration.

Weight: 109.4
It's amazing how even little changes can make a big difference. I've lost almost 3lbs in 5 days.

I'll check in later to let you know about my diet details.  

Day 4: Check-In

8:00 am

• The fiber version wheat thins and wedge of laughing cow cheese

11:30 am

• 1 large slice dion's pizza

1:00 pm

• 1 small yogoberry frozen yogurt topped with chocolate chips and real stawberries. If you haven't already tried it, yogoberry is the best. It's my favorite healthy treat (minus the chocolate chip toping). From what I've gathered online it has about 125 calories for the yogurt itself (1 small serving) plus the calories of whatever toppings you put on it.
• Amazingly I didn't keep snacking throughout the afternoon today. I think this was mainly because I was super busy and I really didn't even have time to think of food which once again indicates I often eat out of boredom or pleasure, not even real hunger.

6:30 pm

• Grilled chicken wrap from Sonic. In terms of calories and nutritional value, I think I would have been better off with a chicken sandwich on a whole wheat bun. I keep my calories to around 1250 for the day. 

My favorite new health tool. For any of you out there that have a blackberry you have to check out the Livestrong calorie counter...it's the best. It really helps me to stay on track with my calories and no matter what "new" diet comes out science proves...to lose weight, you have to put out more than you take in. The Livestrong database is huge. I rarely search a food that it doesn't have. I only paid $2.99 for it and I use it almost every day, it's so convenient. You have to have a paypal account to buy it but it's was a one time fee...it's so worth it. To download it on-to your phone go to the Blackberry application world search by category and go to Health & Wellness, it should be one of the first listings under Health & Diet.   

Day 4

Yesterday was a bit of a struggle so I've decided to focus on focus for today. When I want to over indulge I need to stop, think and have an internal conversation with myself on why. Hopefully I'll be able to talk myself out of some bad choices. I found a neat article regarding this issue on my girl, Oprah's website. It's called the "Easier Way To Dieting " by Martha Beck. Check it out. I'll check in later.

Day 3

Sugar. Sugar. Sugar. Sugar is a BIG one for me. I love cakes, cookies, candy...you name it, I probably like it. But the thing about sugar is that it goes straight to your butt, thighs or wherever else you store your weight if you don't burn it off right away through physical activity. Unless you're an elite athelete you're probably not able to use more than 10 grams of sugar at a time. Today I'm going to try to keep all my food items below 10 grams of sugar per serving (this includes fruit).

8:00 am

• Coffee, 2 creams and truvia
• Go Lean Cereal and Almond Milk - Almond milk is a great alternative to milk or even soy milk. I get unsweetened vanilla...it's super delicious and it only has 40 calories per cup. I found that Toucan's in Las Cruces has the best price on it...2 cartons for $5 

11:45 am

•  3/4 of a chicken salad sandwich on pita bread
  
• side of greek salad

1:30 pm

• 1 Nectarine
• 3 small squares of dark chocolate 
• 1 square of mint dark chocolate - This is where is starts going down hill. I know I was supposed to be monitoring my sugar today but my cravings were just insane.

2:00 pm 

• In an effort to curb my sugar cravings I have fiber wheat thins and a wedge of the laughing cow cheese but unfortunately I end up throwing down 4 chocolate kisses

5:15 pm 

• By this point my sugar cravings are through the roof and I'm counting the minutes till I can leave work and go and get an ice cream float. I had the float made with diet soda and although that does cut down on the calories it's definitely not a healthy food choice.  By this time I had used all my calories for the day and so much of it was on junk...what a bummer.
  

Although today wasn't necessarily successful--in terms of watching my sugar consumption--tomorrow's a new day. 

Day 2 Check-in

Sleep: 6 1/2 hours...I know I need more

8:30 am

• Strawberry Kefir - As I stated yesterday, kefir is a great "health food" but what I noticed with the flavored version is that it has way too much sugar...almost 23 grams per serving (I try to keep my sugar to less than 10 grams per serving). I'm much better off with my plain kefir with frozen fruit mixed in.

11:30 am

• Chick-fil-a - Grilled chicken sandwich on whole wheat and with mustard instead of mayo. I really need to start taking my lunch to work with me but for a fast food option this wasn't too bad (260 calories). 

2:00 pm

• 3 small pieces of dark chocolate with raspberries plus a square of mint dark chocolate. I love me some chocolate.

3:30 pm

• Instead of indulging in more chocolate I decided to eat a laughing cow wedge (light swiss) and some wheat thins (the fiber version). This satisfied my craving for more chocolate. 

4:00 pm

• I was doing so good until Ed's mom brought in a homemade apple pie (it was still warm). I had a small piece and savored each bite.

6 pm

• A Herbalife protein bar and a few spoonfuls of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia (the frozen yogurt kind)